|
The BBC lost a director general and head of news this week after accusations, in a memo from independent advisor Michael Prescott, that – among other things – its coverage of Donald Trump and the trans debate, plus the selection of stories about the Gaza conflict by its Arabic service, had all displayed clear bias. Without getting lost in the weeds of each allegation, it’s worth noting that bias in journalism is a treacherously difficult issue which all too often depends on one’s particular viewpoint.
So it’s important to bring some rigour to the exercise. Which is precisely the criticism levelled at the Prescott memo by Stephen Cushion, who has been studying impartiality in journalism for more than two decades at Cardiff University. Cushion believes Prescott’s approach was neither robust nor transparent enough, concluding that it “falls well short of the standards of impartiality it demands”.
The UK government says it will emulate Denmark’s asylum and immigration system to improve fairness and regain a measure of control. Be careful what you wish for, says Michelle Pace of Roskilde University, who concludes that Denmark’s asylum system “shows how far a (supposedly) centre-left government can go in tightening migration policies while maintaining political support”. But, Pace warns, this comes with serious legal, ethical and moral challenges.
In the mid-1980s, I spent a very happy year as an English instructor at the University of Khartoum, during which I was lucky enough to travel fairly widely in Sudan. I had an unforgettable fortnight in the western province of Darfur and spent a few days with teachers at a high school in El Fasher, where thousands of men, women and children were recently massacred by troops from the feared Rapid Support Forces. Here’s a very clear explainer about the roots of this
terrible tragedy.
In the category of “Can you run that past me again?” stories this week, we take a look at the US$1 trillion pay package offered to Elon Musk by Tesla. For reference, that’s several million times the average salary at the car-maker.
We’ve also discovered that shouting at seagulls really does scare them away from your lunch (particularly if you are a man, we’re told). We celebrated the 100th birthday of the art deco movement, and were warned about this year’s flu season, which has got off to an early start.
And if you haven’t been listening to our fabulous podcast series to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen, now’s your chance to catch up. This week’s deep dive into Jane Austen, the romantic, takes us, among other things, to a regency ball in York.
|
