Here is a chance to make a concerted effort to send the BBC`s Top Gear programme, that mouthpiece for car fanatics presented by chief petrolhead Jeremy Clarkson, to the scrapheap.
The BBC is inviting viewers to have their say on the future of the BBC. Although the consultation is ostensibly about commenting on the Green Paper and future options for the role and governance of the BBC, it provides an opportunity to comment on programme content, for example:
... To call for more balanced reporting on transport, ie putting the environmental/social angle, and for the BBC to play a higher profile role in educating the public about sustainability issues, for example the contribution of transport to climate change.
... To call for `motormania` programmes such as Top Gear to be scrapped on the grounds that they glamorise speed and the use of vehicles with high fuel consumption.
Campaigners argue that Top Gear has a number of key faults:
•It glamorises speed and fails to make the connection with danger on the roads.
•It encourages an obsession with unnecessarily powerful and therefore heavily polluting cars.
•Through use of Jeremy Clarkson as presenter, with his distinctive image, it is in danger of encouraging a ‘yobbish’ attitude on the road.
•It does not focus enough, if at all, on responsible driving, ‘greener’ cars, road safety or the need to cut car journeys and use alternatives where possible.
•Through its recurring ‘macho’ themes of speed and power, it fails to include the interests of most women in its programmes.
Transport 2000’s suggestion is for a new programme, perhaps called Third Gear, devoted to encouraging responsible motoring based on less environmentally damaging cars, considerate and safety-conscious driving, and exploration of alternatives to the car.
The on-line questionnaire can be filled in at:
http://www.bbccharterreview.org.uk/h...stionnaire.doc
Alternatively, email your comments to
[email protected]