The Double Standard
Is it BBC policy that the word "nigger" and other racially offensive expressions should not be broadcast, irrespective of the context or even in reported speech?
Clearly not. The word "nigger" can regularly be heard on the BBC and other radio stations and TV channels - in plays and films, in music, in documentaries and in discussion of racial issues. Sometimes it appears in broadcasts of literature dating from times when the word was in common use; it has been used on Radio 4 in A Book at Bedtime and its modern usage discussed by Professor Laurie Taylor on that station; it was heard many times in a programme on Radio 4 about the first man to point out that it was a term of abuse; its use formed the basis for a phone-in on Radio Sheffield. From In the Heat of the Night to Till Death Us Do Part it is broadcast on BBC television. Yet in an angry confrontation James H. Reeve was required to defend his use of it.
In a case which is remarkably similar to James's, the Radio Authority received a complaint about the use of the word during a phone-in on LBC in London. The Authority rejected the complaint and severely criticised the attitude and motives of the complainants. The full details of the case can be read here.
Is it BBC policy that, as in the case of the second complaint against which James was required to defend himself, the word "nigger" and other racially offensive expressions should not be used, irrespective of the context or in reported speech, in meetings at which BBC employees and people who may be offended by the use of such terms are present?
Clearly not. BBC Governor and former Deputy Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality Ranjit Sondhi, who feels that James's case is "an employment matter", used a number of racially pejorative terms at a public BBC seminar on racial diversity in Bradford in September 2000. At the same seminar the Director of BBC News expressed views similar to those of the Radio Authority on the dangers of stifling debate of racial issues. You can read a transcript of what was said here. There is no record of any complaints being made or of either being required to defend his words.
RANJIT
SONDHIIs it the policy of BBC GMR scrupulously to call to account members of staff who use racially offensive expressions or give offence to minorities?
Apparently not. The station defended Presenter Allan Beswick when he outraged Manchester's Jewish community by suggesting that the Star of David in the Israeli flag be replaced by a swastika. Nor was any action taken against a former Managing Editor of the station who told a racially mixed staff meeting that a particular problem was "the nigger in the woodpile".
ALLAN
BESWICK
Do responsible journalists steer clear of the word "nigger"?
No. Polly Toynbee and Trevor Phillips both used the word in their reporting of the Stephen Lawrence case and the findings of the McPherson Committee. They have not been asked to defend themselves.
Does the BBC have a policy of taking action against those who gratuitously offend minorities?
Not if the Welsh are included. Complaints from listeners about Anne Robinson and Ned Sherrin, who both made disparaging remarks about Welsh people, were defended on the grounds that the remarks were "humorous".
Click on the radio to continue
