The BBC and its fellow travellers

Thursday, 13 November 2008

 The BBC and its fellow travellers

It may seem odd, but digging around in a Kenyan newspaper this afternoon has reinforced some of my thinking about BBC and the left leaning bias among its staff and chosen commentators and laziness when looking for sources to comment on stories and issues. "Financial crisis may make Africa less aid-dependent" is the headline of an op-ed in Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper today. It is authored by a lady called Rasna Warah who has some very, how should I say, forthright views on capitalism (failed) and foreign aid (condemns nations to poverty, debt, loss of sovereignty and economic models that only benefit a few). Mrs Warah feels the current economic crisis could actually be good news for nations that rely on foreign donors, as:

The global financial crisis has shown that economies that are “decoupled” from global markets may survive the crisis better than those that are not. This had led many developing nations to question the economic models imposed on them by donor countries.

This could topple the current world order where the West decides what is best for developing nations and expects eternal gratitude in return. It could lead to a backlash against donor countries.

The prospect of rebellion among the masses is a scary prospect for Western donor countries, which until now, have been pushing the mantra of liberalisation and privatisation on poor countries, a mantra that now rings hollow in the face of the global financial meltdown.

She then goes on to praise the “government-guided capitalism” she says is practiced by China - which is basically socialism - and suggests it should be the template for African nations to follow. But this should come as no surprise from someone who has supplemented their education with study in Cuba (cached page here).

What makes Rasna Warah's opinion of interest to the Daily Nation is that she is "an editor with the UN" who has written and edited a host of articles and reports dating at least as far back as 1999. These have included "Divided Loyalties: The African Identity Crisis" in 1999 for the UN's Habitat Debate journal (Vol.5 No.1) and UN-HABITAT's State of the World's Cities Report 2006/7 where she specialises among other things in the effects of urbanisation on rural communities. While it has so far proved difficult to find a timelined CV for Ms Warah, there is one profilewhich gives a potted history of her career to date.

Given the career and prominence of Rasna Warah in Kenya, it would be unthinkable that the BBC believed they were engaging a mere author of a book when they used her for comments in their article on the continuing difficulties of integration for Kenya's Asians. Then there was the BBC online piece titled "Voices of Kenya's Voters" about the Kenyan elections in 2002, where to make a UN technocrat sound like an ordinary Kenyan voter she was described not as an author or UN officer, but: "Rasna Warah is a 40-year-old photographer of Indian origin".

By 2004, Ms Warah had her own article published on BBC online about the "Joy and pain of mixed marriages". It was a personal piece but there was no linkage to Warah's other appearances on BBC web pages, nor mention yet again of her United Nations career or political background. It was still missing last year when the BBC again turned to their now regular source of copy in Kenya, this time for opinionated comment on"Identity: Who do you think you are?". In this piece Ms Warah hints at her UN involvement for the first time, but only to say she is not African enough for affirmative action in such organisations. To the BBC reader she is just "Rasna Warah, a writer and journalist based in Nairobi".

There is no doubt such pieces are aimed to influence the thinking of readers, so it is wrong to give the impression it is just an ordinary, everyday average joe off the street who has been collared to provide comment. If the BBC wants to selectively give a platform to someone then it seems only reasonable that it should tell the audience just who has been given an opportunity to 'educate and inform' them. Looking through dozens of similar BBC articles, it makes me wonder how many other left leaning, anti capitalist, progressives who live off taxpayers' money in organisational positions have had their comments and subtle biases published in this way.

This is not a trivial matter. It is an annoying extension of the BBC's habit of putting a certain spin on issues and ensuring a certain tone of voice is presented on subjects such as the economy and Europe. It is an underhand corruption of balance and it drives a dagger through the heart of the BBC's claims that it provides us with honest and impartial journalism.