Similarly, some critics have asserted that the BBC is systematically biased in favour of Christianity and against Islam. This assessment was prompted by the public broadcaster’s dress code policy for newsreaders. According to Mark Thompson, the former Director General of the BBC, “the BBC does not object to newsreaders wearing small religious symbols, whether crosses, crescents or Stars of David. But we do not believe it would be appropriate for a newsreader to wear a veil over the face, not because we favour one religion over another but because we believe it would distract from the presentation of the news” (Thompson, 2006). To be fair to the BBC, the criticisms of ethno-religious bias in this case does seem far fetched. But such instances are exceptions rather than the rule.
This phenomenon of convenient type casting of entire communities and groups extends beyond the realm of race and ethnicity and into gender as well. For example, there is a tendency in British media to label young women who are found guilty of violent offences as ‘ladettes’. The media houses believe that this is a consequence of the new set of attitudes and behaviour adopted by some women characters in television programmes. It should be remembered that “these images explicitly portray female aggression as an instrumental act in contrast to the traditionally expressive stereotype of female aggression” (Muncer, et. al, 2001).
Hence, in conclusion, it is apt to bring attention to the following words uttered by Robert Winder in his book Bloody Foreigners: The Story of Immigration to Britain, “Ever since the first Jute, the first Saxon, the first Roman and the first Dane leaped off their boats and planted their feet on British mud, we have been a mongrel nation. Our roots are neither clean nor straight: they are impossibly tangled. Why, then are we so fond of believing that British-ness consisted of some smooth and harmonious racial archetype until the post-war arrival of several million black and brown faces from the Tropics? Overseas settlers have been coming here for centuries“. (Biney, 2008)
References:
Alia, V., & Bull, S. (2005). Media and Ethnic Minorities. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Thompson, Mark, Bias, the BBC.And Why I Will Not Allow Newsreaders in Veils. (2006, October 29). The Mail on Sunday (London, England), p. 42.
Biney, A. (2008, June)., Britain Skin Colour Still Matters: Racism in Britain Is Now Disguised in Language Such as Diversity, Immigration and Citizenship, and Is Thus Far More Sophisticated, Subtle and Slippery in Identifying. but as Ama Biney Finds out, the Colour of One’s Skin Still Very Much Matters in Britain Today. New African 86+.
Hack, K. (1994, November). Decolonization and the Pergau Dam Affair. History Today, 44, 9+.
Holliday, A., Hyde, M., & Kullman, J. (2004). Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Resource Book. New York: Routledge.
Muncer, S., Campbell, A., Jervis, V., & Lewis, R. (2001). “Ladettes, ” Social Representations and Aggression. 33.
Rees, P. (1997, August 1). Worlds Apart. New Statesman, 126, 32+.