And no, that debate is not coming from World Net Daily or the LA Times (though to be fair, neither of those institutions really practices journalism). It’s coming from the BBC. The goddamn BBC! Oh, whither BBC?
We’re not making up the fact that the BBC actually asked the question: “Should homosexuals face execution?” Here’s a screen shot.
The best part is the follow-up. “Yes, we accept that it is a stark and disturbing question. But this is the reality behind an Anti-Homosexuality Bill being debated on Friday by the Ugadan parliament…” And we thought Uganda had come so far since Idi Amin!
Anyway, the BBC, doubtless in a drive to get viewers to its site, has missed the point. The point is not whether homosexuals should be executed for being homosexuals. The point is: What Western news organization in its right fucking mind would pose that question?
We’re all for freedom of the press because it allows us to write that Michele Bachmann is a lying, scheming, small-minded twit. With the caveat that the British press is not free as is the American press, there’s still a responsibility that an editor has to his readership: Don’t pander. Don’t incite. Don’t be part of the problem. By asking that question, an outlet such as the BBC gives the question a legitimacy that it shouldn’t have.
The rest of the BBC’s piss-poor debate fodder is as follows:
Has Uganda gone too far? Should there be any level of legislation against homosexuality? Should homosexuals be protected by legislation as they are in South Africa? What would be the consequences of this bill to you? How will homosexual ‘offences’ be monitored? Send us your views.
No, there should not be any level of legislation against homosexuality. Even the British government, late to the table as always, decriminalized homosexuality in 1967. What’s wrong with you?
So to our point: Fuck you, BBC. We’ll leave the final word with commenter “Gay Guy.”
the upside, of course, being that everyone would be able to spy on gay people in the name of the law
So we could have better fashion sense?
While the wording should have definitely been different, as it was within hours by changing the question to “Should Uganda debate..,” you have to admit that BBC has sparked a debate on the issue and directed worldwide outrage at Uganda.
Rachel Maddow did a report on this issue and nobody said much. BBC came along and now the whole world is talking about this truly awful bill.
If BBC had posted this in a newscast or had this question been on the front of a magazine, then it would have been sensationalistic because so many people would have just gone by and by not recognizing that the source is BBC, would have inferred that BBC was advocating an awful point. But by posting the question in a forum, where people go to debate, BBC did its job by reporting on a truly awful subject.
There was truly a judgment call in the wording but with all the blame about the media not reporting on tough issues, which is often true, the same can not be said about BBC.