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Poppys on the News

BBC World specifically (November 2003)

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GA
Gareth Founding member
An important note to remember which i think came up last year is that males should wear a poppy on their left side and females on their right!

'm sure it came up because someone on a TV channel was wearing their poppy on the wrong side and someone from the British Legion complained - does anyone have any further info?

Gareth
DV
dvboy
East Midlands Today had an email the other day asking why Anne and Dominic wore them on opposite shoulders and they explained.
AS
Aston
Gareth posted:
An important note to remember which i think came up last year is that males should wear a poppy on their left side and females on their right!

'm sure it came up because someone on a TV channel was wearing their poppy on the wrong side and someone from the British Legion complained - does anyone have any further info?

Gareth


I believe it was Look North and either Clare Frisby or Christa Ackroyd. No doubt both would be utterly offended that I can't remember which! Laughing
DJ
David Jonathan
I remember definitly Martine Dennis wearing a poppy on BBC World this Friday morning and I think Keishini Navratnam and Lyhse Doucet were also wearing one. Also the presenter of BBC World/Four News at 2200 GMT is always wearing one. And I have seen some of the world correspondents wearing a poppy this week.
NG
noggin Founding member
Turnbull & Williams posted:
I can (just about) understand the thinking behind not wearing poppies on BBC World, but I thought all domestic programmes had to have presenters and guests wearing them. Imagine my surprise then when I watched the Daily Politics with Andrew Neil (on Thursday I think) and noticed that some of the guests were not wearing poppies. Is this allowed under BBC policy?


The BBC would not force a guest to wear a poppy - nor would they request that they remove it. I suspect that a producer or floor manager might offer a guest a poppy - in case they have left it on their outer coat and forgotten they neede to transfer it - though.
NG
noggin Founding member
Lee Stanley posted:
Surely it should be the decision of the presenter or guest whether to wear a poppy or not... believe it or not there are some people who don't believe in what the poppy stands for and won't wear them deliberately, and there is a significant number of people who simply don't care for the cause so don't bother.

Just because people are on TV, they shouldn't be made to wear a poppy because their boss says so - neither should they be made to take them off as seems to be the case on BBC World.


It would be the personal choice for a guest.

However should a domestic news presenter not wish to wear one it may have to be referred up to senior management. The BBC policy is that all news presenters on domestic outlets should wear poppies during the chosen period. I doubt this is a major issue though - and if you see a presenter not wearing one it is probable because it has fallen off, or they have forgotten to transfer it from a previous jacket etc.
NG
noggin Founding member
Gareth posted:
An important note to remember which i think came up last year is that males should wear a poppy on their left side and females on their right!

'm sure it came up because someone on a TV channel was wearing their poppy on the wrong side and someone from the British Legion complained - does anyone have any further info?

Gareth


Yep - men should wear their poppies on the left, over their heart.
:-(
A former member
A personal choice for a guest!!

You know, I'm not in favour of cultural insensitivity...but why can't people be expected to "go just a little bit" out of their way to honour our culture??

It'd be like us expecting to go on Al Jazeera in revealing swim wear and not have to take any flak from the Ayatollah.
NG
noggin Founding member
Phileas Fogg posted:
A personal choice for a guest!!

You know, I'm not in favour of cultural insensitivity...but why can't people be expected to "go just a little bit" out of their way to honour our culture??

It'd be like us expecting to go on Al Jazeera in revealing swim wear and not have to take any flak from the Ayatollah.


Because thankfully our culture is diverse - and strong enough to include a variety of viewpoints...

To force people to wear a symbol they don't believe in would surely cheapen the symbol and reduce its strength. The fact that so many people VOLUNTARILY wear poppies is far stronger to me than people wearing them without thinking about it, or being forced to wear them.

Surely this is the whole point of our culture - in comparison with other more repressive and less democratic countries - people are able to express personal choices...
EM
EmleyMoor
Phileas Fogg posted:
NickyS posted:
These are my personal views. You can argue the poppy one way or the other but how far would you take it. There are symbols used all round the world - do you suggest that BBC World mark all of these as they are a global broadcaster. As for Christmas World don't have a Christmas tree for the same reason - some people don't celebrate it. I think it's right (and it's only a personal view) for BBC World to remain neutral. It's different for domestic broadcasts although having said that I certainly think that this year I haven't seen as many people as usual wearing poppies in the street and wonder if a younger generation would notice one way or the other?


It's one thing to be non-offensive to other cultures and it's quite another to suppress your own culture.

You've said yourself that not as many young people wear poppies or bother to care about past tragedies ... maybe if we weren't so indifferent towards things like poppies this wouldn't be the case.

On the other hand, the decline in poppy wearing might be a symptom, not a cause. But you'd think the BBC would have the wherewithall to avoid demonstrating the symptom of the disease.


But symbols only represent certain messages in certain cultures-therefore what's the point in presenters wearing them on BBC World when they may be meaningless symbols to viewers in certain parts of the globe?

What would do the cause of remembrance more good would be programmes on BBC World reflecting the reason why poppies are worn and why Remembrance Sunday/Armistice Day exist.
WH
Whataday Founding member
noggin posted:
The BBC policy is that all news presenters on domestic outlets should wear poppies during the chosen period.


See, I don't think this is right. I think it trivialises what the poppy symbolises. It's not something which people are made to wear, it's something which people choose to wear.

The responsibility over poppies should lie with the individual, not the broadcaster. Poppies are symbols which are meant to project an individual's respect, not a corporation's.
GA
Gareth Founding member
Whataday posted:
noggin posted:
The BBC policy is that all news presenters on domestic outlets should wear poppies during the chosen period.
The responsibility over poppies should lie with the individual, not the broadcaster. Poppies are symbols which are meant to project an individual's respect, not a corporation's.


I quite agree with you there. On sunday whilst attending a rememberance parade and service one of my fellow Cub leaders refuses to wear a red poppy, prefering to wear a white one - a symbol for all who died in the war not just the military people as supported by the royal british legion with their red poppies. That's his opinion so he therefore didn't wear a poppy.

I noticed tonight that tonight Sophie was wearing her poppy on the wrong shoulder during the 6 O'clock news, it'll be interesting whether this is brought up by any papers tomorrow (hinting towards the Daily Mail - again!)

Gareth

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