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Finally a response from the BBC... but don’t get too excited...

Tuesday 15 March 2011
Here's what the BBC sent me last week in response to my complaint. It took over 11 weeks for them to come up with this.

Dear Ms Moore

Thank you for contacting us regarding ‘Sports Personality of the Year’ broadcast on 19 December 2010. Please accept our apologies for the delay in replying. We know our correspondents appreciate a quick response and we are sorry you have had to wait on this occasion.

I understand you felt there wasn’t enough coverage of female sporting achievement during the programme, and believe it came second after coverage of male sporting success.

There were two segments in the programme dedicated to the sporting achievements of both male and female athletes. The piece titled ‘Girl Power’ praised their determination, power and stated they are the pride and joy of Britain. It was a celebration of female athletes and did not mean cause any offence.

Overall we do feel female sporting achievement was adequately represented but we appreciate you take a different view. Please be assured that your complaint will be added to our audience log, a daily report of audience feedback that’s circulated to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, channel controllers and other senior managers.

The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.

Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.

Needless to say I’ll be taking this further.

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"Girls are becoming increasingly disillusioned about the media's portrayal of women. Over half of those aged 11 to 21 disagree with the statement that 'girls and young women are portrayed fairly in the media'."

The Girls’ Attitudes Survey, Girlguiding UK, 2011