The BBC received just under 670,000 complaints in the last two years.
This was the number of complaints submitted via the Corporation's own Complaints Framework and does not include many thousands more handled directly by TV Licensing or Ofcom.
The TV Licensing Blog has just conducted an audit of fortnightly complaint reports posted on the BBC website.
We wanted to confirm our suspicions that complaining to the BBC - just like complaining to TV Licensing - is a totally futile effort, as those organisations arrogantly assume they are beyond reproach.
If anyone has ever watched the BBC's Points Of View or Newswatch programmes they will know exactly what we mean by that statement - the BBC seemingly has an excuse or denial in response to every complaint, however justified or indefensible it may be.
We considered complaints submitted to the BBC over the two year period between 11th June 2018 and 7th June 2020. You can view the complaint data and our calculations here.
In that time the BBC received 667,790 so-called "Stage 1" complaints, of which 391,565 related to programming and 276,225 related to non-programming matters. Stage 1 complaints are dealt with by BBC Audience Services.
Programming complaints relate to those TV and radio broadcasts in which the complainant believes the BBC has fallen short of its editorial standards. This could be in terms of taste, decency, accuracy or impartiality. Non-programming complaints encompass a wide range of possibilities, including the content of the BBC website, the off-screen conduct of BBC talent or employees and complaints about the BBC's management its finances and resources.
Under the BBC's Complaints Framework the Corporation aims to respond to all Stage 1 complaints within 10 working days. If the complainant is dissatisfied with the BBC's initial handling of their complaint, they can ask Audience Services to reconsider the matter. If they remain dissatisfied they can escalate their complaint to "Stage 2", which results in its consideration by the BBC Executive Complaints Unit.
It should be stressed that the overwhelming majority of complaints are resolved during Stage 1. Only a very small proportion - those where the complainant persistently rejects being fobbed off - make it as far as Stage 2.
In the two year period considered the BBC Executive Complaints Unit drew 941 Stage 2 complaints to a conclusion. Of those, it rejected almost 90 percent. Around 9 percent were upheld. The remaining 1 percent of Stage 2 complaints were either upheld in part or otherwise resolved. The percentages shown on the pie chart above have been rounded to the nearest whole percent value.
In our opinion the high Stage 2 rejection rate gives cause for concern - it suggests that the BBC has a much higher opinion of its editorial standards than many thousands of complainants do.
We firmly believe that the BBC Executive Complaints Unit is nothing more than a talking shop, just like Points Of View and Newswatch.
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