Russia: editor beaten
Yet another journalist has been brutally attacked in Russia. Maria Eismont reports
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Queen of the Jungle no more
Did Carol Thatcher know that the BBC’s taste and decency guidelines apply off air as well as on air?
And that any ill-judged, politically incorrect comments that may fall from her lips at any moment could cost her her job? We don’t know the full context or exactly what she said, only that she used the term ‘golliwog’ to describe a tennis player in the green room at the BBC and that presenter Adrian Chiles challenged her on her remarks.
Golliwog is a derogatory, racist term and even though Thatcher claims it was a joke, her uninhibited use of the word places her clearly in a certain generation — with a striking insensitivity and lack of awareness. Yet the problem with BBC management’s response to Thatcher’s comments is that it extends the broadcaster’s expectation of its contributors to unacceptable lengths.
Does this now mean that if someone catches Jonathan Ross making a tasteless comment in the local pub, and reports it, that the BBC will censure him? Or does this only apply when presenters are on BBC premises? If the Beeb wants to ensure that its presenters are gaffe free, it’s not only going to have to police them, but vet them for their political and personal views on sex, race and religion. That’s the implication of their decision to remove Carol Thatcher from The One Show.
Merkel and the Vatican
Chancellor Angela Merkel has got herself involved in Vatican politics, which, if nothing else, makes a change from the Vatican sticking its nose in to everyone else’s internal politics.
Speaking about Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to readmit members of the ultra-traditionalist Society of Pius X into the Vatican fold, in spite of some members’, well, interesting historical viewpoints, Merkel has demanded clarification of the Vatican’s position on Holocaust deniers in its ranks:
‘This is not just a matter, in my opinion, for the Christian, Catholic and Jewish communities in Germany but the Pope and the Vatican should clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial,’ said the Chancellor.
The problem is that really, it is just a matter for the Vatican. If Richard Williamson and the rest of the Lefebvre-ists had been excommunicated because of their tolerance of Holocaust denial, then one could feasibly criticise Benedict from readmitting them without them having purged their ranks of this great sin. But they were excommunicated for their objections to various policies emerging from the Second Vatican Council, such as ecumenicism and the abandonment of the Latin mass. If the Pope has reached some sort of resolution with them over these issues, then he has every right, by the internal logic of the church over which he has absolute dominion, to readmit them.
If you’re interested in this sort of thing, you can hear Richard Williamson’s views on the Holocaust here.
If you’re interested in how conspiracist phenomena overlap, you can hear Williamson explaining that 9/11 was an inside job here.
(Warning: may be upsetting for fans of rational argument and George Orwell).
Argentina: political radio show cancelled
Radio show Puntos de Vista (‘Points of View’), presented by renowned journalist Nelson Castro, was controversially cancelled on 30 Jan after 16 years on air.
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