There was a time when the BBC was the epitome of news reporting – respected as “the source” of everything true worldwide.
What happened?
Investigative and “decent” journalism has been on the back foot for some time, hampered by refusal to answer freedom of information requests by governmental departments – and in regards to the BBC specifically, the pressures of being defunded by the government.
In a recent Twitter poll, 91% of respondents said they no longer trusted the BBC, and indeed, in a survey that I set up some months ago, 8% stated they got their news from Novara Media, a left-wing YouTube channel.
Regarding transgender people’s affairs, the BBC has undoubtedly done an u-turn despite 2% of its staff being trans. The BBC 2 programme “Newsnight” has been hostile to trans folk for some years – in particular, our trans kids who struggle to get healthcare – while the BBC radio programme “Women’s Hour” has distinctly been promoting a gender-critical agenda. I dont suspect they will be inviting Judith Butler any time soon!
Things hit a new low on Tuesday 26th of October when the BBC published a long-winded and rambling story about lesbians being forced by trans women to have sex with them.
Well, if that is true, where are the rape cases?
The story (I prefer the term “fairy-story”) quotes just three alleged cases from sources that are, well, let’s say, not very accepting of trans people or, to be specific, trans women. The article, written by Caroline Lowbridge, who within minutes of publication deleted her Twitter account (strange that – does’nt she stand by all her hard work?) allegedly went through a rigorous BBC editorial process (LOL) before publishing.
The story has subsequently been “shredded” by many other journalists including those from outside the UK, lesbians and bloggers. Indeed I quickly pointed out that most trans women on hormone therapy or post-op are incredibly handicapped to “have sex” at all – let alone with a lesbian who, in statistical terms, represents just 1.1% of society.
Stich up!
Were the trans community mad! Within hours, a new chat group of trans activists was formed, and an open letter condemning the BBC was written, resulting in over 12,000 verified signatures. It would be much higher, but the website crashed, and many people using a Hotmail account never received emails allowing them to verify their signature. The number of total signatures, including unverified, exceeded 20,000. Obviously, there was the odd offensive signature – forged by a GC activist?
Who knows.
But the vast majority were signatures from everyday honest folk, disgusted at the lengths the BBC has gone to defame trans women.
To date, there has been no apology, just a rebuttal saying the story was fair, which of course, it wasn’t.
While to open letter is a great start, though, as a community, we need to see this through by following up our complaints through the official BBC channels (the procedure is easy), Ofcom, and perhaps, if possible, legal action concerning discrimination.
The BBC may have the right to publish controversial stories – but how about some balance going forward? Pointing out the fascist element in the gender-critical movement would be a start.
The truth is that some people in the media and the odd lesbian are prejudiced against trans people, making them transphobic.
Is our state broadcaster transphobic?
Well, many tens of thousands of people think exactly that.
