, I watched the first of this week’s Panorama programmes, the one about Weekend Nazis, and was thoroughly unimpressed. It was a weak and ineffectual edition that achieved little beyond undermining the reputations of Panorama and John Foghorn Sweeney for genuine investigative reporting.
In short, a small number of people get a kick out of dressing up like Nazis and play-acting second world war battles at a show in Kent attended by 100,000 people. David Irving was there quietly flogging some of his books. Some people were selling various bits and pieces of allegedly genuine WW2 memorabilia.
The worst that Foghorn exposed was, shock horror, that one of the weekend Nazis is a police officer and that a couple of others (one of whom was a Dutchman not even from the group Foghorn was investigating), late at night and after much drinking, privately expressed some unpleasant opinions on the subjects of race and immigration, though probably no worse than you’d find in any pub in the land near closing time about any racial group not of the speaker’s own (whether they be Black, White, English, Scottish, whatever).
And that was about the sum of it. The two comments broadcast were recorded on a hidden BBC camera – though of course we were shown none of the preceding context of the conversations or any encouragement that the undercover Beeboid might have given to the speakers. And of course we all know how honest reporters and editors are when it comes to getting the story!
Whoever tipped off Panorama about this enormous threat to society should be crossed off their list of contacts immediately. It might have made for an amusing ten minutes on one of Louis Theroux’s weird weekends, but it certainly wasn’t the ‘telling of stories that powerful people don’t want told’ that Sweeney specialises in.
Here’s a tip for John: Keep sticking it to the real SS threats in Britain:
- the Social Services Nazis who think it’s okay to take children in to the State’s care from loving families on flimsy evidence, get the children adopted by new ‘parents’ (separating brothers and sisters even) and then after that irreversible process is complete, find that there was an innocent explanation all along – and yet still keep their jobs and neither admit their mistakes nor apologise for them. It is such a monstrous and horrific abuse of the State’s power that you should keep banging away at it, for all our sakes please – even if you do a whole series on this topic alone;
- the C
ulthurch of Scientology Shysters. ‘Nuff said.
Thank you.
Strangely, the Weekend Nazis edition of Panorama hasn’t been included in Panorama’s online archive (though a later programme has been). Can any of our resident Beeboids tell us why please?
You can, however, read John Sweeney’s own Times article about the programme, and also The Times’ own, equally unimpressed, review of it.
It is sad that a once great investigative flagship should think that a small number of people dressing up as members of the SS should merit spending so much of our telly-tax money on exposing. Many thousands of people are part of various re-enactment groups: English Civil War, American Civil War, Napoleonic, Knights of the Round Table etc, and I have no doubt that lurking amongst those uninvestigated groups would lurk a few people with viewpoints not approved of by the BBC.
Panorama’s move to “soft-target” journalism has come about because of its falling ratings. Instead of keeping their nerve, holding the high ground and saying we cover the big stories whatever the audience – they panicked. Programmes like the Nazi re-enacters and the even more daft “dog-fighters of Ireland” are a result.
But thankfully it can backfire as the Scientology programme proved. The only reason they ever ran it was because they could shoehorn in film stars like Tom Cruise, Travolta, et al.
And it blew up in their faces – beautiful!
Actually I think they ran it because Scientology released the video of Sweeny exploding over the internet. After that the BBC had no choice – if they hadnt shown it then Sweeny’s explosion would have been completely out of context. I dont personally think Scientology is an easy target – they may be nuts, but they somehow got people to spend billions on their nonsense over the course of just a few years, and theyve been fighting court actions across the world to get recognised as a “real” religion with some success. I suppose the Beeb thought it was only “stupid Americans” they could outwit…
I take MDC’s point that Scientology was not a soft target – you take them on at your peril. It is just that I don’t think the blinkered boys at Panorama would have known that.
I think they just saw it as a quick-turnaround ratings winner with film stars and their own arrogance stopped them from looking into it further.
Which doesn’t take away from my point that their internal failure of nerve coupled with an irredeemable 70’s leftie outlook does not bode well.
Not that there aren’t worthwhile targets out there…who were those people who planted bombs on the tube again?
Can someone send an undercover unit into the BBC please?
Not the BBC obviously…
This programme was really scraping the barrel.
simple
Concentrate on no more then ‘panto’ Nazis while the very real ones running Europe go about their business in peace and quite.
The BBC could find Fascists in a boy scout group if it so desired and most likely someone at the BBC will soon try. However the BBC can not find them anywhere else but in Britain and The US, not even in Iran it seems.
The BBC can not find REAL serious Fascists anywhere important because the BBC has no intention of looking for them where it really matters.
Which is in our present government, other countries governments, or and most especially, in its own BBC offices.
In response to a couple of comments, the Cult of Scientology is not an easy target – the BBC know this well, having covered them before some years back.
Secondly, John Sweeney has done good work highlighting the Scientology Shysters, and even more valuable work covering the stories of families who have been permanently broken up for no good reason by Social Services fascists.
Strangely, the Weekend Nazis edition of Panorama hasn’t been included in Panorama’s online archive (though a later programme has been). Can any of our resident Beeboids tell us why please?
Weekend Nazis wasn’t a Panorama.
Thank you for that information JR. I hope you will understand my confusion, a documentary like that presented by a recent Panorama presenter in the usual Panorama Monday 8.30pm time slot and all! Was it a standalone one-off programme then?
Andrew | Homepage | 02.09.07 – 3:28 pm
Was it a standalone one-off programme then?
Yes.
garypowell | 01.09.07 – 9:22 pm,
Well said. Most people nowadays don’t even understand what it actually means. The term Fascism needs to be redefined. Or rather, everyone needs to be reminded of the salient points of the definition, rather than just the sexy uniforms.
That might open a few minds.