The highly anticipated documentary BBC On Trial, by author and scholar Pandit Satish K Sharma, is slated for release on 25 October 2024. The first poster for the documentary, which aims to reveal alleged biases within the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), was unveiled, with the trailer released on 13 October 2024. The film promises to expose what Sharma describes as the BBC’s divisive and prejudiced reporting, particularly against India and Hindus.

TRAILERDisinformation can be a weapon of mass destruction; Our documentary exposes the dark side of one of the most powerful players in this space, the BBC. At the end of this journey, you decide for yourself – good or evil? Watch the trailer, spread the word, join the… pic.twitter.com/MthTd0WI7c

— Pt Satish K Sharma MBCS FRSA FRAS (@thebritishhindu) October 13, 2024

As stated by the makers, BBC On Trial is going to be “the most eye-opening documentary of our time,” delving into a century of alleged Western media bias that Sharma argues perpetuates colonial attitudes. Known for his work in dharmic traditions and as the director of the Global Hindu Federation, Sharma is using the documentary to highlight perceived injustices in the BBC’s coverage of Hindu and Indian subjects.

In a recent statement, Sharma shared that his interactions with BBC leadership over the past decade, including presenting evidence to senior figures, have yielded little change. “We are a very quiet community in the United Kingdom. Hindu community doesn’t cause much of a conflict or trouble, but on numerous occasions, we have found that we became the target… I was fortunate enough to be able to interact with the BBC at the highest levels, including the director, general heads of all the departments. We presented our evidence to them but achieve nothing whatsoever in the last eight or nine years of interacting with them. We haven’t been able to successfully get to change, not even a single webpage which is published on the website,” Sharma said in an interview with Republic.

The documentary seeks to go beyond merely highlighting instances of bias, aiming to foster informed conversations on media integrity and encourage a more balanced representation of cultural and religious issues. Sharma argues that the BBC’s influence extends beyond informing the public, asserting that its coverage shapes narratives in ways that fuel division and discord among communities.

The documentary is also expected to touch on calls for defunding the BBC and reconsidering the license fee model, advocating for a media landscape that values accuracy, diversity, and fair representation. By offering an in-depth analysis, BBC On Trial aims to push for greater accountability and open dialogue on media practices.

The Global Hindu Federation, under Sharma’s leadership, continues to work on initiatives to ensure that the Hindu diaspora’s perspectives are accurately represented. The organization has been actively engaging with policymakers, gathering evidence, and collaborating with experts to address issues impacting the global Hindu community.

BBC On Trial will be available for viewing from 25 October 2024, with hopes of sparking a broader debate about the role of media in shaping social narratives and its responsibilities toward diverse communities.

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The post ‘BBC On Trial’: Documentary Exposing BBC’s Anti-Hindu And Anti-India Bias To Be Released appeared first on The Commune.

Gary Lineker, football fans might recognise, is one of the most popular and respected sports broadcasters in the UK. He has been presenting the BBC’s Match of the Day, a football highlights show, since 1999. However, he recently announced that he would “step back” from the role until an agreement is reached on his social media use.

The reason for this decision was an impartiality row that erupted over his tweets criticising the UK government’s new asylum policy.

Good heavens, this is beyond awful. https://t.co/f0fTgWXBwp

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 7, 2023

The policy, which was unveiled in March 2023 by Suella Braverman, aims to deter illegal crossings and make it harder for people to claim asylum in the UK.

There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 7, 2023

Lineker, who has been vocal about his support for refugees and migrants, tweeted that “There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?”

The BBC, which claims to have strict guidelines on impartiality and social media use for its staff and contributors, said that it considered Lineker’s tweets to be a breach of its rules. It said that it had discussions with Lineker and his team in recent days, and decided that he would step back from presenting Match of the Day until a clear position on his social media use was agreed upon.

The decision sparked a backlash from football fans and celebrities who expressed their support for Lineker and his views. Some fans threatened to boycott the show, while others praised Lineker for speaking his mind.

The controversy also had an impact on the BBC’s weekend football coverage, as some pundits and commentators pulled out of their roles in protest. Jason Mohammad and Alex Scott, who were supposed to host Final Score and Football Focus respectively, refused to appear on air. The BBC said that it respected their decision.

The BBC also released a statement saying that it valued Lineker’s contribution to its football coverage and hoped to resolve the issue soon. It said that it recognised that social media was an important platform for its presenters and contributors to engage with audiences, but that it also expected them to uphold its editorial standards.

The case of Gary Lineker raises questions about how much freedom of expression/freedom of speech one is allowed to exercise. A few months back when BBC tried to release a biased documentary on Modi and the Godhra riots and it met with opposition, it gave long sermons on media freedom and the like, but like a true soldier of the British government, it did not stop and apply those principles of media freedom to its own staff.

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Student organisations affiliated with left-wing groups screened the banned BBC hit job documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, Ambedkar University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Presidency University, Jadavpur University, Madras University, Pondicherry, and University of Hyderabad.

The screening received a muted response across the country, with only a handful of students affiliated with politically extinct Communist parties were present during the screening. The Student Federation of India’s screening of BBC documentary in the Madras University campus is the most recent addition to the list of muted reactions to the screening.

On Friday (27 January 2023), a small group of students argued with University of Madras authorities after the latter refused to grant the former permission to screen the banned BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ on campus.

The Student Federation of India (SFI) Madras university wing had planned to screen the documentary but were told to leave by university officials.

“We live in a democratic country. Why aren’t we able to watch the documentary? “It’s only a movie,” one of the students can be heard arguing with a university official. Vice Chancellor S Gowri stated that no permission was granted by the university. As a result, students began watching the documentary on their laptop computers.

However, there were only six students watching on a single laptop, despite the fact that the news was covered by more than double the number of cameras. After this image of a group of SFI students went viral on social media, people on social media began mocking that it ended up as a flop show while pointing out at the state of  media in the state.

Media cameramen outnumber jobless dravidian stocks. State of media in TN. @rvaidya2000 @HLKodo https://t.co/uyrnCqrdOC

— Thathasthu (@Thathasthu1) January 28, 2023

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Recently, an online petition has demanded an independent probe into a “serious breach” by the BBC in its duties as a public broadcaster in the UK over the controversial documentary series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The petition stated, ‘Call for an Independent Investigation into the BBC over Modi documentary’ on Change.Org, which “strongly” condemns the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for failing to meet the “highest standards of editorial impartiality”, has attracted over 2,500 signatures within a day since it went online. In this context this article will look in to this allegation of breach of media ethics by BBC and also analyses as to why this is not a first instance for BBC in its long existence.

What The Petition Revealed?

The recent petition has sought an independent probe against British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), terming the documentary a “serious breach”. It also called out the BBC for “breaching” its duties as a public broadcaster. Condemning the documentary, the petition termed the two-part series a “sinister propaganda journalism that deliberately misinforms its viewers”. The petition further stated that, “We strongly condemn the BBC for failing to meet the highest standards of editorial impartiality in its two-part documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’. The timing for airing, some 21 years later, a so-called investigative report that has nothing new in it, but only shoehorns old allegations to fit the producers clearly predetermined conclusions in itself speaks volumes,”. The petition further states that, “Inexplicably, it comes at a time when India’s Supreme Court has, after a lengthy investigation and due process, completely absolved Prime Minister Modi from the very same allegations of complicity in the 2002 riots that the BBC now seeks to rake up after more than two decades,”. The petition has since gone viral and caught the eye of truth seekers who are keen to expose the propaganda machine of BBC.

Bunch Of Banal Colonialists Peddling Propaganda

This is not the first time BBC has indulged in cheap piece of propaganda to further its agenda. BBC has a history of making fake documentaries based on lies and getting caught and the latest Modi documentary follows a similar path. Let’s have a look at instances in which BBC has adopted a similar path.

For example, a documentary series put out by the BBC’s Turkish language news site about low-income households in Turkey has drawn intense criticism after a woman featured in its most recent episode who claimed to live below the poverty line has turned out to be living in the lap of luxury.

In another instance BBC was accused of faking a documentary on wild life. It was alleged that scenes shown on Sir David Attenborough’s acclaimed series Frozen Planet were filmed in a Dutch animal park and not in the wild. Even though BBC jumped to defend content of the series the faking of the work was apparent from the part of BBC.

It is apparent that faking scenes for views is an indulgence for BBC. In another instance BBC was caught faking a scene and in embarrassment the BBC has admitted that a scene from a television documentary series showing tribal people living high up in treehouses was faked by the makers of the programme.

In all these instances the ability of BBC to fake scenes just for ‘media minutes’ is very apparent and this pattern has been adopted in case of documentary on Modi also.

Colonialist And Hindumisic

BBC has an history of taking colonial and Hindu phobic attitude and with the latest ‘Modi documentary’ this attitude has again resurfaced. With its bigoted agenda, the BBC, which has all along attempted to isolate Hindus by selectively reporting crimes in which the alleged accused were reportedly Hindus and referred to it as a ‘hate crime’ has come up with a series that discusses PM Modi’s role in 2002 Gujarat riots.

 As British Indian Adit Kothari, founding member of the Indic Society, who recently organised a protest outside the BBC in London over its anti-India bias puts it, part of the purpose of the series seems to be to influence pockets of urban population in India in relation to the upcoming 2024 elections.

“Although the consumption of the BBC is very limited in India, it will nonetheless provide ammunition to the media and opposition to use BBC’s previous credibility to spin a narrative,”, he further stated that adding that “BBC is known for anti-India, anti-Modi campaigns. Domestically, this should be viewed as a direct assault on the Tory party and on Rishi Sunak by the Left-leaning liberal intelligentsia in the UK,”. 

Apart from colonial mentality of imposing the ‘western righteousness’ on Indians, BBC also has an history of taking anti-Hindu/anti-India stance more often than not. A Twitter user Darshan Pathak has collated a thread of BBC English, and BBC Hindi reports that show the standard of reporting it does. Varying from the ‘Sanatani way of peeing’ to ‘why men wear dirty underwear’.

Thread

Gems Of BBC (1/n) pic.twitter.com/3meXPh9Kkt

— Darshan Pathak (@darshanpathak) January 22, 2023

To look at these instances, back in September 2015, BBC Hindi questioned people if they followed the Sanatani way of peeing. In August 2019, soon after the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, BBC came up with a fake report claiming the Indian Army beat up and tortured the locals in the valley. The report’s title was “‘Beaten and tortured’ by the Indian army”. In September 2021, irked by the growth of the Indian economy, BBC published a report suggesting the jump in India’s GDP is problematic. In October 2022, BBC Hindi claimed that Diwali cleaning increased the burden on Indian women. In almost all the cases BBC has adopted blatant title hunting and click bait tactics by adopting ‘anti-Hindu’ and ‘anti-India’ stance. 

Neo-Colonialists Should Be Dealt With A Left Hand

BBC has a long history of mocking, shaming, conspiring and propagating anti-India especially anti-Hindu sentiments. They must be called out and face the consequences as required. BBC has also indulged in spreading ‘Hindumisic’ and ‘anti-India’ narrative. As citizens of the new India who won’t take beating lying down from colonialist publication, we must expose the agenda of this shameful and unethical publication in order to protect people from being misled.

BBC should instead look back in history and make a documentary on Bengal Famine called “UK: The Churchill Question”.

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---

A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth

– Joseph Goebbels

UK’s national broadcaster BBC aired a two-part series attacking PM Narendra Modi’s tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister during the Gujarat riots of 2002. The documentary has sparked outrage from several corners claiming it to be well crafted piece of propaganda. Even prominent Indian-origin UK citizens condemned the series. Prominent UK Citizen Lord Rami Ranger said the “BBC caused a great deal of hurt to over a billion Indians.”

So, why is the BBC trying to beat a dead horse again? Is it to discredit India, Modi, Hindus or their own Hindu Prime Minister?  

A Failed Propaganda At Best

Post the release of documentary, India denounced the controversial BBC documentary series on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and described it as a “propaganda piece” that is designed to push a discredited narrative. Addressing a weekly media briefing External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi said this documentary show, based on some internal UK report, shows the colonial mindset. “We think this is a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative. The bias and the lack of objectivity and frankly continuing colonial mindset are belatedly visible,” Bagchi said in response to the question on the PM documentary series. The MEA spokesperson said the documentary is a reflection of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and individuals that are peddling this narrative again. He even raised questions on “the purpose of the exercise and the agenda behind it.” Referring to apparent remarks made by former UK Secretary Jack Straw in the documentary series, Bagchi said “He (Jack Straw) seems to be referring to some internal UK report. How do I have access to that? It’s a 20-year-old report. Why would we jump on it now? Just because Jack says it how do they lend it that much legitimacy.” 

Jack Straw himself has been accused of peddling lies about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction which ultimately resulted in regime change and carnage.

The fun fact in this context is that even the British PM has denounced the documentary which had targeted PM Modi. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak dismissed the villainous portrayal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a BBC documentary. Responding to Imran Hussain, a Pakistani-British Muslim MP, who quoted the characterization showcased by BBC in its documentary series while asking a question to the British PM in the British parliament, the PM said that he does not agree with the characterization of his Indian counterpart in the documentary.

That's what the @BBC wants. Join hands with the far left labour MPs to question the legitimacy of the Modi govt.
Good shutdown by Rishi Sunak.#DefundtheBBC pic.twitter.com/EUdv8Czsjm

— Smita Deshmukh (@smitadeshmukh) January 19, 2023

The Nefarious Agenda

It is notable that several courts in India including the Supreme Court have ruled on multiple occasions that the Gujarat riots were brought under control quickly and there is no evidence that the state govt had asked police to not take action against the rioters. But still the BBC carries on with its propaganda. The documentary falls flats on its face as it not only insults the two times democratically elected Prime Minister of the largest democracy in the world but also the judiciary and Parliament, which investigated Mr Modi rigorously, and exonerated him from being involved in the riots in any way.

Also, the documentary focuses on interviews of just one set of people who have been accused of crimes ranging from fund embezzlement to fabricating evidences – RB Sreekumar, Teesta Setalvad, Sanjiv Bhatt and so on.

By not presenting the views of the courts, the investigating agencies and the fact that PM Modi has been given a clean chit both by the SIT and the courts, the BBC has violated its own charter of editorial integrity.

https://twitter.com/Iyervval/status/1616354128086827009

Not just that, the documentary has blatantly abused institutions of democracy in India and also has opened old wounds by creating hatred between Hindus and Muslims by attempting to paint India as an intolerant nation where Muslims are persecuted. But the BBC, who enthusiastically makes documentary discrediting PM Modi will think twice before making documentary on the famine in Bengal caused by Britain or the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

The BBC Shamelessly Whitewashes The Role Of Islamists In Riots

The documentary by BBC has followed a pattern of utter indecency. It not only tries to blame Hindus of India for causing the 2002 riots, but also tries to exonerate and whitewash the role of Islamist in causing the riot. 

At about 9:12 minutes into the programme, it claimed, “The final death toll was 59 and the cause of the fire was disputed. But at the time, Muslims were blamed.” Former BBC reporter Jill McGivering was then brought in to further lend credence to the insinuation. “This is in a State that has a particular history of tensions between the Hindu majority and the Muslim minority. There is a history of communal violence, nasty violence,” she was heard saying. “And the concern was something like this happens, the Hindu community will feel angered that their community has been targeted,” McGivering further added while she tried to portray Narendra Modi as a Hindu hardliner who avenged the riots. But by doing so, the BBC nullified the role of the extremists who set the Sabarmati express on fire, which is not disputed in any sense. 

The truth is that on 27th February 2002, the Sabarmati express was scheduled to reach Godhra station at about 3:30 am. On that day, the train was running four hours late. As such, it arrived at Godhra by 7:40 am. 8 minutes later, a mob of 2000 Islamists set 59 Hindus, including 25 women and 15 children, in the coach S6 of the train on fire in Godhra’s predominantly Muslim area, Signal Falia. Many evidences point to this fact but the BBC seems to be blind about it. 31 Islamists were found guilty of the Godhra massacre on February 22, 2011, by the trial court (with only 11 receiving the death penalty and 20 receiving life in prison), and all 31 convictions were affirmed by the Gujarat High Court in October 2017, resulting in everyone receiving a life sentence. Prior to that, based on the testimony of witnesses and survivors, it was obvious to anybody with even iota of intellectual integrity that Muslims had set the train on fire. The Godhra massacre is the clearest illustration of the ruthless inhumanity of Islamists, as seen by their sympathy for vile criminals, their blame of innocent victims. Thus, the documentary by the BBC is the latest attempt to create an atmosphere of communal unrest in the country by disputing well-established facts via propaganda.

But Why?

But what is the purpose of this propaganda? And why is it being released now? – in 2023. It is said that people tend to believe lies as truths if they are confident in themselves to distinguish between both and the timing of the documentary, just a year before Lok Sabha elections tell volumes about the intention behind release of the documentary. It is now clear that the ‘bugle; has been sounded by the so called ‘woke left’ against the Modi government in an apparent bid to influence election results of 2024. In this context one can expect more synchronised campaigns from New York Times, Washington Post and Al Jazeera. BBC documentary might’ve just started what will be a concerted effort by ‘left-liberal’ media to tarnish Modi government. The ‘Left-Liberal’ media will try again, they have tried with ‘Hashtag-toolkit’ to create unrest in India during farm riots and republic day (Greta and Khalistani tool kit), they had lobbied NGOs to release reports tarnishing India (Reporters without borders, Oxfam etc), they had also tried to hate and make other people hate anything that gives pride to Indians. As citizens of this great nation, we must not fall prey to this propaganda and as intelligent human beings we must expose these sinister people at every chance we get. With confidence we must tell to these ‘left-liberal propagandists’ together that- we are not slaves to your propaganda. 

And lastly, India doesn’t need the erstwhile butchers of nations lecture on human rights to the leader of a peaceful, pluralistic, politically stable, fastest growing economic power.

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