BBC NEWS proudly report that "More than 1.7 million viewers watched Jerry Springer - The Opera on BBC Two on Saturday, despite the objections of protesters." and state that "At least 45,000 people had contacted the BBC to complain about swearing and religious themes in the opera."

Interestingly in comparison to my earlier quick blog survey, they went on to say that "the BBC said on Sunday that it had received 317 calls since the broadcast, more than half of which had been supportive. Figures showed 28% appreciated the show, 16% were happy it was broadcast, 33% thought it was offensive and 23% though it should not have been broadcast."

The weird thing is that these figures are really very comparable to the views of bloggers, so maybe bloggers views are broadly representative after all.

Strangly BBC News hasnt reported the death threats to its exectives.

Someone is also planning a blasphemy lawsuit so this isnt going to simply go away. Freedom of speech is one thing, freedom to insult anothers religion is something altogether different.