Switching Off

The BBC was forced to cancel a political rally TV special on climate change because its "consciousness raising" message was too blatantly biased for even the Beeb to get away with.

Not surprisingly, Richard Black's report for the BBC on the decision starts off and continues for half the article with responses from environmentalists condemning the cancellation and when he finally does get to those who questioned the BBC's wisdom Mr. Black summarilly dismisses them as "right-wing" before rushing off to a BBC One spokesman backpedaling along the path of declaring that it was really about the BBC preferring to concentrate on documentaries.

In fact, if one looks closer, one can find the true nougat of truth in the Mars bar of controversy in this quote:

Celebrities such as Ricky Gervais were said to be interested in presenting the show, which would have involved viewers in a mass "switch-off" to save energy.

Aside from the fact that flipping a light switch "saves energy" about as effectively as closing a window blind "saves sunlight", perhaps the reality behind the cancellation was that it dawned on the BBC that putting the idea of "switching off" in the heads of viewers was too close to reminding them of the practical alternative to watching this sort of drivel.