An article published on 13 of September 2013
defines the upcoming Afghan election in regard to the politics and candidates
relation to Ahmad Shah Masood, the slain commander of Mujahidin group under
Northern Alliance umbrella. The article concludes that any delay to the
election by some is seen as catastrophic. “Masood was a proponent of fair
election” the author adds “but some would argue he was not given the
opportunity to organise an election”
In this
article a key political process is defined through Masood’s perspective which
is appropriate for Masood Heritage Foundation but not BBC. Although Masood’s legacy overshadows Afghan politics;
influence of military leaders or of political leader for that matter remains a
subject of perspective, even more so when we are talking about legacies. Some
might see one of other hundred figures as influential, some might only view
those alive as influential. BBC should not be using this major political event
to provide a platform for coverage of Masood’s legacy. The article goes further
by arguing that Masood was a proponent of election. This is inaccurate, Masood
did not organise an election when he was practically running what resembled the
national government neither his military wing established a national government
with functioning institutions that can lay down a roadmap to election. It is
not helpful to talk about a major military leader in terms of what he aspired
to do instead of what he actually did; it would be unjust to those who suffered
in the turmoil of Mujahidin military ambitions, to which Masood was a big part.
It is indecent to dismiss civilian suffering by implying that it was delusions
on their part and what actually happened was high class political discourse. I
agree that BBC might want to create content about Masood’s legacy but it has to
be balanced and accurate. It is inaccurate and unfair to set Masood’s legacy as
the standard for election and interlink the two in an article.
A bias
article reinstates the concern of a particular group consistently and
throughout without a counter opinion; little attention is paid to attribution
of controversial facts. Using that definition this article is bias because it
puts forth consistently and throughout the arguments currently made by the
successor of Northern Alliance. Given that the author of the article is a staff
member of the BBC one would expect that the article is as balanced as possible
given the time allotted to story preparation and the space available, and to
seek reliable sources. Common sense also commands to presume that such articles
are being independently fact-checked by another employee of BBC. This only
points out to the widespread domination of BBC Persian editorial by a political
fiction, spreading opinions and interests of a particular political and social
stream. I have based this argument primarily on the content of the
mentioned article, two other evidence I offer in support of the claim is the
consistency and spread of such articles across the board. The method for
proofing the former is a look at chronological run of bias articles and the
later by evaluating authoring for each articles.
A second article that was published only a
month before under the title of ‘lessons of Arab “autumn” for Afghanistan’,
also outlines the views of the political calculus of what used to be
Northern Alliance that identify themselves as former Mujhidin. The article
argues that the murders committed by the military rulers of Egypt should be
seen as atrocities of secular, while the Muslim Brotherhood is the victim. The
author draws a clear parallel line between Mujahidin and their current
political structure with that of Egypt’s Muslim brotherhood. Hence, the
argument that political Islam has been incapable of sound governance and has
committed atrocities while in power or seeking power does not hold ground. This
is while Mujahidin fictions are responsible for most of the atrocities of the
90s as well as some that took place in the 80s which eventually resulted in the
rise of Taliban. This article uses false logic by creating parallels between
events that have different political roots, causes and results. The author
attempts to deprecate the atrocities that various fiction of what he calls
Mujahidin has committed by belittling their role in the crimes. The author
attempts to downplay the responsibility Mujahidin should be taking for the crimes
they had committed by overplaying the resemblance between Egypt and Afghanistan
creating an imaginary group secular by its nature and somehow responsible for
the crimes in Afghanistan.
Another variable I use to determine
institutional bias in BBC is by identifying the authors of these articles. The
premise is that institutional bias can be established if such articles are
throughout and doctored by different authors. Link three below is another
article I consider unduly favourable to Masood, which is by another author who
is again a member of BBC Persian team.
For plurality to be implemented an entity, in
this case a nation, that represents diversity should exist. It might be the
case that sectarian and ethnic divisions in Afghanistan runs so deep that the
creation of balanced information based on Afghanistan wide perspective is
unrealistic and unappealing. As a result any broadcaster catering to a
linguistic group inclines towards the prevailing politics of that lingo-ethnic
group. This certainly holds true if you look at BBC Pashto which some claim is
similarly bias toward a Pan-Pashton politics. Many media outlets are
ideologically motivated and inclined to support groups and parties that are politically
or otherwise aligned with them. BBC Persian is intended to cater to Afghanistan
wide audience and pursuing partisan politics is contrary to the policy and a
violation of its mission. Should BBC decide to move toward catering to ethnic
groups and semi-political fictions then that should be a conscious choice, not
sleeping walking into it.
Here is
the URL for this article
another
article published under the title of lessons of Arab “autumn” for Afghanistan
is at
link number three
