Repeating the “Offensive”

Yet again, the BBC manages to have a story about people complaining something is racist and/or offensive, yet somehow feel they can still get away with republishing it.

In this case, David Jason told a joke that caused offence (and not just because it’s piss-poor) and then apologised for it. And there, at the bottom of the story, is the “offensive” joke in all it’s glory.

I know I’ve said it before, but just how does this work? If it’s actually offensive, the BBC should receive complaints about publicising it to a wider audience. If they don’t receive complaints, does that mean the joke isn’t actually offensive? And if that’s the case, what’s the story in the first place?

But it seems to me that the BBC (and, in fairness, most of the other media organisations) seem to revel in this “Oh, someone said something offensive, so now we’ve got to report it and repeat it” attitude. I don’t know if they get away with it because it suddenly comes under “it’s in the public interest”, or if they’re all just a bunch of deceptive double-standards bullshit bandits.

Ah, I’ve answered my own question, haven’t I?