Since this program was aired, I have sent three emails to the editorial team of the program.
In these emails I asked them:
To explain to viewers exactly what it was that made the knives on the program illegal.
I asked them to correct the misleading impression given by e-bay banning "all" knife sales, that all knives on e-bay were illegal, and by implication suggesting that all knives anywhere, except cutlery, were illegal, and,
To explain the correct legal position over knives eg sub 3in, non locking blade legal in public place, others with good cause etc, etc.
Yesterday, much to my surprise I got a reply from the Watchdog editor, however, this turned out to be a standard reply saying they had taken the best legal advice and were perfectly happy with the way they had represented the issues, blah, blah.
I replied saying they had missed the point of my emails and repeated my requests.
Today I got a proper reply, thanking me for raising some interesting points and saying that they are considering how they should respond to them. It has to be said it didn't sound too hopeful that they will do an item on the program but it did sound as if they might add something to their web site and on the discussion forum.
While this isn't much, to be honest, I didn't expect any response at all, let alone a response that suggested they actually had any interest in what I had to say. As this is the first time I have ever complained about a TV program maybe I was being unfair expecting to be ignored.
I will be interested to see if anything comes of it.
Graham
In these emails I asked them:
To explain to viewers exactly what it was that made the knives on the program illegal.
I asked them to correct the misleading impression given by e-bay banning "all" knife sales, that all knives on e-bay were illegal, and by implication suggesting that all knives anywhere, except cutlery, were illegal, and,
To explain the correct legal position over knives eg sub 3in, non locking blade legal in public place, others with good cause etc, etc.
Yesterday, much to my surprise I got a reply from the Watchdog editor, however, this turned out to be a standard reply saying they had taken the best legal advice and were perfectly happy with the way they had represented the issues, blah, blah.
I replied saying they had missed the point of my emails and repeated my requests.
Today I got a proper reply, thanking me for raising some interesting points and saying that they are considering how they should respond to them. It has to be said it didn't sound too hopeful that they will do an item on the program but it did sound as if they might add something to their web site and on the discussion forum.
While this isn't much, to be honest, I didn't expect any response at all, let alone a response that suggested they actually had any interest in what I had to say. As this is the first time I have ever complained about a TV program maybe I was being unfair expecting to be ignored.
I will be interested to see if anything comes of it.
Graham
