+1

Tin Can image now smaller.

That's much better. Both in size and in ascetics.

That's much better. Both in size and in ascetics.

The BBC has used a controversial exemption in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to block publication of the cost of its royal wedding coverage and the number of complaints it received on the day.

Campaign group Republic, which submitted the requests, is to appeal to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to have the exemption overruled.

The BBC has been widely criticised for misjudging the level of interest in the royal wedding and was predicted to receive an unprecedented number of complaints about its non-stop, wall-to-wall coverage. It had also been attacked for allocating vast sums of resources to the event when other areas of the corporation's output had fallen victim to funding cuts. Over a thousand staff were reportedly sent to cover the wedding, more than five times the number of commercial rival Sky.

Under the FOIA, the BBC can refuse to release information that relates to 'journalism, art or literature'. Justifying the decision, the BBC's Lynne Connoly said that the corporation needed 'a private space in which to produce our content'.

Republic campaign manager Graham Smith said:

'The only conclusion we can draw is that the BBC has something very embarrassing to hide. There is a very significant public interest in knowing how licence fee-payers' money is spent, particularly when it comes to highly controversial issues such as the monarchy.'

'An exemption introduced to protect the independence of the BBC was not intended to shield the corporation from legitimate scrutiny. The BBC must be seen to be impartial and must be seen to be making appropriate decisions based on viewer feedback. If tens of millions of pounds of licence fee payers' money was spent on the wedding, if thousands of viewers lodged complaints about the BBC's coverage, clearly the licence fee payer has the right to know.'

'Throughout its royal wedding coverage the BBC let itself be co-opted into the Palace PR machine. It's time for the BBC to come clean, admit its mistake and move toward more objective and proportionate coverage of royal events.'

People wanted to watch the wedding and even I watched some parts. I think the main concern here is the BBC throwing so much at it, have they not heard of the law of diminishing returns?

The BBC has been widely criticised for misjudging the level of interest in the royal wedding and was predicted to receive an unprecedented number of complaints about its non-stop, wall-to-wall coverage.

That is all.

TBH, this sounds like a certain amount of 'fashionable' anti-Royal sentiment, probably brought on because we're in a recession.

Yes but is that really the reason? I have no problems about the costs especially as the Middletons paid for a large slice of it.