How Free is our 'Free Press' following Charlie Hebdo

[Teddy Bear]

As ever, Douglas Murray puts it excellently.

Charlie Hebdo stood alone. What does that say about our ‘free’ press?
Douglas Murray

Over the coming hours and days there will be a lot of talk – largely by anonymous Twitter warriors – about the need to express ‘solidarity’ with Charlie Hebdo. Many others will say how important it is to ensure that ‘the terrorists and fundamentalists don’t win.’

But the terrorists and fundamentalists are winning and for the moment it looks like they will keep winning. Because even before today Charlie Hebdo already stood alone. In the wake of the 2005 Danish cartoons affair no other major newspaper or magazine in Europe was willing to keep running depictions of Islam’s founder. Of course they said they didn’t publish, or republish, because they didn’t want to cause offence, or because they thought the (wholly innocuous) depictions were wilfully ‘provocative’ and the like. And of course Jyllands Posten is a conservative, ‘right-wing’ newspaper.

But they will say the same thing now. And the left-wing Charlie Hebdo will be abandoned now even more than the right-wing Jyllands Posten was back then. People will come up with various excuses, but in truth they won’t publish because they are afraid. The remaining staff of Charlie Hebdo could hardly be more alone.

There is only one way in which this couldn’t remain the case: if tomorrow, or some day this week every newspaper and magazine in Europe, the front-page of the BBC and Channel 4 News websites and every other major news site simultaneously published a set of Charlie Hebdo’s depictions of Mohammed among others. I put this suggestion to the BBC today during an interview and was told by the presenter that ‘in fairness’ to the BBC they had earlier retweeted Charlie Hebdo’s recent cartoon of ISIS’s leader al-Baghdadi. Which, of course, isn’t quite the same thing. Some readers may recall that during the Danish cartoon affair Channel 4 ran a live programme on freedom of speech which included a live vote as to whether or not Channel 4 should show the cartoons. The public voted that they should. And then Channel 4 unilaterally decided to ignore the public’s wishes and would not show the cartoons.

It was around the same time that Ayaan Hirsi Ali put it best. She suggested in the wake of the Danish cartoons affair that ‘we have to spread the risk.’ But the free press didn’t spread it around then. And I very much doubt that they will now. I know all the arguments. I know the fears – that someone from the typing pool or on the front desk will be the target. I’ve heard every possible argument over the years.

And that is why I can safely say that the free press will fail this latest test too. For all its historic traditions, its self back-slapping for its alleged ‘bravery’ and so on, there are only a couple of tiny outcrops of freedom. The rest of the vast, powerful, fearless, outspoken tradition that is the Western press is too intimidated to publish a single cartoon that might conveivably provoke a Muslim.

This is what it looks like to lose a freedom. Not many people will care today. But they will tomorrow, or another day in the future.

[Teddy Bear]

Yesterday 10,000 Muslims held a demonstration outside Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence against the publication of Mohammed cartoons.
That's a fairly big demonstration and says a lot about those in this country who are against free speech.
Speaking of which, there is NOTHING on it by our national broadcaster.

BBC = "Je Suis Char(ter) Lie, Free speech - so long as it coincides with our agenda"

MUSLIMS PROTEST DOWNING STREET, WARNING BRITAIN NOT TO INSULT MOHAMMED

by ANDRE WALKER

Ten thousand Muslims are protesting outside Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence against the publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed. The cartoons – which led to the brutal massacre at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo – were described by the group as a “violation of Islamic law”.

The crowd held banners saying “Charlie and the abuse factory” and “learn some manners” as they called for the world to observe Muslim blasphemy rules. The group taunted the grieving families and supporters of the murdered Charlie Hebdo journalists by using the “#JeSuisCharlie” hashtag to tweet pictures of the rally.

Men and women were divided within the protest as they waved a huge “Be Careful With The Prophet” banner close to the Cenotaph. The sign was widely taken as a direct threat to British military forces, whose lives are commemorated at the memorial.

The protest was organised by the Muslim Action Forum (MAF), which said that the Charlie Hebdo cartoons had helped “sow the seeds of hatred” and had damaged community relations.

British media refused to show the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, despite repeated requests from French journalists. This led Shaykh Noor Siddiqi, from the MAF to tell the rally: “The actions of the UK media in not publishing the cartoons is highly appreciated by British Muslims and we hope that this kind of self-restraint and mutual respect will ultimately lead to a harmonious society.”

At the rally the MAF handed out leaflets that read: “The recent re-publishing of the cartoons, caricatures and depictions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) by Charlie Hebdo magazine and other publishers is a stark reminder that freedom of speech if regularly utilised to insult personalities that others consider sacred.

“Such actions are deliberating insulting and provoking to Muslims worldwide as British citizens, we believe that these publications will continue to ‘sow the seeds of hatred’ and damage community relations.”

The video blogger Pat Condell, who is known for his criticism of Islam responded to the protests by saying: “Their religion’s responsible for so much evil, yet all they can protest about is cartoons. Contemptible.”

Whilst around ten thousand Muslims attended the protest a total of one hundred thousand signed a petition that was handed in to number 10 Downing Street. It says the production of cartoons of Mohammed are “an affront to the norms of civilised society”.

At one point during protest stopped for prayers and they whole crowd prayed toward Mecca.

[thehighlandrebel]

Good points about freedom of speech and expression - I of course expected those cowards who call themselves politicians to deny us our rights for the sake of 'community cohesion' but when the police start intimidating law abiding citizens then it's time to start worrying.

www.barenakedislam.com/2015/02/09/ukgb-why-were-uk-police-asking-newsagents-for-names-of-customers-who-bought-satirical-magazine-charlie-hebdo-in-the-wake-of-paris-massacre/

[Teddy Bear]

Funnily enough the BBC have no problem reporting that story, but 10,000 religion of peaceniks surrounding the Prime Ministers residence just doesn't seem newsworthy to them.

One can only imagine the 'thought process' of the BBC editor who decided not to run it.

[Teddy Bear]

Somebody complained to the BBC about their not producing any report about the protest against free speech by 10,000 Muslims outside Downing Street. Here's the reply he received:

Thanks for recently contacting the BBC. We aim to reply to complaints within 10 working days (around 2 weeks) and do so for most of them but cannot for all. The time taken depends on the nature of your complaint, how many others we are dealing with and can also be affected by practical issues such as whether a production team is available or away on location.

This is to let you know that we have referred your complaint to the relevant staff but that it may take longer than 10 working days to reply. We therefore ask you not to contact us further in the meantime. If it does prove necessary however, please use our webform, quoting any reference number we provided. This is an automatic email sent from an account which is not monitored so you cannot reply to this email address.

In order to use the licence fee efficiently we may not investigate every issue if it does not suggest a substantive breach of guidelines, or may send the same reply to everyone if others have complained about the same issue. You can read full details of our complaints procedures and how we consider the issues raised in feedback at www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle-complaint/. In the meantime we’d like to thank you for contacting us with your concerns. We appreciate your patience in awaiting a response.

Kind regards”

Obviously a very difficult question for them.

[thehighlandrebel]

I've had a few of them clutter my inbox over the years but have never got a proper reply yet.

'Who pays the piper calls the tune' apparently not at the (Muslim) Brotherhood Broadcasting Corporation

[Teddy Bear]

A further reply regarding the complaint made above was received from the BBC.
Basically it says 'we decide which stories we want to cover, and if you don't like it tough shit'.

“Thank you for contacting us about BBC News. I understand you were concerned that BBC News did not cover the Muslim Action Forum protest at Downing Street on 8th February.

I can appreciate that you felt this event should have been reported on so I’m sorry if you were disappointed with the lack of coverage.

We know that not everyone will agree with our choices on which stories to cover, and the prominence that we give to them. These are subjective decisions made by our news editors, and we accept that not everyone will think that we are correct on each occasion.

There are several factors that we take into consideration when deciding how to put together our news bulletins. For example, whether the story is new and requires immediate coverage, how unusual the story is, and how much national interest there is in the story.

However, we appreciate the feedback that our viewers and listeners give us when they feel a story has been overlooked or marginalised and I am grateful that you have taken the time to contact us regarding this matter.

Please be assured that I have included your complaint on our audience feedback report which is sent to news editors, programme producers and senior management each morning. These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC and ensures that your complaint has been seen by the right people quickly. This helps inform their decisions about current and future programmes.

Thanks again for getting in touch.

Kind regards

Jannine Matthews

BBC Complaints

[Teddy Bear]

As if further proof was needed of BBC bias with regard to reporting of Islamic matters, today a rally was held in Newcastle by the UK branch of PEGIDA, the German founded group opposing the Islamisation of Europe.

Though only 400 people attended this rally, unlike the 10,000 Muslims rallying against free speech outside Downing St. which the BBC chose to ignore, the BBC felt this rally was worth reporting.

Note in the article it tells us in the first paragraph that there was a counter demonstration of 2000 protesters. But according to one of the BBC reporters who was present giving her account later in the article, there were about 1000 counter protesters.

You can read for yourself how the 'impartial' BBC present the aims of PEGIDA in relation to the comments made against them to see just whose side their on, not that there's any surprise.

Besides the article I copy here there are several others to be found on their website. Clearly they don't want this story buried.

'Anti-Islamisation' group Pegida UK holds Newcastle march

The anti-Pegida rally assembled at Gallowgate before marching to Newgate Street

About 2,000 protesters have demonstrated against the first rally in Britain by a group opposed to what it calls the "Islamisation of Europe".

They gathered to oppose the UK branch of German group Pegida which congregated at Newcastle's Bigg Market.

Pegida UK denied claims it was anti-Muslim and had come to "promote expression of hatred".

The counter-rally marched to Newgate Street, within sight of about 400 Pegida UK demonstrators.

Northumbria Police, which had a cordon separating the two camps, said five arrests had been made after isolated scuffles.

Crowds had mostly dispersed by 13:00 GMT.

The Pegida UK rally and counter-demonstration were largely peaceful
Leader of the counter-protest organisers, Newcastle Unites, Dipu Ahad said Pegida UK's agenda was "to promote hatred".

"Newcastle has not had an issue with extremism. Newcastle is not Islamified. So why come to Newcastle and break our communities?"

Mr Ahad said the choice of Newcastle for Pegida UK's first rally was "bizarre", although the group said it had received "a lot of interest" from the city when it was set up.

Pegida UK spokeswoman Marion Rogers said: "We are not racist, we are not fascist, we are not far-right and we're certainly not anti-Islam - we've got Muslims here with us today.

"Islamisation of the West in our books is extremist Islam, extremist Muslims, basically enforcing their beliefs on us and making us feel like second class citizens in our own country.

"We want integration. We are not the hate campaign we are made out to be."

Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.
Reports from the first Pegida UK rally and the larger counter-demonstration

At the rally: BBC News reporter Fiona Trott
There were about 400 supporters of Pegida UK here, mainly from Tyneside and Wearside but also some from elsewhere in Europe.

They included NHS workers, factory workers and self-employed people.

The organisation says it is separate from Pegida in Germany, which has attracted tens of thousands of people at its marches there, although a German representative has come here to make a speech.

It says that this is a public information exercise; that it wants to tell people that it is against extremism but is not anti-Islam, or far-right.

About 30 to 40m away another police cordon was in place, behind which about 1,000 protesters against Pegida gathered.

One of their spokespeople told us there was a "fine line" between free speech and hate.

Bradford West Respect MP George Galloway, who travelled to join the Newcastle Unites counter-demonstration, praised the "response from local people".

"The Newcastle people have handled this themselves with great aplomb and I take my hat off to them," he said.

A number of Twitter users have posted messages supporting the counter-demonstrators, including one by youth circus organisation Circus Central saying Pegida was "not welcome".

Posts on Pegida's Facebook page strongly urged people attending their demonstration to be peaceful.

Pegida, which stands for Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West, campaigns against what it perceives as the growing influence of Islam in Europe and increasing immigration.

Marches have been held in the Czech Republic, Denmark and Norway and sympathiser groups have formed in European countries such as Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The group, which was formed in Dresden, denies it is racist, but has attracted praise from far-right groups.

Posts on the Pegida UK Facebook page - which currently uses an image of Newcastle's bridges on its profile - have expressed concern at "Islamification by stealth".

Northumbria Police said the "vast majority" of demonstrators had been peaceful and both groups stuck to agreed plans.

A number of other non-affiliated protesters attended the Pegida demonstration
"As a force we respect the right to peaceful protest and take a neutral standpoint, not supporting or endorsing any groups or individuals," a spokesman said.

"Our aim was to ensure public safety and to minimise disruption to the city centre during today's events."

Five people from Newcastle, Halifax and South Yorkshire, aged between 17 and 54, were arrested for offences including breach of the peace, assault and being drunk and disorderly.

[Teddy Bear]

The person who made the 2 complaints to the BBC shown above, about their failure to report about the 10,000 Muslim demonstrators outside Downing Street against free speech, followed up on the last reply he received, and got this:

(Basically - don't call us - we'll call you)

Thank you for taking time to contact us again recently. We had referred your complaint to the relevant staff and are normally able to investigate and reply to most complaints at this stage (which is stage 1b of the complaints process) within 20 working days of receipt, or around four weeks. However this is to inform you that we believe it may now take longer than 20 working days before you receive our reply.

We apologise for this and have brought the matter to the attention of the relevant staff again. The delay in answering may be due to their unavailability or other production commitments. We therefore ask you not to contact us further in the meantime. If however it does prove necessary to do so please use our webform at www.bbc.co.uk/complaints or write to us, quoting the case reference number we have provided.

We aim to use your licence fee as efficiently as we can, so if you have complained about the same issues as others we will send our response to you and everyone. We may also not investigate or reply in great detail if a complaint doesn’t suggest a potential breach of BBC standards, or a significant issue of general importance. This is in line with the BBC Trust’s complaints procedures which you can read at: www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/governance/complaints_framework/

We appreciate your continuing patience in waiting for a response and will reply as soon as possible.

Kind regards

BBC Complaints team

[Teddy Bear]

Another response from the BBC on this matter can be viewed here in the dedicated thread for this subject.