POST 2 – COMPLAINT GOES TO NEXT STAGE – https://wirralinittogether.blog/2018/02/21/bbc-media-editor-amol-rajans-offensive-scum-and-idiots-tweets-our-complaint-goes-to-the-next-stage/

POST 3 – AMOL RAJAN DELETES THE OFFENDING TWEET – https://wirralinittogether.blog/2018/02/24/as-amol-rajan-deletes-his-offending-tweet-our-complaint-goes-to-stage-2/

This seems like clear cut defamation to us and we will be taking legal advice over it.  We will back off if we are advised it is not.

For now, we’ve lodged a complaint with the BBC, which you can see here:

Reference CAS-4773953-RZ4Y0D

Full Complaint, sent on 5th February 2018:

“My complaint centres around a tweet sent by @amolrajan to @MichaelWhite which copied me in ( personal twitter ID redacted accordingly):

https://twitter.com/amolrajanBBC/status/959035352202825728

The subject matter of the tweet is the blocking on Twitter of “scum” and the ‘liberation’ gained by this activity. I am now blocked by BBC Media Editor Amol Rajan, however being blocked is not my complaint. My complaint is that this recently promoted senior BBC public servant thought it appropriate to use language on a public forum which was offensive not just to me, but which would also be likely to offend any license fee paying member of the public reading the tweet. Some time later another Twitter user questioned Amol Rajan’s use of the word “scum” but Mr Rajan justified his use of it as the questioner had also used the word in his own tweets:

https://twitter.com/amolrajanBBC/status/959091958164738050

However, unlike the BBC’s Mr Rajan, the complainant was not labelling members of the public “scum” and I don’t believe the complainant is a senior BBC employee serving the public. Any comparison therefore fails.

Background. According to a BBC News article, Mr Rajan, along with three colleagues will be attending UK schools this year advising them on “fake news” and how to watch out for it. In the past I have sent Mr Rajan an official, factual Merseyside Police statement which confirms that Angela Eagle’s Constituency Office Window was never reported as being attacked on 12th July 2016 in the #Brickgate incident. I have suggested to Mr Rajan that the BBC needs to retract its own “fake news” which is still ‘out there’ suggesting that Angela Eagle’s constituency office window WAS smashed by a brick. My daughter attends a Media College and it is possible that that Mr Rajan or one of his colleagues may be visiting to advise her on “fake news” this year. In light of the above, I suggest that Mr Rajan is not a fit person to do so, and I also request a personal apology.”

The response, received on 15th February 2018 : 

Dear Mr Cardin

Reference CAS-4773953-RZ4Y0D

Thank you for contacting us about content posted on Amol Rajan’s social media account.

While we note your concerns we would explain that this was part of a light-hearted exchange on Twitter and no offence was intended.

We hope this explains our position.

Nonetheless, your concerns were forwarded directly to senior management on an internal report of audience feedback. These reports can be used to inform future broadcasting and policy decisions so please be assured that your complaint has been sent to the right people.

We do appreciate the time you have taken to raise this with us.

Kind regards

Yvonne Wall

BBC Complaints Team

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

NB This is sent from an outgoing account only which is not monitored. You cannot reply to this email address but if necessary please contact us via our webform quoting any case number we provided.

We’d suggest that there is nothing ‘light-hearted’ about a senior and visually prominent public servant such as BBC Media Editor Amol Rajan labelling members of the public ‘idiots’ and ‘scum’ on a widely-read social media forum such as Twitter.

We’d also suggest it is abusive and libellous to label Paul Cardin as an ‘idiot’ or as ‘scum’, for the following reasons:

Idiot.

Paul Cardin took an official MENSA IQ test in 1988, achieved an IQ of 151 and was admitted as a member.  He left after a few months.  He would therefore not normally be regarded by anybody as an “idiot”.  To suggest otherwise, and in offensive terms, may be a false statement, and may be potentially libellous.

Scum.

Paul Cardin served his country in 1982 when he fought in the Falklands War.  Today, although semi-retired since 2009, he looks after his disabled wife, a former teacher who is unable to work, and also their two young daughters.  He has been driven out of his council employment under bogus “gross misconduct charges” which were overturned… twice.  He has no criminal record.  He has never worked as a senior banker nor for an alleged “regulator” and has always provided HMRC with the full amount of income tax they’d been expecting. Neither does he flit between London, Geneva, Singapore and Hong Kong in search of the friendliest and most amenable tax jurisdiction. He would therefore not normally be regarded by anybody as “scum”.  To suggest otherwise, and in offensive terms, may be a false statement, and may be potentially libellous.

On the evidence of the above response, the BBC don’t look ready to accept that Amol Rajan behaved offensively.  Paul will follow the BBC’s internal complaint guidelines and go back to the Complaints Department in order to exhaust their internal channels.

As stated, Paul will also be taking legal advice and looking at pursuing a defamation case against both Amol Rajan and his BBC employer, who are now fully complicit.

When in a position to do so, he will also be making a separate, detailed complaint to OFCOM, the media regulator.

Separately, he will be writing to the headteacher of his daughter’s media college in an attempt to confirm whether any BBC employees are scheduled to visit the schoolthis year to advise on “Fake News” and how to recognise and deal with it, as described at the above link.

If so, he will advise that given the BBC’s response to this complaint, and despite very high levels of adverse press since Jimmy Savile’s death, the corporation does not seem to have addressed a need for cultural change, nor does it seem to have learned any lessons from their former employee’s 40 years of alleged protected, shielded criminal rape and paedophilia, enabled and perpetuated by his fame and his ‘access to all areas’.

Paul will be ascertaining the date(s) of the visit(s) and endeavouring to safeguard the children (all females) from any potential “Savile” like incident caused by the BBC’s ongoing failure to apply its own code of conduct (see below). 

The most worrying aspect of all this is the BBC’s apparent determination to steamroller well-founded complaints to one side and to plough on regardless.

On a broader basis, Paul will also be contacting the BBC and all the relevant authorities to request that the four BBC reporters’ visits to this school and all others are now cancelled in the interests of child safety.

BBC Code of Conduct for Employees – May 2017

We’d be very grateful for advice on what ‘type’ of employee Mr Rajan is.  We would then be in a position to determine which section of the above code is supposed to be applicable to his behaviour.

How ironic that were Amol Rajan to brand any senior politcians, either collectively or individually as “idiots” or “scum” in public, his feet wouldn’t touch the floor.

So WHO is serving WHO here?

The offensive tweets

https://twitter.com/Wirral_In_It/status/959082137898057728

Offensive tweet 1

Offensive tweet 2