The BBC does not take complaints seriously, part 851

I read an article mischaracterising GPs' views about the government's healthcare bill and wrote the following complaint to the BBC:

The BBC news website today ran a prominent story featuring claims by some lobbyists that many GPs support the government's NHS bill. 

The results of a recent survey according to which 90% GPs would support the RCGP in calling for the NHS bill to be withdrawn can be found here http://www.rcgp.org.uk/news/press_releases_and_statements/health_bill_survey_results.aspx

This shows unambiguously that the quoted lobbyists' views are highly unrepresentative of those of GPs as a whole.

Since it does not mention this important information, the BBC story gives the impression that GPs support the NHS bill, when in fact the opposite is true.

Please change the story so as to mention the survey results.

Today this response came back (quoted in full except some irrelevant links):

Many thanks for your message, and interest in the site. The story does reference the fact that the Royal College of GPs is opposed to the government reforms. 

Our extensive coverage of the reforms over many months has given a lot of prominence to the opposition of many of the leading professional groups (see examples below). 

In this instance we felt it was newsworthy that a group of doctors had come out in favour of the reforms, partly because this is not an organised voice from which we have heard much. 

We strive for balance in our news coverage at all times, and while it may be true to say that the majority of doctors have deep concerns about the reforms, this is not a universal view.

What I wrote back:

Thank you for your prompt reply, which I find deeply unsatisfactory.

(i) As far as I or cntrl-f can see, neither the phrase "Royal College of GPs" nor any other information about GPs' overall opinions appears in the article in question. Your claim that "The story does reference the fact that the Royal College of GPs is opposed to the government reforms" is therefore incorrect. I am astonished that you have made such an incompetent error.

(ii) Whether or not your coverage has "given a lot of prominence to the opposition of the leading professional groups" is irrelevant to my complaint, which was that your article gives a misleading impression of GPs' opinions.

(iii) Your account makes your standards of newsworthiness seem bizarre and arbitrary. Needless to say there are many other unrepresentative groups whose organised voices rarely feature on the front page of your website.

(iv) I do not understand what you mean by 'balance' in this context. I struggle to think of an interpretation of the word that would override the duty, which your article strikingly neglects, to give the public an accurate impression of the distribution of GPs' views about healthcare reform.

I repeat, please update your article to make it less misleading, using the information I have provided.

Not even exaggerating about the astonishment: is there not some kind of procedure to ensure that complaint responses are not false?