You may often come to the conclusion that BBC presenters are ignorant of the subjects on which they are interviewing and have undue reliance on, or respect for, the interviewee ‘expert’ and subsequently fail to challenge him or her on their statements…either out of lack of subject knowledge, too much deference or all too often a set of beliefs which are in line with those being stated and so the presenter is disinclined to question them.
It seems that at least one person in the BBC itself has noticed this propensity for sitting back and accepting any old guff as insightful and knowledgeable comment.
William Dalrymple, it should be noted, is an English writer gone ‘native’ in India..one who has an affinity for the Muslim world view…and is inclined to make excuses for the Muslim terrorist….and as he himself says he is…‘an anti-colonial Scot, who has written fiercely critically of the Raj for a quarter of a century. ‘ No wonder perhaps that the BBC asks for his opinion on events so frequently.
This is a letter from a BBC employee to Ariel Magazine concerning an interview with Dalrymple…
‘Historian William Dalrymple was interviewed on Saturday, December 29 on the India rape story.
Twice he made derogatory, inflammatory comments about ‘Jatts’ – the community of North-west region (Punjab) – leaving the listener with an impression it’s this community that is a problem (if not to blame).
At no time was he challenged. Presumably, none of the PM team had heard of Jatts, so had no idea to whom the historian was referring – hence took his ‘expert’ view.
Like me, the majority of Jatts are Sikhs, not Hindus. They’re a minority community in India, mostly farmers, regularly caricatured in Bollywood films as uncouth country bumpkins.
Mr Dalrymple played on this prejudice at what is a highly emotive time in India. We have yet to know more about the accused – who they are, where they come from – but for him to use his interview to demean the Jatts was irresponsible and dangerously misleading.
More importantly, it was also lazy journalism on the part of Saturday PM. It may have been a quiet period during the festive season, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to get a guest who was ‘best fit’ for this sensitive story. Mr Dalrymple was not.
All the team needed to do was to contact the WS Hindi team (London or Delhi) who’d have given good guidance and even suggested the right guest – one or two of the correspondents specialise in women-related issues and guested on World News on the story. All that rich resource at PM’s fingertips – unused. What a waste.
Guess WS Language teams still have a job to register on the radar of ‘big’ national programmes, be they radio or TV. ‘One BBC’ still has a way to go.’
Jat Dhillon, senior producer, BBC Global India TV and World News
Once again, laziness of BBC £4bn organisation exposed. Some junior staff rubber stamp an easy call, a third rate organisation at a first rate price ticket. Does Cameron not get it? The market sorts this kind of crap out, not the Telly Tax. So weak you despair. We deserve and pay for better than this.
This article suggests, to me, towards the consequences of giving employment to meet criteria other than competence, rather than intentional malice by the bbc; ie. the interviewers aren’t up to the job. But then I don’t think the bbc has had a policy of employing the best, regardless of gender, political affiliations or race, for a long time. Because if they did, the majority of their so-called journalists would be white, anglo-saxon males, who don’t have socialist dogma as their primary motivation.
For a further critique of William Dalrymple’s values and historical knowledge, see Hugh Fitzgerald’s long essay (esp, second half):-
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2007/10/fitzgerald-first-thoughts-on-the-debate-we-should-not-be-reluctant-to-assert-the-superiority-of-west.html#more
‘an anti-colonial Scot, who has written fiercely critically of the Raj for a quarter of a century. ‘
Wonder how he gets himself around India…..would it be train, by any chance?
‘At no time was he challenged. Presumably, none of the PM team had heard of Jatts, so had no idea to whom the historian was referring – hence took his ‘expert’ view.’
Welcome to the world of the BBC ‘news’ audience on most topics, mate.
Bet you thought you knew what talent the market rates were for until this point.
A few other posts in that thread noteworthy too.
Interesting which got an answer and which got passed over; along no doubt, with the careers of those posing them.
…this Dalrymple chappie needs to be monitored, lads : if he really is so anti English ( … anti-colonial Scot, fiercely critical of the Raj for a quarter of a century . “” ) he is helping the islamic empire’s cause and needs to be brought to heel .
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