The truth behind BBC 'doughnutgate'

The Daily Mail has taken the BBC to task for an item on Radio 4's You And Yours which featured an interview with the boss of Krispy Kremes.

The Mail story is based around "complaints from listeners" lodged with the Beeb about the apparently friendly nature of the interview:

"...listeners have accused Radio 4's You and Yours of broadcasting a 'six-minute advert' for Krispy Kreme doughnuts... Listeners claimed there was a lack of penetrating questions, saying that it was only in the final two minutes of the interview that issues such as health and obesity were raised."

Should you be interested, The Media Blog has been told by the BBC's press office that it was "flooded with 13 complaints" following the programme. That's 13 complaints - or 0.0008 per cent of the 1.6 million who listened. (The BBC addressed these complaints itself on Feedback... which may have been what tipped off the Mail.)

I've listened to the interview. It wasn't Frost/Nixon that's for sure (but then it was about doughnuts) and the negative aspects of the doughnut trade were covered and surely a six-minute interview, spent in its entirety blaming the world's ever-expanding waistband on Krispy Kreme alone would have been no more even-handed. But anyway, the Mail's stance on this issue is all the more interesting in light of two recent articles from its own pages, which no doubt went down very well with the marketing team at Krispy Kreme:

So, that's a new Krisy Kreme store open now at Cardiff's St David's Centre. Get along there now. Hurry, don't delay. And then there was this catchy headline:

Mmmmm doughnuts.

(Hat tip @Jemstone) 

Comments

[Jon_S]

Remember, Mail Online is second only to the BBC, here in the UK. There's a reason that they're going after the Beeb, and that's pure profit.