The Roma, BG and the BBC


Thanks for contacting the BBC. This is to confirm we’ve received the attached complaint sent in this name. We’ve included the text of the complaint and a case reference for your records (see below). 

Our normal aim is to reply at this stage within 10 working days (two weeks), but we hope you will understand that sometimes we are unable to respond by then. We will let you know beforehand if we think it may take us longer.

We’ll normally include your complaint in our overnight report to producers and management. This will circulate your and all complaints with other reaction we receive today (but with any personal details removed) so it will then be available for the right team to read tomorrow morning.

For full details of our complaints process please visit: https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/how-we-handle-your-complaint. Please don’t reply to this email because it’s an automated acknowledgement sent from an account which can’t receive replies. If you do need to get in touch, please use our webform instead at www.bbc.co.uk/complaints, quoting your reference number.

Here are the details of your complaint: 


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YOUR COMPLAINT: 

One-sided reporting (Roma in Bulgaria) 

Dear Sir or Madam,

My wife and I live in Bulgaria, although we are both UK citizens. In fact, we have owned property in Bulgaria for sixteen years. Like many Brits who have bought property here, we love Bulgaria and would like our adopted country to be shown in a fair and balanced manner.

I would therefore like to complain about the unfair and inaccurate reporting in the recent video piece about the Roma (gypsies) in Bulgaria. In fact, this piece was filmed in the city of Sliven, just down the road from where we live in the village of Daveri. 

Yes, it is true that there are some poor living conditions in Bulgaria and some crumbling infrastructure (it is, after all, one of the poorest countries in Europe). But these things are not confined to the Roma. Yes, it is true that many Roma are unemployed, but again this is a common problem in Bulgaria at the moment and the current pandemic has made things worse. BREXIT has had a negative effect on different sections of Bulgarian society. For example, a Bulgarian friend of mine is a naval officer and he and his family were very happy to be living in the UK. After BREXIT, they did not feel welcome and left. Therefore I feel that this piece about the Roma in Sliven is rather one-sided and unfair.

Instead of making one-sided videos that show Bulgaria in a negative light, how about some news articles about Brits who are able to afford their own property in Bulgaria, something that we could never do in the UK? How about some pictures of the beautiful Bulgarian countryside, instead of crumbling concrete?

Simon Hill


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Thank you again for contacting us, 

BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints



Well, I did get a rather long-winded reply from the BBC and it said, "Thank you for contacting us." That is just about all it did say. I thought that they might have written and told me how and why they disagreed with me. Or else (yes, rather unlikely, I have to admit) they could have replied and told me yes, we agree with you, Mr. Hill. But really they did not say very much at all. Hmm.  

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