No notable scholar of African and Oriental studies would intelligently dare challenge the assertion that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a propaganda tool dedicated to the purpose of spreading imperialists and neo-colonialists ideas, ideals and beliefs.
Global Audience Measure (GAM) in 2019, according to the BBC, revealed that more people around the world are tuning into the BBC than ever before, reaching a new high of 426m a week – an increase of 50m (13 percent) over the year, according to new figures released today.
The top 10 countries by BBC News audience are particularly – India 50m, Nigeria 41m, USA 38m, Kenya 15m, Afghanistan 12m, Bangladesh 12m, Egypt 11m, Iran 11m, Tanzania 10m, and Pakistan 9m. Disappointingly, the United Kingdom is not part of the top 10 countries. Doesn’t this suggest something ironic? Isn’t something gone amiss? If the so-called ‘brilliant content’ the BBC propagates or airs to the rest of the world is good, why would its local audience listenership be found wanting?
Working as a local Program Officer in what was formerly Gold Coast amid a refugee-inspired NGO, we hosted scores of young college students from the UK and North America. One of such persons, was a young British of Ghanaian-descent, Ama Boateng, who arguably challenged the BBC’s independence and impartiality. “The BBC is not what folks in Africa perceive it to be,” Ama retorted!
An inherent Pan Africanist, Ama marveled at Liberians who would variously congregate around their transistor radios to listen to the now aborted “Focus on Africa.” Intriguingly, there is no such thing as “Focus on the UK.” When quizzed over the bemusement, Ama Boateng squarely told us, “Most people in the UK do not listen to the BBC because it is not as independent and impartial as it professes to be. It is a government PR thing.” News-hungry Liberians who had become refuge-stricken by the trappings of madness of a self-destructive war wouldn’t agree amid the zest to closely follow developments in their home country.
BBC Director-General Tony Hall says: “Every day our teams do an amazing job bringing independent, impartial news to audiences around the world, and today we can see just how much the BBC is valued. Thanks to Government investment we’ve been able to launch the biggest expansion of the World Service since the Second World War, and this shows how much the BBC can do for the UK.”
How often does the BBC gather, report, analyze and document the trappings of racism, in the UK, Europe et al? After more than 700 years on the British throne; what can the BBC tell us about what ordinary people think about an outdated and outmoded ‘Royalty’ and its impact on a changing world? We want documentaries that will unravel systemic abuses, immorality, and human rights violations in the Church of England. Scores of young children systematically abused deserve a voice and just as the BBC would choose to highlight what it considers newsworthy, the imperative is to be evenhanded.
When the imperialists landed with a bible in one hand on the dark continent, they also chose to deceptively fire cannons because would-be converts could not be cowered into so-called religious submission. If the Bible essentially must be the Living Word anchored on salvation, its messengers cannot use violent means to win souls. Jesus Christ was at no point in biblical history a violent man. Intriguingly, the Bible has not been rewritten. Biblical critics might reckon Jesus’ action in the Temple when it was subject to abuse.
In their diabolical quest to render humanity worthless, the imperialists embarked on a barbaric journey thus committing the world’s worst crime against humanity. European merchants invaded African villages, forcefully captured, abducted and bundled human beings up like inanimate objects to work on plantations in Europe and the Americas. Has anyone in the BBC’s programme unit exercised the hindsight to examine the inhumanity meted out of fellow human beings by economic vampires that were paying taxes to the British Government? They woefully imprinted slavery against the black race.
Unapologetic as they were about reducing their fellow human beings to absolute worthlessness, they turned to the scramble for Africa ultimately in the name of ammassing mineral resources. As a result, the resources of Africa are used to build contentiously wealthy nations. Nonsense!
Amid the scramble for the African continent, the imperialists imposed colonialism. Africa is still reeling from the claws of colonialism, which has strangely metamorphosed into Neo-colonialism. The British have been at the forefront of such beastly conquest for the most part of civilization. Whether it was the Persian or Arabian Peninsula or what was called the dark continent, they reigned under the ambit of “master-servant” tendency.
In an effort to keep a firm but ideological grasp on former colonies in the name of subservience, the British inspired the Commonwealth whereas the reigning Majesty still wields power.
The BBC has been reporting sin When Irish Republicans were fighting for a just cause against British imperialism, didn’t the BBC call them terrorists?ce 1922 but seems disinterested in the plight of the Irish people whose rights and civil liberties were trampled up by the British.
When the British supported racist Apartheid reactionaries in the barbaric treatment of black South Africans, what manner of documentaries did the BBC commission? Perhaps the Irish were less human. When the British deliberately reneged on the Lancaster Agreement with the then Rhodesia, where was the BBC impartiality?
We are in the 21st century. What’s apparently the role of the BBC in setting the agenda aimed at dismantling an archaic British Crown that remains untenable in this day and age?
Endemic and institutionalised racism are commonplace among divided former racial-enclaved societies – notably the United Kingdom and North America. What manner of documentaries is the BBC producing to change such an unholy trajectory?
In what was the Zaire, hundreds of millions of people were murdered in cold blood by King Leopold of Belgium. Why hasn’t the BBC commissioned a documentary that will investigate the horrendous slaughter of innocent Africans?
When do we expect a BBC documentary that will impartially delve into the questionable death of Diana, Princess of Wales? Is it the her death doesn’t matter to the British Crown?
We anticipate a BBC-inspired documentary that will make a holistic case for reparation for millions of Africans who were gruesomely sold into slavery. When the BBC initiates a documentary that would hold both European and North American investors culpable for corrupting African leaders and give Africa an unfair advantage in all trade deals, then we know they are serious about impartiality and so-called balance. Other than that we that want any one-sided gospel of useless fair and balanced reporting and coverage of Africa and the African peoples. Victims of all forms of abuse in the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches did not have to wait for the fall of any Pope to vent their frustrations and cry for justice.
While the stories of the BBC’s documentaries might be real real accounts of victims – the BBC is duty-bound to also explore dozens of unanswered and unsolved mysteries including slavery, racism, the illegal partitioning of Africa, genocide perpetuated by European slaves masters, the Lanascter Agreement, unjust wars, economic exploitation among others.
Ekena Wesley
Darby
Delaware County, PA
+16107650305
Email: wes.critic@gmail.com
“The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall. – Che Guevera
