Saturday, April 13, 2013

BBC in controversy for playing "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" in Thatcher funeral coverage

The BBC has defended its decision not to play in full on Radio 1's Official Chart Show a song at the centre of an anti-Baroness Thatcher campaign.
A five second clip of Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead will be played in a news item on Sunday's show.
BBC Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper said the move over the Wizard of Oz film track had been a difficult compromise.
He said he had to balance respect for someone who had just died with issues around freedom of speech.
Sales of the song, from the 1939 musical starring Judy Garland, have soared since former Prime Minister Lady Thatcher's death on Monday, aged 87.
'Grieving family'
Speaking to BBC News, Mr Cooper said: "You have a track which I believe is disrespectful. It is not a political track, it is a personal attack on an individual who has just died.
"But on the other hand, if I ban the track then you have arguments about censorship and freedom of speech.
"I also took into account the very difficult scenario of the fact there's a grieving family involved here who have yet to bury a loved one.
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