Posted on 01/13/2004 10:21:31 AM PST by Pikamax
Kilroy-Silk: opinion turns against BBC
John Plunkett Tuesday January 13, 2004
BBC bosses today waded back into the row over Robert Kilroy-Silk after press and public opinion appeared to turn against their decision to pull his daytime talk show.
Critics have accused the corporation of restricting freedom of speech after it shelved the show following the presenter's anti-Arab rant in the Sunday Express.
Opinion polls have suggested strong viewer support for the beleaguered former MP, while the Daily Express launched a so-called "Express Crusade" demanding "Put Kilroy Back on the Box."
But the BBC, in a move that may be perceived as a rearguard action, issued another press statement today seeking to stop the row turning into a freedom of speech issue.
"We would like to make it clear that the BBC defends and supports freedom of speech," it said. "This has never been about freedom of speech. It is about how the job of a BBC presenter carries with it responsibilities about what is written and said publicly and how this may impact on their on-air role.
"The BBC needs to be seen to be impartial when dealing with topical and controversial issues. The key focus for the BBC is, given the views he has stated, whether Robert Kilroy-Silk can be seen as a suitable presenter of a daily discussion programme dealing with a range of current and controversial issues, with an audience from a wide cross-section of the public."
It added: "The BBC is currently considering the implications of an article written by Robert Kilroy-Silk which was published in the Sunday Express on 4 January 2004 and which has caused significant and serious offence.
"In view of some newspaper coverage we would like to make it clear that the BBC defends and supports freedom of speech."
But the BBC's long-standing critics have already seized upon the row as another stick with which to beat the corporation.
Stephen Glover, in an article today in the Daily Mail headlined "Let Kilroy speak his mind, even if it is full of nonsense!", wrote: "My feeling is that the BBC is itself guilty of a kind of tacit racism against Arabs in reacting as it has. There is an assumption of a particular weakness. If Mr Kilroy-Silk had written abusively about Americans, no one in the BBC would have blinked an eyelid."
The Express quoted Tory leader Michael Howard as saying: "While it is absolutely wrong to talk about people in categories, I also think that our tradition of free speech is precious and that is something we should never lose sight of."
It also highlighted the "BBC bully girls who hate Kilroy", with a double page of profiles of BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey, director of TV Jana Bennett, and head of daytime Alison Sharman.
The Sun's political editor, Trevor Kavanagh, wrote yesterday: "You don't need to be a fan of Robert Kilroy-Silk to be appalled by the way the BBC gagged him."
Others including Gerald Kaufman have said the BBC acted with haste in dumping the programme.
Calls to the BBC were running seven to one in favour of Kilroy-Silk over the weekend, but the figure had fallen to three to one by yesterday.
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