Of bias, the BBC, and jobs

One of the queerest things about biases; personal, societal or otherwise – is that they die hard.

I intend this to be a terse tract on how salutary it is to hold onto ‘‘negative bias’’; but corollary – how difficult it is to dislodge ‘‘positive bias’’.

For a working definition – permit me postulate positive bias as that which gives the benefit of doubt to an entity, in the absence of sufficient data concerning it.

In other words – assuming something as good at first glance, axiomatically, or in a manner legalese may term, prima facie.

Alternately – negative bias would be that which militates against an entity, by predisposing us to skepticism, incredulity, and in many cases cynicism, in its regard.

A few months ago – in trying to read up on the contentious left-wing Jewish-American intellectual and gadfly, Noam Chomsky – a man loathed as much as he is loved by either side of the political spectrum whose band of colors he likes to occasionally ruffle; I ran into a collaborative effort of his with Andre Vltchek, a Russian-American photojournalist who shares Chomsky’s anti-establishmentarianism.

The book, impiously titled ‘‘On Western Terrorism’’ – is a very simply written account of a candid dialogue between the two men; who share their several years’ experience of fencing with the centers and peripheries of Western liberal democracies – with a particular emphasis on American foreign policy and its atrocious record across the Third World.

Of particular relevance to this short essay, is a statement Vtchek makes in the book, accusing International Journalism of being at the beck and call of Western governments; an allegation leveled equally against the ‘infamously notorious’ Fox News and the ‘sacrosanct’ BBC World Service.

He relates his rough brush with Britain's top media-house, who contemporaneously like to fancy themselves the globe's flagship pressmen;

‘‘And I felt much freer in Beijing than when the BBC interviews me, because the BBC doesn’t even let me speak, without demanding a full account of what exactly I am intending to say … Recently I was invited on to the BBC program World Have Your Say, and it was about China, with the title “Should China Be Respected?”. They invited ten panelists to discuss whether the country with the largest population and one of the oldest cultures should be respected or not … They invited some people from the U.S. State Department, and some academics, and then it was supposed to be me and some intellectual from Africa who happened to be very pro-Chinese. Before they let me speak, the BBC invited me to listen, and then there was this long silence. I had to sit in front of my computer, I was online, I had earphones on, in Jakarta, and I was waiting endlessly for them to invite me to speak. Finally they connected me, so I could hear all this anti-China propaganda nonsense for three or four minutes. I could not speak; it was just one-way; I could only listen. And then I heard this little voice from far away London: Mr. Vltchek, are you ready to go? I said “Yes, I am.” “What are you going to say”? I was asked. I said, “Well, you know, I am going to say it on the air in a few seconds . . . You will hear it, madam.” “Oh no, no,” she protested gently. “Would you be so kind and tell us?”

To make a long story short, I was not allowed to go on the air.

They probably have an entire army of such people, trained in screening the guests they are going to interview. Their censors or “screening personnel” have to be very quick and very good at what they are doing.’’

(Chomsky and Vltchek – 2003, pg. 51)

To return to present-day Kampala, where I am seated before another LCD screen, relating this, I should say I was unsettled by Mr. Vltchek’s stinging accusation the first time I read the account.

Yes – I, being the presumptuous Ugandan hothead I am, was offended on behalf of the BBC.

Feel free to stone me.

You see, it is no coincidence that, being a national of an Ex-British colony and by extension, a young subject of Her Majesty, Head of the Commonwealth of Nations – I harbor telltale signs of what may be termed endemic Anglophilia.

While my country’s colonial overlords in London, unlike their counterparts in Paris or Lisbon, made very little attempt to convert my grandsire and his mates into Black-Englishmen or Negroid-Scots; the complex of pomp, ceremony and panoply they evinced, nonetheless conspired to endear their subjects to them.

An American journalist, Edward R.F. Sheenan, writing in The New York Times of January 22^nd, 1967 of Uganda’s Independence Premier Apollo Milton Obote, said of the phenomenon – ‘‘ Obote’s attitude toward the British today seems to reflect the classical compound of envy, reverence and resentment so common among his generation of African intelligentsia.’’

While admittedly, my old man’s old man could never be classified a part of that ‘‘intelligentsia’’ – perhaps in loyalty to his Premier, he too harbored a love-hate relationship for Her Majesty’s government.

As a consequence – while grumbling about those 'sneering Wazungu' in the privacy of his thatch and wattle manse, grandpa nonetheless sent his sons to schools modeled after the British system, where they learnt to drink sweetened tea after every meal, to mouth anglo-saxon words with a labored Bantu brogue, and listen to the BBC as an elitist requisite.

In short – every time you tune in to the BBC and hear that oily female voice subtitle it ‘‘the world’s radio station’’, a direct reference is being made to the millions of Anglophiles across British Africa, Asia, Arabia and the former British Raj who take its every word for gospel truth - a far cry from the propaganda platform Mr. Vtchek’s experience insinuates it is.

It was thus, with this positive bias firmly ingrained in my mind, thanks to parental enculturation and historical colonization – that I tuned in to the BBC this morning to listen to Alan Kasujja, the celebrity Ugandan journalist currently co-hosting the station’s breakfast show – Newsday.

Kasujja had invited a Kenyan journalist and columnist with the Sunday Nation, to talk about a spate of invective leveled by the British far-right against Barack Obama (PoTUS), for his statements criticizing Britain’s potential exit from the European Union; likely hoping to sway public opinion against it in an imminent poll.

Apparently, a British politician, the Mayor of London or something, had called Mr. Obama a ‘bloody African whose half-Kenyan heritage gave him a historical hatred of the British …’

This was how the conversation between Kasujja and the Kenyan journalist, whose name I ruefully fail to recall, roughly proceeded:

‘Mr. X, a columnist with the Sunday Nation, is on phone from Nairobi to tell us what the Kenyan public reaction to the London Mayor’s statements about Mr. Obama has been. Welcome to Newsday …’

‘Thanks Alan. Glad to be here …’

‘So Mr. X, what is the opinion and mood like in Nairobi …’

‘Ah, people are perfectly fine. There’s no offence taken at all. Unlike American and British far-right politicians who like to use Obama’s half-Kenyan descent to attack him, we don’t think that his Kenyan-ness is an insult. His autobiography is filled with allusions of his immense pride in this part of him. Actually, as far as we are concerned, Obama is not only half-Kenyan, but fully Kenyan … Hehe ’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. Really. The truth is that Kenyans don’t walk around with a chip over their shoulder about their history; but that doesn’t mean that we are unaware of the atrocities perpetrated by Britain when they were masters here.  It is estimated that about 100,000 people died in the concentration camps alone under British rule … Fzzz, fzzz … ’

Phone line crackles and goes dead!

A few tense seconds pass, as technicians fumble about some knobs and controls, to hurriedly disconnect the Kenyan journalist.

Too late! Too much ‘incorrectitute’ already said against mighty Britannia’s legendary, benevolent civilizing mission to the Dark Continent.

In all probability, a profusely perspiring Alan Kasujja – for all his leviathan height and weight, attempts to explain in a panic-stricken voice;

‘Oh, we just regrettably lost that connection to Nairobi, and we’ll keep you updated on developing stories here at Newsday … Keep it BBC.’’

Yes Alan, we shall stay tuned; but we also hope you won’t be losing your job anytime soon.

Dusty Kampala hasn’t much improved since you were here last, you know.

We’d hate to see you return, only to lose half your hard-earned weight in a week; for the loss of 'pounds' mightn't be only pecuniary - but fleshly as well.

Or, as the poet saith - no virtuous eye e'er should see a ‘‘great’’ man brought low.

Adios!

PS: I have made a rigorous search of the internet to acquire the Kenyan scribe’s name, but all in vain. Every trace of the interview seems to have been effaced by those chappies at Broadcasting House. :-(