The Complaints
The complaint about the on-air discussion came from a black female journalist in the BBC GMR Newsroom. James knew she felt strongly about racial matters, and had always believed that she understood his viewpoint and what he had consistently tried to do in the field of broadcasting about race relations.
Ms. Hannah claimed that two complaints were made as a result of the Presenters' Meeting. She told James that one of the complaints came from someone who was at the Meeting but "not a presenter". It is not clear who Ms Hannah meant by that, but the only non-broadcaster present has vehemently denied making any complaint.
The only complaint arising from the Presenters' Meeting of which James is aware came from Richard Ewart (right). Mr. Ewart's wife is black, a fact of which James was aware. At one time she, too, worked at GMR.
[Mr. Ewart left the station in November 1999. At the time of Ms Hannah's intention to put James H. Reeve on the Breakfast Show in place of Mike Kiddey, she said privately that she did not intend to renew Mr. Ewart's contract in November 1998, citing problems with "his attitude" as one of her reasons. James argued against this, pointing out that Mr. Ewart was, despite his sometimes difficult behaviour, a good broadcaster, and that it was part of Ms Hannah's managerial responsibility to encourage an improvement in his attitude and to continue to utilise his more desirable qualities. Ms Hannah agreed, saying she would give him the opportunity to improve his demeanour. Mr. Ewart enjoyed a further year's employment. However, his contract was not renewed thereafter. He is now working in Hong Kong]
Whilst James is aware of the complaints made by his colleagues, he has seen no evidence of the alleged complaints from listeners, nor has the identity of the third complainant from among the staff been established
The mail which was forwarded to him from BBC GMR was entirely supportive and overwhelmingly critical of the Station's handling of the matter.
Some examples are reproduced here:-
Click on the thumbnail to read. The letters are genuine; for Web purposes they have been transcribed. The names and addresses have been withheld for the security of the writers.
Click on the radio to continue
