By Amn. Umudjere Africaman Chairman, Africaman Development Initiative +2347030382475, africaunitymedia@gmail.com

 

INTRODUCTION 

Africa is a social construct that encompasses values, norms, ethics, morals that are embedded in the cultures of the different peoples of Africa. Africa is no doubt a conglomeration of different peoples with distinct cultures. The passage of time envisaged that there should be measures to pass down the elements of these cultures of the different Africa peoples to upcoming generations; though this intent paved way for oral griots but as time progresses, and modernization becomes dawn, there was the need for a modern means of reporting or communicating informations that pertain the cultures and histories of the different peoples of Africa.

This prompted the advent of journalism to Africa, according to Ziegler, and Molefi (1992), journalism came to Africa in 1794 when the first printing press arrived in Africa and was delivered to Freetown, Sierra Leone; they further reported that the printing press was destroyed by a French raiding party before it was ever used.

Journalism—which is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the “news of the day”, and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy—was a promising tool of communicating the ideals and data pertaining the different peoples of Africa. For the dynamics of time and the requisite need for journalism to match up issues foiling societal growth and development, investigative journalism was invented—investigative journalism which is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing had greatly unraveled several hidden transgressions and subsequently availed prospects in crime curbing.

The general public are acquainted and no doubt in future times will be acquainted with most of the hidden transgressions of individuals, institutions, organizations and countries through investigative journalism. Investigative journalism had exerted confidence that whatever crime committed, someday will be exposed. 

Notably, the British Broadcasting Corporation also called the BBC which apparently is a global broadcasting institution had promoted investigative journalism for decades now. It had engaged its staff to avail hidden transgressions of individuals, institutions, organizations and countries but little was it known, it had numerous hidden transgressions in its inner room.

The BBC that had gone wild with disingenuous acts, unraveling the hidden transgressions of the world had kept mute of its own inhumane crimes against humanity. This article will address the unprofessional praxis of BBC investigative journalism and thereafter avail the BBC hidden transgressions.

UNPROFESSIONAL PRAXIS OF BBC INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

Investigative journalism as defined by Weinberg (1996) is the reporting, through one’s own initiative and work product, matters of importance to readers, viewers, or listeners. In same vein, Hugo de Burgh (2000) explains investigative journalism as the act of discovering the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media may be available. The promising role of investigative journalism had drifted the minds of the public from the tag “Crime can be hidden”. But the unprofessional practice by some broadcasting home had aggravated the fear of the unknown. The public now fears that investigative journalism can now be used as a tool for deceit which is being perceived from the unprofessional praxis of the BBC.

The BBC according to its mission, values and public purposes availed that it existed to reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world. It is a glaring truth that the United Kingdom’s resolute is to subdue nations and countries of the world under their auspices through post colonialism which is also called mental slavery. The BBC apparently plays a major role in this resolute of the United Kingdom and through its unprofessional praxis of investigative journalism had foiled the freedom aspirations of institutions and countries of the world. Below are few of the numerous unprofessional praxis of BBC Investigative Journalism:

1. David Wilby in his article “The General Strike of 1926” availed the unprofessional praxis of BBC Investigative Journalism. He narrated that in 1926, the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) called a General Strike to prevent wage reductions and worsening conditions for 1.2 million locked-out coal miners. Labour Party politicians such as party leader Ramsay MacDonald and Philip Snowden criticized the BBC for being “biased” and “misleading the public” during the strike.
2. In 1927, availing the BBC as a public entity under a Royal Charter, the staff of the BBC were constrained to expressing their opinions on controversial subject matters. They were made to act the written scripts of the United Kingdom.
3. Documents available in the archive of the BBC Radio 4 avails that the BBC in disguise supported the 1953 Iranian coup through a code broadcast in the BBC radio. The archived document revealed that a BBC Radio 4 documentary in 2005 claimed that it had evidence that a radio newsreader inserted the word “exactly” into a midnight timecheck one summer night in 1953, as “It is now exactly midnight”. This was said to be a code word to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, that Britain supported his plans for a coup.
4. On the 18th day of June 1984, there was the miners’ strike that had brutal police operation on the miners; there were BBC coverage of the inhumane act of the police on the miners but it was edited and broadcasted out of chronological sequence, falsely showing pickets throwing stones at the police and the police subsequently carrying out a mounted charge.
5. Arnold Abraham Goodman also called Lord Goodmanavailed his critique on the 1986 Libyan raid controversy; he availed that BBC’s coverage was “a mixture of news, views, speculations, error and uncritical carriage of Libyan propaganda which does serious damage to the reputation of the BBC
6. On the 22nd day of January 2009, the BBC declined a request from the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to broadcast an aid appeal intended to raise money to aid the relief effort following then recent hostilities in the Gaza Strip. Holmwood (2006) posited that The Guardian reported that the BBC faced a revolt from its journalists over the issue, and that they had been threatened with dismissal if they spoke out. In an editorial, the paper described the refusal to broadcast the appeal as ‘taking a partisan stance’ and an error of judgement
7. In March 2010, Bob Geldof confronted Andrew Marr on a BBC unprofessional report claiming the Ethiopian government used money raised for the famine to pay for weapons. The then Ethiopian Ambassador to the UK Berhanu Kebede called it a “disgrace” and a “ridiculous report” and said the BBC had “destroyed its credibility in Africa” by making such claims. The BBC was forced to broadcast a series of apologies in November 2010 after realizing that it did not have enough evidence that any money was spent on weapons, basing much of the claims on a CIA report it had failed to question. The BBC also apologized to Geldof for claiming that he had refused to respond to its fabricated story, with Geldof saying that much damage had been caused by the BBC to charity campaigns.
8. In December 2010, the BBC broadcast an episode of its TV quiz show QI in which panelists made jokes during a discussion about Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived both atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Yamaguchi had died only earlier that year and this was a form of mockery to the people of Japan. In January 2011, the BBC issued an apology for “any offence caused” to Japan by the incident, recognizing “the sensitivity of the subject matter for Japanese viewers”.
9. On 30 January 2011, the BBC broadcast an episode of its motoring TV show “Top Gear” during which presenters referred to Mexicans as both “lazy” and “feckless” and Mexican food as “refried sick”. British MPs described the comments as “ignorant, derogatory and racist” and called on the BBC to say it was sorry. In same vein, the Mexico’s ambassador in London also requested that the BBC say it was sorry for the “offensive, xenophobic and humiliating” comments. The BBC then offered an apology, though it claimed there was no “vindictiveness” in the remarks and that they were just part of the stereotype-based comedy the organization espoused
10. The BBC’s Panorama weekly current affairs program in 2008 had aired a defamatory documentary claiming that Bangalore-based suppliers of Primark, a hugely successful retailer with 220 stores across Europe, were using child labour in their production. The claim had been found to be untrue and the BBC apologized to Primark admitting its mistake. 
11. Professor John Robertson and a team at the University of the West of Scotland monitored news broadcasts of the BBC and ITV until September 2013 for their study Fairness in the First Year. The report found that the BBC was biased against the ‘Yes’ campaign in matters of airtime, sequencing of news items, prevalence of “bad news” items, and misleading presentation of sources as impartial
12. In 2021, the BBC through the BBC Africa Eye broadcast a defamatory documentary against the Neo Black Movement of Africa which was highly rebuked by the leadership of the Neo Black Movement of Africa. The BBC broadcast unverified claims against the NBM of Africa as against data that was obtained in an approximately three hours interview granted to the leadership of the organization. The leadership of the Neo Black Movement of Africa whom had published his legal status expressed concerns over the BBC Africa Eye deviancy to only use three (3) minutes out of the three (3) hours interview granted them. The BBC is currently being sued to apologize and pay a fine of one hundred billion Naira as compensation for its libelous publication against the Pan-African organization.

Apparently, the above and many others explain the BBC unprofessional praxis of investigative journalism. It elicits the factual state of its partiality and sentiments in broadcasting informations that pertain people of the world. Furthermore, the BBC had through its members engaged some inhumane crimes against humanity and they are posited below.

UNRAVELING THE HIDDEN TRANSGRESSIONS OF THE BBC

The BBC established its thrust to unravel hidden transgressions of institutions, individuals and countries of the world through its active engagement in investigative journalism, but the parable that says who wants to remove dirts from the eyes of a fellow must first establish he or she has no dirts in his or her own eyes quickly comes to mind! The BBC which has enjoined other broadcast institutions in investigative journalism to unravel hidden transgressions of the people of the world has failed to acknowledge its own transgressions. In 2013, Pa Media in its publication in the Independent Online media posited that there are 152 sexual allegations made about BBC staff and contributors, with 52 of those still involved with the organization. The BBC had refused to embark on investigative journalism on these allegations instead other broadcast institutions had unraveled the authenticity of these allegations.

Below are few of the numerous transgressions of the British Broadcasting Corporation through its groomed staff, that the BBC itself had failed to acknowledge and unravel:

1. Huw Edwards the man who was once the most trusted and most recognizable face of BBC journalism, in 2024 pleaded guilty in court to three counts of making indecent images of children; it was worrisome that the BBC continued to pay him despite his arrest till he resigned in April, 2024 citing medical advice.
2. Russell Brand a renowned comedian working with the BBC was alleged to had raped, sexually assaulted and emotionally abused several women over a seven year period; these allegations were made true when evidence ofhim using BBC cars to drive teenage girls (one aged just 16) to his house. And the BBC couldn’t unravel this inhumane act
3. BBC journalist Martin Bashir’s infamous 1995 BBC Panorama interview with Princess Diana elicits as one of the hidden transgressions of the BBC; the means by which Bashir secured the interview were dubious. In 1996, it was revealed that he had forged fake bank statements that showed newspaper payments being made to a member of Earl Spencer (Diana’s brother)’s staff in an attempt to get Diana to agree to the interview. However, a following 2021 review by a senior judge, Lord Dyson, found that Bashir had used deception to gain the Princess’s trust.
4. Tim Westwood, the veteran hip hop DJ and radio presenter, who had left BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra in 2013 after nearly 20 years; was accused of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour by several women in April, 2022, yet the BBC couldn’t unravel this inhumane act.
5. Tony and Julie Wadsworth, couples that worked with BBC had been jailed for sex offences they committed while working with BBC; the husband and wife were found guilty of encouraging six boys including a teenager to take part in sexual activity between 1992 and 1996, and the BBC couldn’t unravel this inhumane act.
6. Jimmy Savile scandal of 2012 called for the BBC widespread criticism for its handling of allegations of child abuse against its former presenter, Jimmy Savile. An investigation found that Savile had abused hundreds of children and adults over several decades, and that the BBC had failed to act on warnings about his behavior.
7. Stuart Hall, a former BBC presenter in 2013 was convicted of 14 counts of indecent assault against girls as young as nine. Hall had worked for the BBC for over 50 years and the BBC couldn’t unravel this inhumane act.
8. Rolf Harris, a former BBC presenter in 2014 was convicted of 12 counts of indecent assault against girls and women. Harris had worked for the BBC for over 60 years and the BBC couldn’t unravel this inhumane act.
9. Dave Lee Travis, a former BBC presenter in 2014 was convicted of indecent assault against a woman. Travis had worked for the BBC for over 40 years and the BBC couldn’t unravel this inhumane act.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Africa is no doubt the envy site of the world because of her natural endowments (human and natural resources); the world’s attention is on Africa and so as the imperialists. The BBC as one of the tools of imperialism had through its deceitful journalism promoted the tenets of mental slavery which Kwame Nkrumah referred to as post colonialism.

The BBC had grossly engaged in unprofessional praxis of investigative journalism and as well engaged numerous transgressions of the profession of journalism but it had been unfortunate, that these transgressions had been hidden but this article had unravel few of the bulk of transgressions committed by BBC and its groomed staff.

Premise on the above, it is hereby recommended of the following requisite actions:

• African Governments should ban the BBC operations in Africa!
• African people should stop the patronage of the BBC either through watching, subscription or any other means!
• African institutions should begin awareness campaign of the destructive tendencies of the BBC!
• Organize protest requesting the exit of BBC operations from all Africa countries!

The aforementioned actions are requested for urgent execution to curtail the excessive damages of the BBC in Africa; we must understand that we are at war and this war will not end till Africa achieves full freedom which is the United Africa State as proposed by Kwame Nkrumah. It is now a clarion call to all Pan Africanist Organizations both in Africa and Diaspora, Civil Society Organizations and the various African Governments to engage this actions to nip the BBC deceitful investigative journalism in the bud.

The war Is on… Say No To BBC Operations in Africa! Say No To BBC deceitful journalism in Africa! Together we will succeed. Aseeeeeeeeeee!

Revolutionary Regards!#saynotoBBCdeceitfuljournalisminAfrica

 

REFERENCES:

Weinberg, Steve (1996). The Reporter’s Handbook: An Investigator’s Guide To Documents and Techniques. St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 978-0-312-13596-6.

Holmwood, Leigh (2006). “BBC staff protest over decision not to show Gaza aid appeal”. The Guardian, London