Let me say this about the BBC – an institution in which I have worked as a freelance producer in their current affairs department and have acted as a fixer for them for various conflict zones.
The BBC has a number of competent, world-class researchers and producers who are abreast of global current affairs and uphold the highest standards of ethics and impartiality, centred around objectivity and bringing awareness to international abuses and injustices. Journalists who simply want to be journalists and not mercenary reporters for hire. An example of this being Louis Theroux and his recent documentary “Settlers”—about” the illegal occupation of Palestine. It is an exceptional documentary and a benchmark of the calibre of investigative journalism that the corporation is capable of producing.
I was originally headhunted for the BBC around 1999 by Alex Holmes via Ben Anderson. Alex was the Executive Producer for the emerging Louis Theroux and was scouting for fresh talent. After watching a video of one of my talks at Speakers Corner presented to him by Ben Anderson, Alex remarked, “This man has an encyclopaedic knowledge of international politics and should be working for the BBC”. At the time I was travelling around South East Asia on a solo cycling tour that took me through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and Lao. Thus, upon my return, I was invited into the Corporation and without so much as a formal interview, given a desk at the flagship current affairs programme of the time, BBC Correspondent. Alex Holmes as an Executive Producer appeared to me to be a man of integrity and an exception to the rule – while I fell out with Ben Anderson after he became a decorated war correspondent, was embedded with US troops in Afghanistan and subsequently became a propaganda mouthpiece for the invasion of Libya and the murder of Muammar Gaddafi
The real problems that exist in the Corporation in regards to producing impartial and unbiased current affairs reporting exist at the highest level of management and rests with the commissioning editors, who are nothing more than gatekeepers for the Establishment position on domestic and global politics. They are put in position not on the merit of their abilities, but on their ambitions within the institution and their willingness to shape the narrative, no matter how dishonest, in order to maintain the status quo and further Britain’s national interests.
In 2001, I produced the documentary ‘Blood Diamonds’ for the now defunct BBC Correspondent Series. After returning from the war in Sierra Leone, I was asked to stay at home and to take a week off to recuperate. When I returned to my desk a week later, the footage we had filmed had already been laid out on the timeline without my knowledge and with a narrative to my film that I did not agree with. The agreement I had made with the BBC was that I would secure them access to the diamond mines held in rebel territory and explain to viewers the origins of the war and how the trade in diamonds was fuelling it. The footage was laid out in a way that sensationalised ‘Blood Diamonds’ without giving any context or history to the war – making viewers believe that the war in Sierra Leone was merely about greed and diamonds. This could not have been any further away from the truth. The reality was the majority of Sierra Leoneans had never set eyes on a diamond, and the roots behind the war rested on government corruption, mismanagement, foreign exploitation, and a lack of basic provisions, such as education, healthcare and employment in the predominantly eastern region of the country. That is why Foday Sankoh originally formed the RUF and launched a brutal civil war that claimed the lives of over 60,000 people.
During the war, as in any country, the wealth produced by the nation will be appropriated to further the war efforts. Sierra Leone was no different. However, Blood Timber, Blood Cocoa, and Blood Coffee doesn’t have the same ring to them as the catchphrase “Blood Diamonds”—of” which Western governments and the BBC had become fixated.
I informed the BBC that I was not happy with the way my story had been manipulated. I was told by the Commissioning Editor Fiona Murch and the Series Producer Farah Durani, not to worry about it, that it was a brilliant documentary and that there was more work lined up for me. I politely informed them that I didn’t approach the BBC for employment. They had approached me,, and I wanted to tell an honest story explaining the roots behind the war.
Later that afternoon, I received a call from Ben Anderson. He had obviously been contacted by the Commissioning Editor and asked to mediate the impasse. He warned me that I should seriously consider what I was doing and that if I persisted on my course, then I would be “Blacklisted”. He cautioned me to think carefully about how I wished to proceed.
I maintained my position and days later received a letter from HR telling me that my signed contract as a Producer for the programme had been issued in error and that the contract they meant for me to sign was for that of a reporter. I was livid and told them, “What do you mean my contract was issued in error?” I had flown out to Sierra Leone unaccompanied by any BBC staff, had used my own contacts to gain access to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and travelled to their stronghold of Kono to interview Brigadier Maurice Kallon – being the first Western journalist to do so. I organised interviews with the head of the Civil Defence Force (CDF), Chief Inga Norman, met with Major Johnny Paul Koroma of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), visited the former President Captain Valentine Strasser of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) whom I had met in the early years of the war, as I had lived a few doors from his presidential residence in Juba Hill; and dealt with Charles Margai. I got access to the rebel mining areas where they were using forced labour and had structured the story before a BBC cameraman had come out to join me weeks later.
I asked the BBC, “Well, if I didn’t produce the programme, who did?” There was silence, and to this day they have not responded. The BBC ended up screening my documentary without any producer credited. They deceitfully lied about my contract because as the Producer of the programme it meant that I was responsible for the documentary’s direction. Hollywood would subsequently go on to make the movie “Blood Diamonds” starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Undeterred, I took the BBC to an internal tribunal overseen by the BBC Executive Mark Demazer, who would later give evidence for the Corporation at the Iraq War Hutton Inquiry. Despite the overwhelming evidence, Mark Demazer ruled in the corporation’s favour.
The BBC has an agenda, and it is not to report the facts. It is to shape a narrative that supports the national interests of the British government. And that is why viewers receive a distorted perception of Israel’s genocide in Palestine – with the Corporation avoiding the use of the word “genocide,” failing to provide a platform for representatives of the Palestinian Authority – while at the same time platforming the unchallenged views of countless Israeli spokespersons and ardent Zionist supporters and mitigating the crimes and atrocities that have been perpetrated by the Israeli government over the decades.
In conclusion, there are some excellent current affairs journalists working at the corporation. However, they are kept on a tight leash and told when to bark and who to bark at. Some of the most dishonest people I have ever met are people I met walking the corridors of the BBC and occupying senior executive positions within the corporation. By and large, they are immoral, corrupt and unprincipled.
There is more integrity, legitimacy and credibility in the other BBC – the one more commonly associated with porn sites!
Ishmahil Blagrove
