Gratuitous use of the word Bondage by the BBC (47)

This post is on the BDSM Activism web board.

Tue 3 Jun 08, 1:33 PM
Mac_rame
UK, 8 yrs
Y!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/743332...
Interesting, death by misadventure while having sex in a sling, no hint of asphyxia or foul play but they can't resist trying to smear him with the bondage headline.

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3 Jun 08, 1:35 PM
Degenerate
UK(M), 22 mths
poor guy
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3 Jun 08, 1:39 PM
grahamm
UK, 8 yrs
Y!
Oh, but it wasn't just a "bondage session" it was a "GAY bondage session" which obviously ups the salacious quotient of the article a bit more.
(SPIT)

3 Jun 08, 1:43 PM
spirifer
UK, 3 yrs
Despite the inclusion of the word "bondage", I thought that report was pretty fair and balanced.
The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation - Pierre Trudeau
You ever been rohypnoled by a swan, woke up in Cancun? Well, I have! And it ain't purty!

3 Jun 08, 1:52 PM
Pierced_Knight
UK, 2 yrs
But didn't he die during gay sex bondage whilst using a leather restraining harness that was attached to scaffolding in his bedroom? Have I missed something? Isn't this exactly what bondage is?
Regards,
Pierced Knight.
Educate to Liberate! Liberation through Education!
"ci, jian, bugan wei tianxia xian"
"I'm just a bloody normal bloke. A normal bloke who likes a bit of torture" Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read.

3 Jun 08, 2:12 PM
VenusDeferred
UK, 7 mths

Pierced_Knight wrote:
But didn't he die during gay sex bondage whilst using a leather restraining harness that was attached to scaffolding in his bedroom? Have I missed something? Isn't this exactly what bondage is?
Regards,
Pierced Knight.
"Kevin Greening died from a drugs overdose after taking part in a gay bondage session, an inquest has heard." If he had died from a drugs overdose after doing the gardening, or shopping at Tescos, I doubt the activity previous to his death from a drugs overdose would have been given such prominence.

3 Jun 08, 2:41 PM
Mac_rame
UK, 8 yrs
Y!
I just spoke to a Mr Martin Edwards in the news department attached to the bbc website.
For reference the BBC switchboard number is 020 87438000
He started by saying that he wrote the story.
When I told him I wished to complain about the headline and the content, suddenly he hadn't written the headline, or the content that was someone based in Birmingham.
He told me Mr Greening had died of a drugs overdose and the coroner had reached a verdict of misadventure, as published in the story.
The alleged bondage appears to consist of him being suspended in a sling while indulging in consensual sex.
Mr Edwards believed it would have been irrisponsible not to mention the bondage aspects despite their having no bearing on the cause of death whatsoever.
The Lurid headline and salaciousness of the content is to me unjustifiable from what should be an impartial news organisation.
The Press Association reported the story here http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iTg8F8aU...
The media all appear to use "Gay bondage sex session" when the text of the coroners report states "He was found dead having indulged in unorthodox sexual behaviour involving restraint equipment and illegal drugs. I will say this is a case of misadventure."
No mention of Gay, and bondage mentioned by infrence rather than BONDAGE in capital letters.
Having just spoken to the coroners office about the case I was told that in the evidence there was mention of restraints being used, however irrespective of the restraints he died purely from the drugs rather than anything related to the sexual practice.
Mr Edwards has just contacted me and informed me that the person to address online news stories to is a Mr Hugh Berlyn who is apparently the head of News Online for the BBC.
You can reach him at hugh.berlyn@bbc.co.uk in relation to any BBC story that takes your fancy
Please feel free to pass on the email address to any and all of your friends if you want to complain to a real person about a story on the BBC

Thank you for calling the Mental Health Line. If you are Obsessive-Compulsive please press 1 repeatedly. If you are Co-dependant please ask someone to press 2. If you have Multiple Personalities please press 3,4,5,and 6. If you are Paranoid-Delusional we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line

3 Jun 08, 2:51 PM
Topman1
UK(SW), 5 yrs

Mac_rame wrote:
<huge snip> ....... if you want to complain to a real person about a story on the BBC

Why should anyone want to complain about this story? It satistfies the basis of the BBC as set out in Parliament, "to inform, educate and entertain".

3 Jun 08, 3:04 PM
Trilux
UK, 12 mths

I'm the first person to object whenever BDSM gets sensationalised news coverage. However, I must say that this particular BBC news item struck me as pretty balanced. I mean, just think of the way in which the NOTW would have covered it. True, the tagline "Drug death of bondage session DJ" is pithy, but then taglines always are because they have to summarise the story in 6 words or less.
Trilux

3 Jun 08, 3:12 PM
Pierced_Knight
UK, 2 yrs
But isn't the 'bondage' angle vital to the context of the story, as "Mr Griffin had initially been arrested on suspicion of murder". I'd say that the scene found by the police and ambulance service would have been slightly suspect as "He was found dead having indulged in unorthodox sexual behaviour involving restraint equipment and illegal drugs" and that "at the time, [snip], Mr Greening was still wearing a rubber suit and had cling film and "gaffer tape" around him". ("Honest, guv...it's called mummification!" "Yeah, sure thing sonny. Pull the other one, it's got a nipple clamp attached to it. You're nicked").
The story then goes on to explain that the acts being performed between the couple were consensual:
"Asked by Dr Knapman to confirm that at all times their activity had been "perfectly consensual" between the two men in the privacy of the flat, Mr Griffin replied: "Indeed."
"Kevin and I had a very happy and very vigorous sex life," he said.
"It was not conventional by heterosexual norms perhaps but it was a sex life which was vigorous and imaginative and we enjoyed each other."
It was only after tests were done on the blood of the deceased, that it "found traces of cocaine and ecstasy".
The story nicely takes the fear factor away from the bondage aspect when "Recording his verdict, Mr Knapman said Mr Greening died from a "mixed drugs toxicity" or overdose and not from being held "in a form of bondage".
In summary, I think that the story was handled pretty well and fairly considering that the unknown cause of death (at the time of discovery) leaned pretty much fully towards bondage, considering the circumstances that Mr Greening was found in and the subsequent arrest of Mr Griffin.
Regards,
Pierced Knight.

Educate to Liberate! Liberation through Education!
"ci, jian, bugan wei tianxia xian"
"I'm just a bloody normal bloke. A normal bloke who likes a bit of torture" Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read.
Edited 3 Jun 08, 3:13 PM by Pierced_Knight

3 Jun 08, 3:14 PM
Tanos
UK(M), 11 yrs
Y!
It's a sensationalist headline but it does have to be said he was in clingfilm and gaffer tape when he died. So it was during a "bondage session" (not a "bondage death" for instance) as they say.
Furthermore, they included his partner's comment that it was consensual and that "it was not conventional by heterosexual norms perhaps but it was a sex life which was vigorous and imaginative and we enjoyed each other."
Which is not bad going for a mainstream news story.
Regards,
Tanos
www.tanos.org.uk

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