Iain Dale's Diary: It Don't Matter If You're Tried or Sub Judice?

Iain Dale observes quite rightly I think that some journalists get themselves in a twist when it comes to reporting of crimes where people of different backgrounds - ethnic, racial, national, religious - are involved:

"It Don't Matter if You're Black or You're White...

Well, that's the lyric from the Michael Jackson song anyway. But it DOES matter if you're writing a BBC online news story. THIS story from BBC Wiltshire tells the terrible story of a white youth who was beaten up by eight youths. It doesn't mention their ethnicity.

THIS story from BBC West Yorkshire tells the story of an Asian youth who was beaten up by four youths. It tells us the four were all white.

If it was necessary to mention the offenders' ethnicity in the second story, why did the first story not mention that the eight attackers were of Asian descent. I don't think it is too much to ask for a bit of consistency here. The BBC has a multi volume editorial policy document. I would have thought it would cover such an instance."

Iain has only recently commented on Boris Johnson's campaign on behalf of a Zimbabwean national - who they both identify as white - who is not having an easy ride with the Immigration System. Why should he?

In this case I think Iain is half right or at least a third right, but the two cases are quite different. The second case is almost certainly much more serious. The youths from Huddersfield are in court and convicted, now pending sentencing, their pictures are published, and Iain the victim was NOT a "youth" - he was 41 and a father of three - but now he is DEAD.

It may be the case that in the case from Bristol/Wiltshire the journalist concerns believes rightly or wrongly that it is too early to provide fuller details. And the wider media coverage suggested this was a dispute within and between school students and that the victim is battered and bruised but will recover to lead a full life.

It's a good theme I think. But there may be better comparators.

Along the same lines but far more baffling has been the suppression of a case involving 22 different bomb making components, a former BNP candidate, and his pal a retired and race-war sympathetic Doctor (both these men white, european and nominally Christian) and the hundreds of other men (brown, asian, and at least nominally Muslim) with no real case whatsoever against them whose arrests have been reported more widely i.e. everywhere, more manically and in much greater detail. In fact the red-handed BNP bombers have hardly surfaced in the national media. Wouldn't want to prejudice the trials of white folk now would we?

Meanwhile the press was fascinated by a silly ballerina who had no plans to bomb anyone.

A Musicologist Writes: Might be a John Kongos song called Togoloshe Man Iain? ... "Tonight is the night to for-get-et" and/or "Tonight is the night, is the night" (doo doo du doo, doo doo du doo). Yellow and Red also dealt with, but not Blue .... the second song which plays on the excellent Kongos website. Craftfully hand-rolled throughout. Dave/id and Guido would approve.