BBC accused by Minister of fanning racial tensions over Covid AND Black Lives Matter
A TREASURY Minister has launched an outspoken attack on the BBC for ‘fanning the flames of racial division’ after its coverage of a Commons speech in which she defended the Government’s record on ethnic minority issues.
Kemi Badenoch, who was born in London to Nigerian parents, attacked the corporation for reporting Thursday’s speech – in which she said Ministers were examining why members of ethnic minorities were at higher risk of Covid-19 – under the headline: ‘Minister rejects systemic racism claims.’
A furious Ms Badenoch, writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, says: ‘I did no such thing; in fact, the phrase “systemic racism” was not used once in the debate.
‘This article was shared on social media thousands of times and believed because it was from a trusted source.’
She added that ‘sloppy, agendadriven journalism of this sort fans the flames of racial division’.
Ms Badenoch, who also serves as an Equalities Minister, described a subsequent BBC article, by community affairs correspondent Rianna Croxford, as ‘even more damaging’ because it questioned whether the Government’s review into coronavirus risk factors had actually been led by black doctor Professor Kevin Fenton, as claimed by Public Health England.
She said: ‘In a rush to discredit the Government, the BBC downplayed the contributions made by an eminent, black physician, seeking to undermine the Government’s ability to reach out to these communities that desperately need help.’
Ms Badenoch also accuses Labour and SNP MPs of repeating racially charged claims in the chamber such as ‘being black is a death sentence’ – at a time when the streets around the Commons were thronged with ‘Black Lives Matter’ protesters demonstrating in the wake of the death of George Floyd in America. It is the latest flashpoint between the BBC and a senior member of the Government. Last month, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden warned the corporation that it risked losing the public’s confidence after a series of controversies about political bias, writing to outgoing BBC director-general Tony Hall to urge him to ‘uphold the highest standards in relation to integrity and impartiality’. It came in the wake of a Panorama programme critical of the Government’s handling of Covid-19. It was revealed after the broadcast that the medical professionals interviewed on the programme were Left-wing activists.
Relations between the Government and the BBC have been strained since the election, when
No10 accused the corporation of persistent bias.
The tensions deepened after the corporation received tens of thousands of complaints when presenter Emily Maitlis used an introduction to Newsnight to accuse Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings of ‘breaking lockdown rules’. A BBC spokesman said: ‘There was a heated debate in the House of Commons which we covered carefully and responsibly, but one of the words was incorrect in our online piece so we corrected it once we became aware of the error.’