More Big Weekend Artists

[DarkAngelMJH]

Viewers contacted the broadcaster to express unhappiness at the way the BBC dedicated two channels to the ceremony in Los Angeles.

The corporation was accused of pandering "to the cult of personality".One online complaint said: "The coverage of Jackson's death has been far too extensive. The BBC has developed a cult of personality in line with the rest of the new media and have great pleasure in over reporting celebrities. Once it was the channel to watch for news, now it is not. The argument for the licence fee is founded on its impartiality and capability. Both can seriously be questioned."

The BBC News channel and the international BBC World News outlet screened the memorial with coverage fronted by Rajesh Mirchandani in Los Angeles.

However, BBC Two also cleared its early evening schedule to broadcast live from the memorial from the Staples Centre.

Trevor Nelson, the Radio 1 DJ introduced the coverage from London, while the BBC's HD channel also broadcasted the proceedings.

One complainant said: "It actually doesn't matter what that single issue is: but even 9/11 and 7/7 weren't reported to the almost total exclusion of other news. It is pandering to the cult of personality.

"The death of any person is regrettable, but as far as numbers are concerned there are more people to whom other news is more important."

The BBC will be releasing the number of complaints today as will Ofcom, the media regulator.

Last week, the BBC received 748 complaints over its 'wall-to-wall' coverage of the death of the singer.

Viewers inundated the corporation with letters and emails criticising the "sensational" and "extensive" reports about the singer across all BBC news programmes.

It led Mary Hockaday, head of the BBC newsroom, to post a blog on BBC website defending the coverage.

She said: "We've had a number of complaints about our coverage, the main charge being that we simply did too much: that his death didn't justify the prominence and scale of our reporting through Friday and into the weekend.

"The story was certainly very prominent, with extensive reporting on our domestic and global news channels and it was the lead story on our television and radio bulletins and on the web. But this wasn't to the exclusion of other important stories domestically and internationally."

She added: "We will continue to report new developments, and we'll do so in a proportionate manner where we think they are of relevance and interest to our audiences: we're anticipating covering further information about the circumstances of his death; his business and estate – and his funeral.

"Throughout our coverage, we have been careful to sift fact from rumour and to assess Jackson's career as a musician and his impact as a creative singer and dancer, while not ignoring the more disturbing side to his life. This was a big news story – about the death of a big cultural icon – all around the world."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/michael-jackson/5771058/BBC-attracts-complaints-over-coverage-of-Michael-Jacksons-funeral.html

Well to be honest who is surprised? Anything the BBC do nowadays always gets complaints from the haters. If they hadn't of covered it they would have also got complaints.

Also doesn't the HD channel always have something on thats on BBC 1 or 2?

[Jono]

It did seem a bit odd that they chose to broadcast it both on BBC Two and clear the schedule on BBC News for alternative coverage. But then even if BBC News didn't show it you could argue two stations were then showing different news broadcasts (BBC One and BBC News) anyway :confused:

[James R]

At the end of the day BBC2 probably got more viewers than they would have done showing EggHeads and whatever else follows it

[midnight]

There would have been complaints if it hadn't been shown on BBC2 because not everyone has access to the website or to the BBC news channel and so if it hadn't been shown on BBC2 (or BBC1) it would have been seen as unfair to those people. As for a few channels showing it in the UK I channel hopped over here while the service was on TV and 12 out of 23 channels were showing the service in both English and Spanish. The options for those without satellite TV and not wanting to watch the service was the senate, shopping channels or Jerry Springer. Every news channel was showing the service and most other channels had cleared their schedule for it. So I think those in the UK who didn't want to watch it were lucky to have options.

Michael Jackson was the king of pop. I will admit I was never a massive fan of him but I liked his music when I heard it. He changed the way music was portrayed to people and so his death is going to be widely televised. Those who don't want to watch it need to just shut up for a few more days and then the TV stations will probably reduce the coverage of him.

[DC]

since the simpsons left bbc 2 on weeknights, theres been nothing worth watching really. may as well show it to those who haven't got freeview.

One complainant said: "It actually doesn't matter what that single issue is: but even 9/11 and 7/7 weren't reported to the almost total exclusion of other news. It is pandering to the cult of personality.

9/11 definitely was, and so was 7/7, no basis in their complaint at all. 9/11's events spanned over 2 hours like jacksons funeral did, and they didn't start talking about the sonbat refugee camp (other big story of that day) during the events at all.

[E*F*4L]

i bet all the people who complained were old people who cried like little babies when Elvis died of a burger overdose, they should just go fuck themselves with their copy of the daily fail !

i wonder how many complaints ITN & Sky news got (& all the other TV & radio channels) about it ?

none that's how many because the nob's that complained think that the BBC should only show what they want ! what a bunch of babies !

the names & address's of the people who complain should be published online because it's way to easy to complain nowadays & this would make them think twice about being a

[Mike]

At the end of the day, the BBC is such a huge media outlet that any coverage will be deemed too much by some people, if you think about it, if it's the lead story of the day, its gonna be all over the news channel, it's going to be the lead story on the bbc news at 1, 3, 6 and 10pm news on bbc one, also on BBC 2, The 60 seconds news on BBC 3 will cover it too. Then move on to the radio stations Radio 1, 2, 4, 5, 6music, asian network and world service will at least mention it, and then you have the bbc local stations. Any major news story is going to be talked about by all the departments within the bbc, whether it be radio, tv or online. Plus, with something on this scale, he was an international megastar, everyone knew who he was, everyone could recognise his music. He was certainly a unique individual, and one who was loved by millions all around the world.

Sometimes purely due to the size of the BBC, people are too quick to say that it's excessive coverage - When in fact it's just a broadcaster reporting the news, just as Sky news did, Just as Channel 4 did, they just aren't as big as the bbc.

Anyway, i thought the memorial service for MJ Was very good considering the speed of which they put it together. I've gotta admit though, i did feel slightly uncomfortable when Usher went up to the coffin, it just wasn't right, but each to their own and all that, i did kinda feel for him when he choked up towards the end though. I was just about holding it together when they did the final performance when everyone was on stage, and then when his brother and paris were up on stage... well, you know.

I don't think that it actually sunk in until the memorial that he had actually died to be honest. The news broke that he had been rushed to hospital 30 minutes before i was due to do a radio show, and then the unconfirmed reports came through on twitter that he had died, and it was all a bit wierd really, i went on the phone to the prsenter before mine's show (Scott) and we were talking about him and his music etc. It was really hard to do a show while all the reports were coming in that he died, it all seemed really surreal, like it wasn't really happening or something, i dunno, it's hard to explain. But it was a really tough situation to be in none the less, i kept scott on the phone and we spent the hour talking about his life and his music. It wasn't perfect but from what people said afterwards it was ok, which was a relief. But even in the week following his death, it just didn't seem real, even though programs were all over the tv about his life and stuff.

It's been a really odd few weeks.

[Viv]

i bet all the people who complained were old people who cried like little babies when Elvis died of a burger overdose, they should just go fuck themselves with their copy of the daily fail !

I don't know what's getting in to you at the moment!! lol

[DC]

if they can get away with complaining about that, then i think i might complain to channel 4 about channel 4, channel 4+1, e4 & e4+1. all carrying big brother over the last 9 years for weeks on end. thats what i tuned in last night to find.