BBC axes the classified results and sets in motion a modern media sh*tstorm

The BBC axed the classified football results from Radio 5 Live’s Sports Report and two days later everybody suddenly realised and got real angry in a very British modern media sh*tstorm…

That’s classified
By now you will all have heard the news. The BBC has axed the reading of the classified football results. You won’t have noticed on Saturday afternoon, of course, because nobody did. That hardly matters now, though. The Mail and Telegraph have shouted about it, and a very modern media sh*tstorm is in full flow.

Firstly, let’s say this. It is a very stupid decision from the BBC. Yes, the addition of the 5.30pm live Premier League commentary has put time pressure on Sports Report, but losing one or two manager reactions to incorporate the full classified results is probably a price worth paying. It is almost inevitable that this decision will be reversed, but only after an entirely avoidable own goal that has given all the BBC’s most disingenuous critics vast ammunition and the upcoming chance to feel smug about forcing a climbdown.

After that, of course, all these angry people can go back to not noticing whether the classified results are there or not.

That’s the thing the BBC didn’t realise with this decision. The BBC spends half its time being criticised by other media outlets for not doing more commercially viable stuff, and half its time being criticised for getting rid of niche stuff that nobody really notices but the existence of which provokes a nostalgic sense of comfort that must be protected at all costs. It is actually a reasonably compelling argument for precisely what the BBC should be. The shipping forecast and the classified football results are the two most obvious such bits of Very British Content. There is no great need for them to exist, evidently very few people actually still rely on them, but it’s strangely reassuring to know they do still exist. We might not listen to the classified results, but it is nice to know that out there in radioland someone with a pleasant voice is reading out the results from the Welsh Premier League. It’s arguably even more worth its spot in the new shortened and thus utterly manic 30-minute Sports Report, given the alternative is another Premier League manager moaning about this or that.

But this row about an ancient broadcasting tradition has produced a very modern media backlash. It’s a perfect blend of nostalgia and fury. Again, it’s very, very British. With the obvious…