On BBC coverage of the British National Party

As a Labour Party supporter I would like to play devil’s advocate as we all recognise that internal party debate is important.

We have a long established tradition of neutrality and impartiality in the broadcast media in this country – in contrast to print journalism and, notably American TV Networks (Fox News anyone?) I do not believe that the BBC would be fulfilling any public service by attacking the BNP. In fact, I think it would be welcomed by the ‘Fascists’. They love being underdogs and unpopular because it allows them to position themselves between ‘ordinary folk’ on one side, and the ‘old gang’ (the three major parties) as they put it, on the other. At best the BNP would denounce the BBC as ‘Marxist’ if they were attacked on air. At worst, they could turn it into a propaganda coup by telling their potential voters that the BBC are running scared because the BNP are the only party committed to doing what they promise in manifestos. Either way, they could paint the BBC as nothing more than an arm of the state used to smear the enemies of the sitting government. This is something that I am totally against regardless of the party.

I think the BBC needs to be respected for its impartiality. Louis Theroux does this magnificently for the corporation. In his time as a documentary maker he has interviewed black nationalists, white nationalists and even Baptists who said that deaths the Iraq War was divine retribution for America’s tolerance of homosexuality. Not once in any of these documentaries has Theroux passed any form of judgement on these clearly obnoxious individuals or their ideas. However, through clever questioning he has enabled Joe Public make an informed and enlightened opinion. Such opinions are much more powerful if they are formed by the individual. If the BBC teaches us to hate the BNP it becomes superficial.

We are all ‘liberals’ with a small ‘l’. John Stuart Mill taught us to give a platform to lies because under public scrutiny, or ‘the court of public opinion’ as it is these days called, they will quickly fall apart. It is far more effective to show the BNP for who they are and their questionable ideologies will fall apart well before June 4. Engage in ‘mud slinging’ and the BNP will only throw it back with much greater vigour.


The above post was in response to a letter to the BBC written by local Labour Party activist Kevin Peel:

I am shocked, disgusted and sickened at your coverage of the BNP on prime time news. It is bad enough that they get the oxygen of publicity at all, but your report was not even close to strong enough on attacking their policies of hatred, fear and division.

Impartiality can only go so far - when you are giving credence and legitimacy to a racist, homophobic, fascist party who would see homosexuality re-criminalised, non-white Britons deported and have rioting on the streets of this country, you are at best guilty of complicity in incitement to hatred and at worst positively promoting fascism.

I object in the strongest possible manner to my license money being spent in such a way and I would plead that you at least try to apply the same scrutiny to this bunch of monsters as you do to other political parties. Surely preventing fascism from rising in Britain is more important than the amount our MPs are spending on accommodation?