The director of the Young, Nazi And Proud documentary has commented on BBC Newsbeat’s handling of the BNP. David Modell met Mark Collett in 2002 and recorded him expressing admiration for Hitler and the Nazis, hatred of black people, and “twisted homicidal fantasies”. Modell is severely critical of the level of preparation and standard of questioning shown by the BBC’s journalists:
“Mark and Joey” would have loved the broadcast interview. Their roles in the party were never explained to the listener, so they were able to appear simply as representative party members. Collett’s confession of Nazi sympathies was never even referred to.
The interview was typical of the sometimes flawed reporting of the BNP when the BBC engages its representatives in mainstream broadcasts. The BNPs heritage of neo-nazism and position in the “white supremacist” movement is often not understood by poorly briefed reporters, who conduct interviews in a format designed for credible politicians.
In the case of the Newsbeat interview the lack of depth is even more inexcusable as this was clearly prerecorded and edited, so there should have been time for proper research and scrutiny.
I would never argue that we should not allow the BNP airtime. But reporting the organisation has to be done with great care because of the distress and damage it has the potential (and the will) to cause. Failure to do so risks collaborating in the dissemination of a destructive hatred.
Text © Sarah Ditum, 2009
