Thursday
Nov062008
Race and the US Elections: Thumbs-Down for the BBC?
Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 13:17
Dr Robert Beckford takes issue with the BBC's presentation of the issue of race in politics:
On the BBC Special Newsnight on Tuesday, Jeremy Paxman ended the show with a brief interview with Baroness Amos and the grime rap star Dizzy Rascal. If this was a very unfamiliar pairing in most cases, with a cabinet minister and a south London lyricist speaking on the subject, it was a very familiar BBC editorial on black British life.
The BBC's ideology asserts that there exists an 'authentic blackness' that come from 'da street.' So rather than have a politician and historian or a sociologist and politician, there needs to be someone from da street to 'keep it real'. Amos brilliantly projected the Obama victory into the UK, specifically focusing on the unresolved and generally ignored questions of the structural transformations necessary for inclusion in public and private sectors. After all, Obama and many of his generation were at the tail end of affirmative action and one of its main exports, the emergence and mainstreaming of African American intellectual life. But for all Amos' brilliance, any meaningful discussion was derailed by Rascal's lack of understanding. It was akin to pairing Andrew Young with the likes of (deceased) rapper 'Dirty Old Bastard.'
In contrast to the plethora of African American intellectuals, politicians and commentators rolled out on CNN over the past few days I think the BBC's offering reduced black British comment to the level of farce — rendering it at best irrelevant and at worst a bit of a joke.
On the BBC Special Newsnight on Tuesday, Jeremy Paxman ended the show with a brief interview with Baroness Amos and the grime rap star Dizzy Rascal. If this was a very unfamiliar pairing in most cases, with a cabinet minister and a south London lyricist speaking on the subject, it was a very familiar BBC editorial on black British life.
The BBC's ideology asserts that there exists an 'authentic blackness' that come from 'da street.' So rather than have a politician and historian or a sociologist and politician, there needs to be someone from da street to 'keep it real'. Amos brilliantly projected the Obama victory into the UK, specifically focusing on the unresolved and generally ignored questions of the structural transformations necessary for inclusion in public and private sectors. After all, Obama and many of his generation were at the tail end of affirmative action and one of its main exports, the emergence and mainstreaming of African American intellectual life. But for all Amos' brilliance, any meaningful discussion was derailed by Rascal's lack of understanding. It was akin to pairing Andrew Young with the likes of (deceased) rapper 'Dirty Old Bastard.'
In contrast to the plethora of African American intellectuals, politicians and commentators rolled out on CNN over the past few days I think the BBC's offering reduced black British comment to the level of farce — rendering it at best irrelevant and at worst a bit of a joke.
Reader Comments (4)
Do you mean the only people who should publicly comment on political issues or events are 'intellectuals' qualified to do so based on their level of intelligence? Should adherents to the 'Bell Curve' understandings of psychology and sociology be qualified to comment based in their intellectual ability?
I see the point that the BBC does have a habit of doing this. It does it to working class people of all races as well. But, even if we accept an inherant idea that those of minority race or class tend to be represented in the media by 'da street', politics and political discourse must engage with the simple fact that an important number of people receive their understanding from discourse we may not consider to be 'intellectual'.
Wheter Dizzie Rascal is 'of the street' is, of course open to question, and more importantly to assume black culture and politics is only the likes of Dizzy Rascal is insulting. But, the point is that a number of young PEOPLE do engage with that culture shouldn't be ignored. Non-intellectuals have just as much right to comment.
Here in the West Country our local BBC news yesterday evening took a trip to Swindon, where they asked random black passersby how they felt about the US electing its first black president. Even by the standards of local TV news this was meaningless, not to mention insulting. (If anyone's interested, most of the startled interviewees thought that Obama's victory was fairly good.)
I thought that it was good that Paxman referred to him as 'Mr. Rascal', bestowing on him the authority that Rascal so deserves
I found that most people choose as your website, I believe that this site has very good writing. I often come here to visit, be grateful. ohqmbu ohqmbu - Mulberry Alexa Outlet.