How the BBC Call Left-Wing BNP - 'Right-Wing'

[digger]

This is my letter to the BBC and assoiciated response. Quite a bunch of jokers really!


Hello,
>
>I've noticed over the last few months, although not sure how long this has been going on for... that the BBC keep referring to the 'far right' or 'right-wing extremists' ect, ect... This happens on News programs and current affairs programs and radio talk shows. The presenter will mention above phrases.
>
>The context is normally in association with racism or political parties
>like the BNP (British National Party)
>
>I would just like to point out that this is not technically correct. My complaint is that with something so serious it is important not to just casually reel off the wrong terminology time and time again.
>
>I know the BBC likes to be accurate and it makes me cringe every time this mistake occurs.
>
>Personally, I would like this issue to be explained to the broadcasters so they do not continue to make this mistake. Similar to the pronunciation guidance the BBC gives to broadcasters to ensure they pronounce names correctly. i.e. so all staff are aware and the organisation on a whole is aware of the correction needing to be made here. Anyway, how you fix this issue is not my call... but there is a suggestion, I have no idea how your internal management systems operate.
>
>It's a well known fact that the words and phrases like 'left-wing' and 'right-wing' are extremes of the economic political spectrum. Obviously there is a centre point between the two and moderate position either side of that.
>
>The inconsistency comes when context is applied. For example, when using a phrase to describe the economic position of a political party like the BNP it is pretty foolish to describe them as 'far-right' - Far right would be at the extreme 'right' end of the economic political spectrum. To suggest that the BNP would be in support of a 'laissez-faire' economic policy or an extremely low tax economy with regulations designed to promote business and allow them to expand without any control whatsoever. A sort of more than 'Thatcherite' position. Thatcher's government being fairly right-wing. Clearly this is not the position of the BNP. I can't think of any well known political party taking that position these days. Not even the conservatives could be described as 'far-right'
>
>As I have been using the BNP for the basis of example here... I may as
>well explain that the BNP are not a far-left party either. If I had to
>estimate their position to the left or the right of the spectrum I
>would consider them 'moderate-left' - they have a fairly social
>economic policy. Probably more social than any of the big three
>(lib-lab-con)
>
>The BNP are extremists though. That is correct. They are extremely racist. They seem to suggest that if they were to come to power and the reason people should vote for them is that they would introduce authoritative legislation to force certain kinds of people to leave the UK and return to their country of origin - I may not have that totally correct, but I think that is generally the goal they are aiming for and the purpose of their party. Technically speaking, this is an authoritative position. In other words, to say if they were elected they would deal with all social issues using extreme authority. They are extremely authoritarian or totalitarian.
>
>When I watched the BBC Question Time EU Election Special I remember the conservative MP Daniel Hannan was on the panel and he also pointed out this mistake the BBC continues to allow to be broadcast regarding left and right economic positions.
>
>There is one long-established website which explains how the basic political spectrum works: www.politicalcompass.org/inthenews or just www.politicalcompass.org for the main page.
>
>I'm sure there are other places to look this up as well. But basically, there is plenty of evidence to show the BBC are completely mistaken here. I would like this to change.
>
>
>Best Regards,
>Digger.


REPLY FROM BBC

Dear Mr Digger

Thanks for your e-mail.

I understand you have concerns with our presenters and reporters referring to the BNP or similar parties as "far-right" when you feel that this description is inaccurate.

I can assure you that we carefully consider the terminology before referring to any organisation or person in our news reports.

The BNP was born out of the National Front - a "national" party, who like many parties purporting to represent the national interests of a particular country, claim themselves to be national socialists. NS is an extremely left wing form of political belief - Hitler's Nazi party were national socialists, and therefore technically left wing - but so left wing as to appear right wing in their extreme and racist views. The same can apply to the BNP.

I would like to assure you that I've registered your feelings about this matter on our audience log. This is the internal report of audience feedback which we compile daily for all programme makers and commissioning executives within the BBC, and also their senior management. It ensures that your points, and all other comments we receive, are circulated and considered across the BBC.

Thank you once again for taking the trouble to share your views with us.

Regards

Ross Montgomery
BBC Complaints
____________________________
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

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[Teddy Bear]

Welcome Digger, and thanks for your contributions - long may they continue.

Naturally I'm aware that the BBC displays bias in many different areas. Some for ideological or mindset reasons, some due to their own particular agenda. I don't try to monitor all these areas as it would probably drive me insane So it's always good when those who are particularly 'tuned in' to those various areas recognize and inform others, thus raising awareness of the BBC failings.

Your attempt to 'enlighten' the BBC, as you appear to have surmised, will probably come to nothing, such is the nature of the beast. But it's great you take the trouble to attempt it anyway, and in a civil manner. Many more like you are essential if there will ever be change.

We look forward to your further contributions.

[digger]

It was just this bit...

Hitler's Nazi party were national socialists, and therefore technically left wing - but so left wing as to appear right wing in their extreme and racist views. The same can apply to the BNP.

...which just had me in stitches... "So far left they appear right" - won't be forgetting that one in a hurry...

Unsurprisingly they've been a bit silent since our last communication. I think I should follow it up though... why not? I'm a license holder / customer... I don't think they would try to avoid communicating with me. ;D

[Teddy Bear]

You're right - it's priceless! Just to get this was worth writing to them
I'm curious to see how they would answer you if you did ask them, why therefore they don't describe the BNP as the 'extreme left wing' or '...appearing right wing' group.

Truth is since most of the BBC staff regard themselves as left wing they don't want to be tarnished by any association with this group.

[vandamme]

"So far left they appear right"

haha does that mean we call the bbc right wing now?

[Teddy Bear]

Then right wingers would feel tarnished.
The more I think about it, the more incredible I find the position of the BBC as relayed through this Montgomery guy in justifying it.
White is Black
Light is Dark
Left is Right
When it suits the BBC!

[beness]

According to that comparison SWP are so far left that they are now right.

Hmm, I think it was a childish answer, equivalent to, It's my ball and my game so if you don't like it go home.

[Teddy Bear]

Here's the excellent article by Daniel Hannan in the Telegraph - updated today.

There's nothing Right-wing about the BNP – except in the BBC sense of 'baddie'


By Daniel Hannan Politics Last updated: July 25th, 2010

163 Comments Comment on this article

“I really am bored of [sic] Right-wing Tories like my old mate Dan Hannan insisting that the British National Party is ‘far Left’,” says our excellent Blogs Editor, Damian Thompson.

Well, OK, Dame, but it’s more than just a debating point. And it’s not just Right-wing Tories. Here for example, is the Left-wing New Statesman:

“A brief skim through BNP manifesto literature brings to light proposals for the following: large increases in state pensions; more money for the NHS; improved worker protection; state ownership of key industries. Under Griffin, the modern-day far right has positioned itself to the left of Labour.”

All true, except that it’s not a modern development. The BNP, like all fascist movements, emerged from the revolutionary Left. It dislikes free enterprise, hates the rich and resents the monarchy. It markets itself as “the Labour Party your parents voted for” and its last manifesto promised “to give workers a stake in the success and prosperity of the enterprises whose profits their labour creates by encouraging worker shareholder and co-operative schemes”. Its support comes overwhelmingly from ex-Labour voters.

That fascism developed from socialism in the 1920s is a statement of observed historical fact. Read Hayek’s chapter on “The Socialist Roots of Nazism” in The Road to Serfdom, or skim some of the quotations here. The hatred between fascists and traditional socialists over the decades has been all the fiercer for being a hatred between brothers.

In what sense, then, is the BNP Right-wing? Some argue that it is Right-wing to discriminate on the basis of race and nationality rather than class and income, but this would surely make Stalin, Gerry Adams, Pol Pot and Robert Mugabe very Right-wing indeed. A true Rightist believes that, other things being equal, the individual should be as free as possible from state coercion: a position equally abhorrent to socialists of the National or Leninist varieties.

No, there is only one sense in which the BNP is Right-wing, and that is the BBC sense. Our state broadcaster uses the epithet “Right-wing” to mean “disagreeable”. It thus applies the term equally to Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Vladimir Putin, Timothy McVeigh, Eugene Terre’blanche, Orthodox Jews, the Taleban, the Pope, the Orange Order and David Cameron.

For example, BBC correspondents invariably describe Iranian hardliners as “Right-wing”. Never mind that the ayatollahs expropriated the bourgeoisie, nationalised swathes of the economy, abolished the monarchy and reversed their country’s alignment with the United States and Britain. Right-wing, in Beebworld, simply means “someone with frightful opinions”.

The soubriquet can be neatly applied to opposed sides in a conflict. Below, for example, is a clip from Newsnight last week. Debating the burqa ban, a Leftie Egyptian journalist says that, while she detests the political Right, who don’t want the burqa, she equally detests the Muslim Right, who do. So both banning the burqa and imposing the burqa are, in her eyes, Right-wing positions. This being a BBC discussion, no one demurs. If anything, though, I’d have thought that the opposite is the case: a proper Right-winger would argue that, while it is perfectly alright for businesses or individuals to prohibit face-coverings, the state has no business telling us people to dress.

Any Lefties still reading by this point may well be fuming. How dare this Hannan fellow compare us to Nick Griffin? Even if Griffin happens to have reached the same position as us on a handful of issues, that doesn’t mean that we’re of the same political tradition.

True: most Lefties find Griffinism abhorrent. But turn things around, chaps, and you’ll see how offensive you sound when you call the BNP Right-wing, implying that the only difference between fascism and conservatism is one of degree. Constant repetition doesn’t make it any less rude.