In March and April,
there was constant BBC coverage of Labour’s problems with
antisemitism. One piece,
in March, talked about a ‘saga’. I have no general problem with
this coverage. Labour does have a problem, so it should be covered by
the BBC. However there has been far less coverage of the problems the
Conservative party has with Islamophobia. Is there an objective
reason to justify this?
The antisemitism
story was notable for two important reasons. First religious
organisations had publicly complained. Second these complaints had
been supported by prominent Labour figures. However exactly the same
applies to Islamophobia. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) have
called
for an inquiry, as have other leaders and groups. Sayeeda Warsi,
former co-chairman of the Conservative party, has repeatedly called
for more action (the latest here).
But to suggest
equivalence between the two stories is misleading. The Conservatives’
Islamophobia problem is a much bigger issue for two reasons. First,
the senior Conservative Sajid Javid has attacked
the MCB for harbouring members with unacceptable views on extremism
and not representing Muslims. In contrast Labour leaders have not
attacked the Jewish organisations in the same way (by saying, for example, that their views come from a pro-Israel stance), and have met
directly with them. Whatever the truth of Javid’s claim about
extremism, the charge that they are unrepresentative is rather
undermined by an organisation affiliated to the Conservative party,
the Conservative Muslim Forum, also calling
for an inquiry. (Letter to Theresa May here.)
Second, while Labour
has never to my knowledge run an anti-Jewish campaign to win a
general or mayoral election, the Conservatives did exactly
that against Sadiq Khan who is now mayor of London. David Cameron
even libeled an ex-Imam in his attempts
to link Khan to Muslim terrorism.
Thus on any
objective criteria, the Conservative Islamophobia problem has been a
more serious story than Labour antisemistism. Yet the balance on the
BBC has been the other way around, with far more coverage of the
latter than the former.
What is the source
of the bias? One may be that BBC News tends to ‘follow the story’,
which invariably
means following stories in the press. Corbyn has few friends in the
major press titles, whereas the Conservatives are openly supported be
much of the press. Another, I’m afraid to say, is that the BBC is
very reluctant to criticise the government on its own account,
something that goes back many years.
Case studies such as
these are critical in establishing that the media has a clear bias
against the current Labour leadership. (There are others: this
is rather fun, and also academic research: here
for example) The BBC itself, which is deluged with criticism from all
quarters, seems to find it difficult to sort the wheat from the
chaff. The classic line that because they get criticism from both
sides they must be doing something right is nonsense. The political
right in particular, because they know the BBC is sensitive to
criticism, puts a lot of resources into criticising the BBC, and it
will continue to do so whatever the BBC’s output.
All this presumes
that Islamophobia and Antisemtism are viewed as equally bad. I
personally think they should be, but unfortunately terrorism and
Western wars in Islamic countries may have confused many people. Here
is Sajid Javid again:
“All communities can do more to try and help deal with terrorists, try and help track them down. But I think it is absolutely fair to say that there is a special burden on Muslim communities because whether we like it or not these terrorists call themselves Muslims. It is no good for people to say they are not Muslims, that is what they call themselves. They do try to take what is a great peaceful religion and warp it for their own means.”
The idea that
Muslims bear a ‘special burden’ has been the excuse used by
the right wing press for consistent
Islamophobia. When a member of the ‘non-Muslim community’ kills
Muslims outside of a mosque, and says when arrested that he wanted to
kill all Muslims, he is described by the Times as a mentally troubled
lone-wolf, as if to emphasise that there is no special burden there.
As in so many things, the irresponsibility of the right wing press
has influenced sections of society for the worse. Perhaps it has also
influenced the BBC.
