Dear Mr Blair
Thank you for your e-mail regarding a remark made by Gary Linkere during 'Match of the Day'. Your concerns were addressed to BBC Sport Editor Andrew Clement who responded as follows:
"I am sorry if you were upset by Gary Lineker's comment to Ruud Van Nistelroy during the Liverpool Vs Manchester United match on Saturday 18th February.
We admit the "why the long face" comment was ill-judged and in poor taste, and I can assure you he has been made fully aware of this. As with all live events, mistakes are inevitable and we feel that on this occasion, Gary's comment came out of the blue and he did not intend to cause offence.
Once again, we are very sorry if any offence was caused."
I trust that this response has gone some way towards allaying your concerns.
I have also noted your dissatisfaction with camerawork and commentary in general recently. On the former issue, I understand that you consider inadequate replays have been included.
With regards to commentary, BBC Sport regularly receives both positive and negative feedback about individual commentators and presenters used in our programmes. We do pro-actively research viewer opinions about our presentation teams as well as monitoring complaints. If we received only negative reaction and feedback then the issue would certainly be addressed.
We do appreciate that not everyone will agree with our choice of presenter or commentator and we find that certain individuals divide opinion; for example where one person will disagree with our choice of commentator another will contact us with positive comments.
Please be assured that I have included your comments in the daily audience log. This internal document is made available to BBC Sport production teams and senior management.
Thank you for taking the time to contact BBC Information.
Regards
Anne Lavan
BBC Information
__________________________________________
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ - World Wide Wonderland
-----Original Message-----
>{Date:} 19/02/2006
>{CommentType:} Complaint
>
>{Title:}
>{FirstName:} Peter
>{LastName:} Blair
>
>{Email:}
>{PhoneNo:}
>{Postcode:}
>{PostRegion:}
>{Country:} N. Ireland
>
>{About:} TV
>
>
>{Channel:} BBC One
>{ProgrammeName:} Match of the Day Live - FA Cup 5th Round
>{TransmissionDate:} 18/02/06
>
>{Comments:}
>Dear Sir/Madam,
>
>Gary Lineker's comments about Ruud Van Nistelrooy on Match of the Day Live today (Liverpool vs Man Utd FA Cup 5th Round) to the effect of 'why the long face' were in extremely poor taste and not something I would expect from a flagship presenter of BBC sport coverage. Is this the sort of poor taste we can expect during the World Cup?
>
>I'm sure Gary himself has been on the receiving end of plenty of jibes about his personal appearance and so I don't see why he felt the need to do the same to another player who has just provided the BBC with an interview.
>
>Also I must mention the camerawork and commentary has been of a very poor standard recently. There has been a distinct lack of replays for offside decisions and commentators seem to have little idea what is happening in most matches or which way a decision should have gone. A lot of commentary has been extremely partisan - i.e. Ian Wright and Gary Lineker's comments following the England defeat by Northern Ireland.
>
>I would appreciate some professionalism and manners from the individuals you are paying to present shows using my license fee money.
>
>Yours sincerely,
>
>Peter Blair
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