BBC news and the riots

Like many in the Black community, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) have felt anger and dismay in the way the BBC has covered the riots, in particular, characterising the disturbances as a ‘Black problem’.

In one not-so-subtle incident, Newsnight held a discussion about disturbances with four Black individuals: Shaun Bailey, Diane Abbott MP, Katherine Burbalsingh and a former ‘gang member’. Invariably the discussion was around who was to blame for Black youths being involved, even though many different ethnic communities took part. A continuation of the debate at a more intellectual and political level was undertaken by the Guardian’s Zoe Williams and a former advisor to the Prime Minister, who were both white.

This and other incidents have led the NABJ sending an unprecedented letter of rebuke to BBC bosses.

The letter opens by stating that the NABJ “is disappointed to learn that the BBC, an organization long known for accuracy and impartiality, is failing to adhere to its own values”.

The group’s displeasure with the world’s largest broadcaster stems from the BBC’s inflammatory treatment of race in light of London’s recent riots, which rocked the country for four days. They cite a number of incidents in their letter that displayed a “stunning lack of sensitivity” and ask whether they display “shocking incompetence or racism.”

On August 8, during the peak of the rioting, the BBC’s phone-in radio programme World Have Your Say posed a problematic query for its listeners, asking the startlingly simple question: “Is there a problem with young Black men?”

This infers, as the NABJ points out, that last week’s violence came only from the hands of Black Brits and demonstrates that “Black people in Britain have not been afforded the same respect given to others.”

The NABJ also refers to a comment made by historian David Starkey on the BBC’s Newsnight television programme. Stating that the problem with this month’s riots is that “the Whites have become Black”, Starkey’s reference to the race of the rioters went unchallenged by the programme’s host.

“By allowing the comment to go unchallenged,” asked Gregory H. Lee Jr, President of the NABJ, “was the BBC agreeing with the inference that becoming black is monolithically synonymous with being violent?”

According to the NABJ’s open letter, these episodes, along with a BBC anchor’s now-infamous mislabelling of veteran civil rights activist Darcus Howe as a former rioter, “raises the question of whether the BBC’s senior editorial ranks need better racial and philosophical diversity to avoid being blind to such insensitive incidents.”

Simon Woolley

Picture: Darcus Howe on BBC News