Raging idiocy: RATM complain at BBC bias

After Rage Against The Machine broke their promise not to swear when they went on the Five Live breakfast show, Sheila Fogarty regained control of the situation with a small joke:

"Sorry, we needed to get rid of that because that suddenly turned into something we weren't expecting," Fogarty told listeners. "Well, we were expecting it and we asked them not to do it and they did it anyway ... So buy Joe's records."

An awkward moment deflected with a small piece of wit. Everyone's happy, right?

Well... no, not quite. Oh, it wasn't the swearing that upset people:

The BBC's complaints website said it had "received complaints from people who felt that Shelagh Fogarty urged listeners to buy Joe McElderry's song."

Perhaps these complainants hadn't noticed, but... it was a battle between one company to see who could sell most copies of a song. It wasn't the general election.

Good god, let's hope these listeners never grow up and start listening to Today - "dear BBC, your sports presenter clearly tipped New Year's Lad to win the 3.15 at Pontefract. This is obvious bias against the other horses and someone should do something."

The BBC, though, is slightly less robust in its defence:

Richard Jackson, editor of 5 Live Breakfast, said it was a "light-hearted spontaneous comment and ... should not be construed as a serious recommendation to buy a particular record".

He added: "This year, in a light-hearted way in keeping with the tone of 5 Live Breakfast, Nicky said he was backing Rage Against the Machine and Shelagh said she was backing Joe. This was in no way a serious endorsement and was never intended to influence anyone's buying habits.

"Regular listeners to the programme would have appreciated this was entirely in line with the banter that is part of the programme's style. We featured the debate on our phone-in and we have interviewed both Joe McElderry and Rage Against the Machine to ensure we have properly covered both sides of the story. David Cameron even gave his view at the end of an interview."

Oh, you asked David Cameron, did you? Why didn't you ask Gordon Brown, you biased gits?

Actually, Alex Salmond is probably already putting together a complaint for the Electoral Commission bemoaning the SNP's absence from the debate.