I've written many times about my battles with the BBC.
The routine rarely changes.
An anti-smoking campaign or policy is reported with several supporting quotes but not a single opposing comment.
So I pick up the phone – sometimes late at night or early in the morning – and find myself speaking to a news editor who agrees to include a comment from Forest.
This is duly inserted, sometimes within an hour of the original report appearing, but it can take longer – several hours or, very recently, six days!
This morning I've had to fight on several fronts which I didn't expect because last night it was going so well.
Shortly before 10.00pm I got a call from a Five Live Breakfast producer. Sunday's programme was leading, he said, with a report about a campaign by Public Health England to ban smoking on all hospital sites.
They were interviewing Duncan Selbie, CEO of PHE, after the 8.00am news bulletin. Could they interview me on the back of that?
Yes, I said.
I was sent the PHE press release and told that BBC News online would probably be running the story after midnight.
I emailed our response to Five Live Breakfast thinking they might include a soundbite in the news bulletin.
The next step was to speak to the BBC News online newsdesk to ask if they too would quote Forest.
I spoke to an editor at 22:36. My quote was sent at 22:46 and acknowledged ("Many thanks, Simon – much appreciated") at 22:52.
This morning I got up at 6:30, made myself a coffee, and checked the BBC News website. There was no mention of the PHE campaign.
I turned on the radio to listen to Five Live Breakfast. The campaign for "tobacco-free" hospitals was the top story. It led the news bulletins but there was no opposing comment.
At 7:05 the programme interviewed a senior nurse from London's Maudsley Hospital who talked at length about the need for a comprehensive smoking ban.
At 8:05, as promised, the programme interviewed Duncan Selbie, CEO of Public Health England, who is driving the campaign.
A few minutes before I was due on air I got a call saying the programme no longer needed me. Apparently a nurse opposed to the policy had rung the programme and they were going with him instead.
I listened with interest and what I heard was an NHS employee who was clearly intimidated to find himself on national radio with the CEO of Public Health England.
PHE is doing a great job (or words to that effect) is all I heard him say before the red mist descended (on me, not him).
I rang the Five Live Breakfast office and complained.
"The editor can't speak to you now," I was told. "If you want to make an official complaint someone will call you back after ten."
I didn't have to wait that long. At 8:46 I got a call from another producer. He admitted the nurse had not said on air what they had expected him to say.
Would I come on the programme in the next few minutes? Yes, I said.
And so at 8:50 I found myself talking to presenter Sam Walker.
(To Walker's credit she had done her best throughout the programme to play devil's advocate with interviewees as well as reading out texts and emails from listeners opposed to a ban.)
But that wasn't the end of it. I had also complained about the news bulletins that had repeatedly promoted PHE's campaign without a word of opposition.
At 9:07 I got another call from the programme. The news bulletin was being amended, I was told, to include a clip from my interview with Sam Walker. The clip was duly broadcast at 10.00am – and then dropped.
But I'll leave the best till last.
At 9:15 this morning a report appeared on the BBC News website. It was headlined NHS 'tobacco free' campaign launched by Public Health England and, you've guessed, it contained not a single dissenting voice.
With a heavy heart I picked up the phone (again), spoke to the newsdesk and, lo and behold, an hour later the report was updated to include our response (which you can read here).
So that was my morning (and all before ten o'clock). What was yours like?
PS. I'll be discussing the same issue on Sky News (via Skype) at 1.30. Tune in!
Update: To be fair to the BBC they're not alone. The Sunday Times ran a report today (NHS seeks ban on smoking in hospital grounds).
That didn't include an opposing voice either.
The ST report was written by the health editor while the BBC News report is credited to the Health desk. Spot the connection?