The BBC are right to have Nick Griffin on Question Time
I think the BBC are right to have invited the British National Party leader Nick Griffin onto Question Time this evening. He is the leader and an elected MEP of a party that got 6% of the vote at the most recent European elections. To deny him a place on one of their shows would be to single out the BNP for special treatment and as my namesake Mark Thompson (the director general of the BBC) points out in a Guardian article today, it would be to expect political censorship of this kind to be outsourced to the BBC. That is not their job.
I have read some blog posts and commentary that have expressed the concern that Nick Griffin might not actually come out all that badly. He might even do quite well in the forum of Question Time where populist rhetoric and soundbites sometimes get applause. I am afraid my response to this is that yes, it is possible that he doesn't go down dreadfully as me and I suspect most other people would like. It cannot be guaranteed that it will play out like we hope but again that is no reason to ban him from the show. It is the job of the fellow panelists and the members of the audience who oppose what the BNP stand for to take him on. Beyond that, we cannot control the outcome. That is democracy.
For those who are interested, I will be running my regular BBC Question Time Live Chat on this blog from 10:30 pm this evening.
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4 comments:
We are in agreement on this one although the question is not as straightforward as some (I suspect) might think.
Have you ever seen the movie The Last Supper? It deals with the issue of free speech
They should (but won't) confront him over his economic "policies". That would alienate people who are vaguely racist, but not statist & protectionist in their approach.
United For Fascism are being disgraceful cunts as always, I see. As I say, if the BNP didn't exist the students' unions of the country would invent it to give them an excuse for exercising control over others & enforcing their shite.
We're a small tea shop in Brighton - read about our recent experience of Nick Griffin and whether we think he should be on Question Time: www.metrodeco.wordpress.com
I was once happily drinking away in my mate's local in another part of the city when I realised a BNP meeting was being staged in the other room & Griffin was, in fact, there.
I was also once on a visit to Shrewsbury when I saw him walking through the streets with a load of newspapers (didn't see which one) & had a really stressed look on his face.
On neither occasion did I say anything to him. I didn't really want to, in fairness.
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