Attack on Amateur Beekeepers on BBC Radio Derby – Aleena Naylor programme

[Black Comb]

Ref. the newspaper article.
"Produces 1,000 tons of honey per year"
Hmm, is he packer or a producer?
If he's just a packer then he is not a beekeeper. It says in the same article that he contracts out his hives, so not a beekeeper at all.

 

[stoneleighhouse]

hi Peter S "Littleover Apiary"just a trade mark honey comes from anywhere and everywhere just a bottler really. known locally for being gobby anyway

 

[andycadman]

It seems he has been attacking amateur beekeepers for years:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ears-amateur-keepers-says-honey-producer.html

Why did Radio Derby let him get away with it again, without a balancing point of view on the same programme?

At least this article balanced things out in the end.

 

[rockdoc]

Now I know why Aleena was so touchy when I spoke to her, probably got her ear bent by Mr Andrews!!

 

[andycadman]

I wonder if any of our comments were put out on air, to help balance things out a little.

 

[psafloyd]

Until now I've had far more respect for BBC reporting than I have for newspaper reporting (especially the tabloids). Two recent incidents (this one and a broadcast, by BBC Radio Somerset, about a breast cancer service which contained a pack of lives eventually refuted by NICE) have demonstrated that statements made by interviewees are not being checked before broadcast and - it would seem - interviewees are being allowed to publicly attack others with no defence sought or allowed.

BBC reporters are currently dragging the news and current affairs departments into the gutter.

No, they're not, ANB. And that is quite frankly a ridiculous statement and about as informed as those you have just denigrated. What is that esteem you used to hold based upon?

There is good and bad in every news room and the BBC is quite often a bit superficial, but that is because it is a public service broadcaster and must appeal to everyone at times. Sometimes they just get it wrong and that may be for any number of reasons.

The vast majority of reporting from BBC and newspapers is sound journalism even when it is the kind of pap the mass market wants to read. I'm not for a moment suggesting there aren't a lot of cowboys around or even some who are malicious, but you get them in every walk of life. And sometimes they get caught out.

 

[psafloyd]

For Your Information and to provide balance - Just received:

Dear Andy,
Thanks for your email. I’ve now had a chance to listen back to the interview in question (and the later piece with the bee keepers you mention) and spoken to the producer of the Mid-Morning programme. As you know, we did have a bee keeper on with an alternative point of view during the Afternoon show and Aleena did signpost that to listeners at the time of the first one. Also, it is not uncommon for us to ‘balance’ a point of view over time and not always internally within a programme, it depends on the circumstances.

That said, having listened to both pieces I do think that we could have more fully explored alternative views to the first and I agree that we should do that in the interests of fairness. Therefore we are going to arrange an interview (on the Mid-Morning show) with a different bee keeper in the next few days, to discuss some of the points made. Thanks for getting in touch and giving us some feedback.
Best wishes,

Gary Andrews
Assistant editor, BBC Radio Derby

That is a very good response.

 

[AnotherNewBee]

What is that esteem you used to hold based upon?

The conviction and understanding that any good journalist and his/her supervising editors will check the credibility and accuracy of contributors before they publish any statements they have made.

This has not been of significant importance to the tabloid/gutter press for many years. Rural BBC reporters now appear to be abandoning such honesty and integrity in search of viewing/listening figures or, perhaps, they are simply carelessness and not particularly competent.

Either way, IMO, with few exceptions the Beeb is going the way of the Standard, The Sun, The Daily Wail, The Star etc.

 

[victor meldrew]

I would advise against giving interviews to the local media
I have had photographs published (obviously archived from a previous genuine article ) attached to made up reports attributed to me , the first knowledge to myself being told by friends ," I see you were in XYZ paper again , getting famous you" On seeing said paper ,the report was concocted just to fill a corner so to speak! .
Once A full page article appeared ,complete with photographs ,stating that I was pleading with the local authorities to ensure cavity wall insulation be deployed in all council properties to save the cavities being invaded by both honey and bumble bees only to be subsequently eradicated by pest control officers .
A story is a story is a story !!!
VM

 

[andycadman]

Radio Derby have now arranged an interview with a real beekeeper tomorrow, to balance things out.

Thanks to the pressure on Radio Derby, they have done the right thing and in the end a lot of good could come out of it.

 

[DanBee]

Just remember that Mr. Spacey is not representative of the commercial beekeepers in the UK... so please don't tar us all with that particular brush!

 

[Black Comb]

As far as I can see he is not a commercial beekeeper.
He does not run 40 + hives (from the information posted on here)

He is a honey packer, distributing, in the main (I assume) imported honey.

I wonder if he is in the Commercial Beekeepers Association?

 

[AnotherNewBee]

Just remember that Mr. Spacey is not representative of the commercial beekeepers in the UK... so please don't tar us all with that particular brush!

Indeed not. If the discussion here is to be believed he's not even a beekeeper. (I can talk - basic course starts properly on Saturday).

Just as a matter of interest, where do you find most of the new blood to work in commercial beekeeping? I'm guessing most of it is amateur beeks who have decided they'd like to turn it into a job or business. If so, what's your opinion of the quality of amateur beeks?

 

[andycadman]

Totally agree.

I am sure that Radio Derby will come discover, in no uncertain terms, in the new interview that we are not happy with their misleading ideas that he (Mr Spacey) is connected with local beekeeping and that the DBKA is the best contact with beekeeping matters.

 

[alanf]

Littleover Apiaries have an interesting take on marketing. Their labels are black on gold similar to those used by several bee farms. The wording is "Pure English Honey" or "Pure Organic Honey", some including floral variety. They buy in from all over Eastern England (from the website) for the English, which is fair enough but presenting that as from somewhere calling itself an "Apiary" wouldn't you assume that it was from that apiary? OSR they label as "Brasica napus", described as "all the essence of an "English spring" - something to hide?

Nothing illegal in what they're doing but the labelling is so close to what several of the long established bee farmers do regionally it's not a coincidence. Very close to "passing off". Presentation in supermarkets is often as the only premium English brand, which I guess is better than no English honey at all. The similarity of the "English" and "Organic" labelling could almost be designed to confuse and lead to the assumption that producing English Organic honey is possible on any scale.

As for blaming bee losses "90% of the reason" entirely on poor standards of beekeeping, including that in 1903 amateur beekeepers "brought in bees via the Isle of Wight" that introduced acarine and "100% wiped out the native bee population in the course of a year, Trust me". No thanks, it's nowhere near true. Just as well small scale beekeepers are not better organised, if an inaccurate slur like that were aimed at a commercial enterprise, he'd be sued.

 

[The Cumbrian]

Nothing illegal in what they're doing

I would like a legal opinion on calling yourself an Apiary and implying the Honey comes from the apiary. I know the website says all over Eastern England but calling yourself an Apiary to those who don't read the website implies the Honey comes from the Apiary.

Trading Standards might also have an opinion. Does the rest of the labelling live up to what you have to put on if it is from your Apiary?

 

[psafloyd]

The conviction and understanding that any good journalist and his/her supervising editors will check the credibility and accuracy of contributors before they publish any statements they have made.

This has not been of significant importance to the tabloid/gutter press for many years. Rural BBC reporters now appear to be abandoning such honesty and integrity in search of viewing/listening figures or, perhaps, they are simply carelessness and not particularly competent.

Either way, IMO, with few exceptions the Beeb is going the way of the Standard, The Sun, The Daily Wail, The Star etc.

Much of the tabloid press is indeed excellent journalism, often let down by sensational headlines. Of course, I'm not referring to the more prurient stuff.

Radio and TV have suffered most as 24 hour news means space must be filled and they do. The best example of half arsed don't care reportage, watch breakfast TV.

 

[AnotherNewBee]

You can't knock Bill Turnbull. He's a beek.

 

[Baggyone]

You can't knock Bill Turnbull. He's a beek.

And a bad one at that if you read his book.

Enjoyed the book immensly.

I have to laugh at Littleover Apiary "the home of honey". I wonder if I could use the home of honey as I have my hives at home and i get honey out of them.

Not got the bollocks to say that his spring honey is mainly OSR.

Geezer comes over as a right prick.

baggy

 

[Baggyone]

Hang on a moment. He's using a taste of lincolnshire logo on his website even though he is from derbyshire.

As a employee of a member I will have a word.

Baggy