BBC apology to Darcus Howe following interview on London riots

[PaddyJoe]

Darcus Howe is a veteran West Indian writer and broadcaster who was interviewed live on the BBC yesterday about the riots. He was interrupted and spoken over by the interviewer who tried to imply that he was involved in the riots and then cut him off abruptly when he gave as good as he got.
Link to the interview below. Well worth a look.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biJgILxGK0o"]‪London Riots. (The BBC will never replay this. Send it out)‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

Howe was a member of the British Black Panther Movement in the late sixties and was involved in protests which led to appearances in court in 1970 and a three month prison sentence. He has presented programmes for Channel 4 and writes for the New Statesman.
More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darcus_Howe

[C. Flower]

Darcus Howe is a veteran West Indian writer and broadcaster who was interviewed live on the BBC yesterday about the riots. He was interrupted and spoken over by the interviewer who tried to imply that he was involved in the riots and then cut him off abruptly when he gave as good as he got.
Link to the interview below. Well worth a look.
‪London Riots. (The BBC will never replay this. Send it out)‬‏ - YouTube

Howe was a member of the British Black Panther Movement in the late sixties and was involved in protests which led to appearances in court in 1970 and a three month prison sentence. He has presented programmes for Channel 4 and writes for the New Statesman.
More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darcus_Howe

Someone posted this last night, but it's well worth a thread. I was very moved by the way he dug deep beyond appearances, recognising that somewhere, in there, the youth were insurrectionary, and was unphased and unafraid of the weasel words of the BBC and exposed their lies.

[Griska]

Appalling.
The man was eloquent and relevant.

That presenter should be fired.
As Mr. Howe said, she showed him absolutely no respect.

[Holly]

An apology was in order.

[C. Flower]

She was feral...

[Dr. FIVE]

He was on democracynow yesterday 14:00 mins in http://t.co/5vNsn0E

[Kev Bar]

Absolutely.
Such snooty populism makes you long for the days of snooty erudition.

If she was in a satire, you would have said it was a bit OTT - too abject lackey like for the BBC.

The clip looked like it was going viral.

Hope the apology was en route despite that.

Although it is a minor comfort when compared the fact that the potential for such behaviour - very SKY/FOX - exists on a State broabcaster.

[Kev Bar]

She was feral...

Throw her to the hoodies.

[Dr. FIVE]

She should be apologising at the start of the main evening news.

[C. Flower]

I appreciate what he said. And the other guy you posted, FIVE. It isn't just any old riot, it's as he said, part of an historical moment. They hit at their own surroundings, because it was the only way they could get attention and get listened to. They have no future and many of them no prospect of employment. They can see corruption and hypocrisy from the top to the bottom of the system. The appearance of petty criminality - opportunism - is also part of the reality, but it is not its essence. Darcus Howe showed what its essence was, the same as the movement elsewhere in the world.

[Lapsedmethodist]

Darcus is a tit.

Darcus appeared on BBC news on Tuesday 9th August 2011, where he portrayed the riots as an "insurrection", comparing them with mass demonstrations in the Arab world and other regions. He also falsely, and with inflammatory bile, stated that police had shot Mark Duggan in the face and had "blown his head off". A post-mortem clearly showed that Duggan had actually died as a result of a single gunshot to the chest. When challenged by the host, he then describing himself as an old Caribbean "negro" At this point Howe was taken off air.

" An insurrection of the masses of the people "

[C. Flower]

Darcus is a tit.



" An insurrection of the masses of the people "

That's odd. The BBC said he had two wounds.

Where is that quoted from ?

[Kev Bar]

That's odd. The BBC said he had two wounds.

Where is that quoted from ?

"He was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest, and received a second gunshot wound to his right bicep. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 6.41pm."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/au...an-police-ipcc

[Newsy]

The interviewer was exceptionally impatient, unprofessional and downright disrespectful.

It appeared to me that she wanted him to say one thing, but he wasn't having any of it.

At the end, she just cut him off.

A good training video, as how NOT to interview.

[PaddyJoe]

Darcus is a tit.

Darcus appeared on BBC news on Tuesday 9th August 2011, where he portrayed the riots as an "insurrection", comparing them with mass demonstrations in the Arab world and other regions. He also falsely, and with inflammatory bile, stated that police had shot Mark Duggan in the face and had "blown his head off". A post-mortem clearly showed that Duggan had actually died as a result of a single gunshot to the chest. When challenged by the host, he then describing himself as an old Caribbean "negro" At this point Howe was taken off air.

" An insurrection of the masses of the people "

Hardly surprising that Howe got the details wrong as the preliminary ISPCC report only came out yesterday. From last Thursday there was a concerted police and media effort to obscure the actual facts of the incident. It was only on Sunday that the drip feed of the real circumstances of the shooting began to emerge.
It doesn't take away from the fact that the BBC interviewer had her own ready made interpretation of the events and certainly wasn't going to let some old West Indian guy who lives in Brixton spoil it.