I dont know how many of you caught the BBC Question time show the other day which had Nick Griffin on it, but i thought it was absolutely appalling the way it was conducted. All political views aside, in my opinion the show (which is supposed to give the public the chance to scrutinise politics and the politicians face to face) basically was used as a PR stunt for the BBC to boost their ratings. When ever a question was put forward to Nick Griffin, he was unable to answer through the interruptions and hurls of abuse (which some people may agree were justified) and the level of respect towards Nick Griffin (regardless of his views) was appalling, for example at one point a man called Nick Griffin a "D***". I think the show was pointless as instead of discussing the BNP's agenda and letting the people decide it was made fairly clear that Nick Griffins views were wrong (which im not disagreeing with just observing from a neutral point of view). Then later on in the show they spoke about the article on Steven Gately in the Daily Mail and went to talk about freedom of speech, which i thought was very hypocritical considering they had spent the last hour trying to smother any comments made by Nick Griffin and actively discouraging people who shared the views of the BNP. Overall the audience was weighted 100% against Nick Griffin and the BNP (as well as the whole panel), which in my opinion didn't allow for a civilised and balanced debate about policies and beliefs, which the show is all about. What did everyone else think? I would also like to make clear that this topic isnt about the BNP views or any other political views for that matter, it is about the conduct of BBC in implementing the show.
Didnt see it (I'm on the wrong side of the pond)... but media bias is something that rubs me the wrong way as well. You made it pretty obvious in your post you are not necessarily a fan of the guy but didnt like the one-sided treatment. I'd concur with you that it just isnt the way to handle it. Whether I agree with someone or not it seems silly to put them on a show effectively gagged and just use them as a punching bag. That isnt debate. If someone really is wrong, let it be clearly shown by them getting trounced in a fair (verbal) fight.
hmmmm.... that's not directly related to the subject but during operation cast lead there was a lot of criticism in Israel about the BBC coverage of the events. So the great satire show "Eretz Nehederet" (=a wonderful country) did a piece on the BBC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sWcAawkvM0
Can't say I watched it, I might go look on BBC Iplayer. I don't agree with the BNP in the slightest but I do think they should not be outlawed - Just because you disagree with someone doesn't mean you can gag them so more power to the BBC for putting the racist prick on.
It was a wasted opportunity. They could have grilled him on what his policies actually are regarding "non whites", but instead they just shouted and tried to be more outraged than the last person to shout.
I agree - Jack Straw came out of it particularly badly, largely through his refusal to discuss immigration intelligently. Baroness Warsi did rather better, I thought. It's particularly worrying that the press are now alleging that some people who watched that are applying to join the BNP. I think they made a huge mistake letting (almost) the whole programme be about BNP and specifically BNP-related matters.