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"BBC will lose trust for giving BNP airtime"

Jono

By Jono
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Jono

Jono

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A BBC presenter has attacked the decision to invite the leader of the British National Party (BNP) on to BBC1's Question Time tonight, warning that the move "completely contradicts" rules on impartiality and would erode the public's trust in the Corporation.

Michael Rosen, the former children's laureate, accused the broadcaster of "hiding behind" the BNP's European election victories to justify its decision, adding that executives "were relishing" the ratings that the broadcast is expected to receive. "It is failing in the very impartiality that it claims to be trying to uphold," he said.

The BBC Trust is due to be handed a letter from anti-fascist protesters this morning calling for the decision to invite Mr Griffin to take part in the programme to be reversed.

However, last night the Trust rejected an appeal by the Welsh Secretary, Peter Hain, to block Mr Griffin's appearance because the BNP had an illegal constitution.

The media have been prevented from attending the recording of the show, or even watching a live feed. A spokesman cited "logistical" reasons, but in the past, journalists have been allowed to watch a live feed of the broadcast. The programme will be recorded earlier than normal to allow editors to delete any libellous comments.

Rosen, who presents Radio 4's Word of Mouth, said that the Corporation had "utterly failed in its journalistic duties" in its attitude to handling the BNP after two members who appeared on Radio 1 said the England footballer Ashley Cole was not "ethnically British".

He added that the BBC's championing of the "trust agenda", introduced after controversy over a documentary about the Queen, had been ignored in pushing ahead with Mr Griffin's appearance. "It will lose my trust and that of others if it goes ahead with this," he said. "The BBC is not just any ordinary organisation. It is like a public place – we all own it and need to be a part of it. It has a responsibility to everyone.

"They make this very clear when you work for them. If I were to say anything remotely similar to the things Nick Griffin has said and will say tonight, I would not be allowed on. The BNP's whole notion of reversing immigration rests on the notion that many people shouldn't be here. In crude BBC terms, the people that the BNP target are licence fee payers."

He added: "The BBC is obsessed with putting things 'through compliance', to ensure no one will find programmes politically, sexually or socially offensive. I have been stopped from reading a poem that contained one swear word before. Yet while they go into palpitations over things Jonathan Ross says, they are allowing Nick Griffin airtime to say things that will offend millions."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bbc-will-lose-trust-for-giving-airtime-to-bnp-1806876.html

Do you agree?

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yorkieboy

yorkieboy

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All we seem to hear from the BNP is that there 'the most lied about party in Britain, always being victimised etc...'. Nick Griffin would absolutely love it if they blocked his appearance on QT. Interesting the people who I know complaining about the BNP getting all the publicity are all the ones giving them free publicity with their anti-BNP fb groups etc.

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KingTutsWWH

KingTutsWWH

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I'm afraid I disagree with this article. Much as I despise Griffin's ideas and policies, I do believe all political parties should have an equal right to express their opinion, no matter how repulsive and bigoted it is.

I will be watching, and am looking forward to seeing him being torn to shreds this evening. Wonder if he's feeling nervous.

What I do disapprove of is the fact that he is being treated differently by the BBC to all other politicians, basically to provide them with a safety net. If he does make libellous comments, these are no reflection on the BBC, they are his own views. The programme should not be pre-recorded etc., it ought to be filmed as it normally is.

'To disagree with three-fourths of the British public is one of the first requisites of sanity'.

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E*F*4L

E*F*4L

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i like this quote;

"The BBC is not just any ordinary organisation. It is like a public place – we all own it and need to be a part of it. It has a responsibility to everyone."

yes we all own it, even the people who voted BNP & thus has a responsibility to the 6% of people who voted for them.

:)

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E*F*4L

E*F*4L

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Jack Straw reckons it will not fail to deliver in upstaging the BNP.

Apparently it's mostly about the BNP policies and a bit about Daily Mail's Jan Moir, so Alan you'll be in your element ;)

about the Daily Mail yes (depends what they are) & NOT the BNP policies.

from the bits i have seen on the news the rest of the panel they keep trying to remind him of the BNP's past instead of seeing if he has any new policies.

:)

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Emma

Emma

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I missed it so I'll catch up with it some time but yeah...so they should have the right to be on air. The BBC used to (not sure if it still applies today) only let political parties on air once they'd achieved national representation. In this case, they have fulfilled that criteria, and are therefore able to put their views across.

Alouette...deployer les ailes;

Alouette...plumerai les ailes.

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E*F*4L

E*F*4L

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waste of time.

everyone knows what the BNP's views are, that's why people vote for them so instead of having a political debate about current events or policy as Question Time normally is, all we got was a panel who's only way to respond to the BNP's views was to attack them by what they had said & done in the past,

if they had engaged Nick in a policy discussion he would have fallen apart, but no, so by choosing to all gang up on Nick some viewers may have seen Nick as a victim ?

as for the Jane Moir issue, oh how they all stood up for free speech when it was mentioned :rolleyes:

:)

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E*F*4L

E*F*4L

Posted
Posted
Put your hand up if you were surprised by this.

What? no hands? Fair dos.

well, it seems rather ironic because the members of the Question Time panel didn't want Nick to speak.

they even said that what Jane had said was wrong, but she still has the right to say what she did & it was right for the Daily Mail to publish it, under the banner of freedom speech & freedom of the press.

:)

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E*F*4L

E*F*4L

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Which one of the panel didn't want Griffin to speak?

none of them,

none of the main political parties wanted to share the stage with a BNP member until they realized that the BBC was right & that the BBC wouldn't change it's mind, then when Nick tried to answer a question on most occasions he was shouted down.

i have always watched Question Time & as i said before usually it is a political discussion, but not tonight it played into the BNP's hands.

i'm not the only one thinking this, the comments on the BBC boards & many of the callers on 5Live, have expressed similar concerns.

:)

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Emma

Emma

Posted
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waste of time.

everyone knows what the BNP's views are, that's why people vote for them so instead of having a political debate about current events or policy as Question Time normally is, all we got was a panel who's only way to respond to the BNP's views was to attack them by what they had said & done in the past,

if they had engaged Nick in a policy discussion he would have fallen apart, but no, so by choosing to all gang up on Nick some viewers may have seen Nick as a victim ?

as for the Jane Moir issue, oh how they all stood up for free speech when it was mentioned :rolleyes:

Everyone knows what the other political parties' views are though too!

Alouette...deployer les ailes;

Alouette...plumerai les ailes.

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KingTutsWWH

KingTutsWWH

Posted
Posted
waste of time.

everyone knows what the BNP's views are, that's why people vote for them so instead of having a political debate about current events or policy as Question Time normally is, all we got was a panel who's only way to respond to the BNP's views was to attack them by what they had said & done in the past,

if they had engaged Nick in a policy discussion he would have fallen apart, but no, so by choosing to all gang up on Nick some viewers may have seen Nick as a victim ?

as for the Jane Moir issue, oh how they all stood up for free speech when it was mentioned :rolleyes:

I agree with some of this. I did feel a little short-changed by the programme as I don't think Griffin was given enough opportunity to speak. I wanted to hear more from him... give him enough rope to hang himself, so to speak, by having to explain his repugnant policies.

I'm not sure whether this was Dimbleby's fault, or if it was down to the fact that Griffin is basically pretty crap at speaking in public, whereas the other politicians seemed to manage to dominate the evening pretty successfully. Straw in particular.

I don't believe, however that 'everyone knows what the BNP's views are'. People appear to be pretty ill-informed about what the BNP stands for, but unfortunately some of them are ignorant enough to vote for them nonetheless. It does seem a shame that Griffin wasn't allowed to expand on his policies, as he would certainly have lost a fair few votes.

The debate also seemed very centred on racism, and allocated precious little time to the BNP's views on religion, homosexuality and various other issues.

Hopefully, as one of the speakers said, inviting him onto the programme has encouraged people to become more informed about the BNP, via the internet for example.

Everyone knows what the other political parties' views are though too!

I honestly don't think they do Ems.

I must live a sheltered life as i'd never heard of nick griffin or the bnp untill yesterday afternoon,also don't wish to hear anymore either

This proves my above point, unless there's some intentional irony on your part.

Where's Serin? :cry:

'To disagree with three-fourths of the British public is one of the first requisites of sanity'.

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sinister

sinister

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Posted

I did enjoy seeing griffin squirm when he trotted out the same old shite about his holocaust denial.

Adolph Griffin: "I can't tell you why I've changed my mind because of European Law"

Straw: I'm home secretary, I can fix that for you, in fact there's no law in the UK that prevents you from explaining"

Adolph Griffin: "I can't tell you why I've changed my mind because of European Law" (repeat until fade)

'The light at the end of the tunnel was the light of an oncoming train'

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