Why does Radio 1 Newsbeat have homophobic, Hitler-admiring racist thug as a guest?‏

Love Music Hate Racism was shocked and disappointed to see BBC Radio 1’s flagship news programme “Newsbeat” giving substantial and uncritical publicity to the views of members of the “Young BNP” as well as BNP leader Nick Griffin on yesterday’s programme.

The “Young BNP” interview fail to mention the word “racism” even once, there were no opposing views stated and no tough questions asked. And the questions really ought to be there: Not only do “Joey and Mark” belong to an organisation whose leader has called for an “all-white Britain” and the sinking of boats carrying refugees to Britain. An organisation whose recent “Red White & Blue” Festival saw attendees burning golliwogs.
An elementary morsel of journalistic honesty and thoroughness might have led the interview/article to mention that “Mark” is none other than Mark Collett, former leader of the “Youth BNP” as it was then, and exposed as an unrepentant Hitler-worshipping violent racist by an excellent Channel 4 “Dispatches” documentary “Young, Nazi and Proud” in 2003. The programme filmed Collett saying, “Hitler will live forever”; about British black people that, “just because a dog is brought up in a stable doesn’t make it a horse”; and that, “AIDS is a friendly disease because blacks, drug users and gays have it”.

The same year saw the dangerous but hapless Collett outed by Russell Brand in his RE:Brand show. Collett described gays to Brand as “AIDS monkeys” and “faggots”.

Collett is currently the BNP’s “Director of Publicity”, a fact also omitted from the Newsbeat report. The other Newsbeat interviewee was Joe Barber aka “Joey Smith”, who describes himself on the BNP’s racist Great White Records website (he also runs the ailing “music” label which tries to push racist music CDs to schoolchildren ) as a “nationalist songwriter”. Barber’s execrable album is praised to the hilt on openly Nazi message board Stormfront among others.

The Daily Mirror earlier this year carried a shocking expose of a “Young BNP” weekend training camp which it described as a “Hitler Youth-style training camp” which teaches “children how to use guns and knives”. (http://bit.ly/3ZceRD). Should these people really be the subject of a serious interview on the country’s biggest radio station?
In the absence of anything but the mildest criticism of the vile racist views stated, and the total omission of any of the salient facts about the deeply unpleasant backgrounds of the fascist interviewees, Newsbeat can only be seen as at best soft on racism. The fact that Love Music Hate Racism events and LMHR-supporting artists who wanted to speak out about the BNP have repeatedly been refused coverage by Newsbeat, being told the issue was “too political” only adds to this impression. The BBC has already of course invited Holocaust-denying BNP leader Nick Griffin onto its Question Time programme in October 22nd.

Radio 1 should immediately organise a follow-up interview with anti-racist campaigners and artists which seeks to fill in the blanks on those it uncritically interviewed, giving listeners the chance to make up their own minds about the fascist BNP. If it does not, the BBC will have even more serious questions to answer about its promotion of those with extreme racist views, and its denial of a platform to black and Asian musicians, gay people and anti-racist campaigners – those under threat from the politics of the BNP – who wish to express their alarm about this organisation and its views.
A number of artists associated with the Love Music Hate Racism campaign have also rallied against “Newsbeat”. MPHO, Kid British and Sam Duckworth aka Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly. were amongst those who passed around messages calling for followers to complain to the BBC.

Love Music Hate Racism is supporting the demonstration against Nick Griffin appearing on Question Time, taking place on October 22nd, called by Unite Against Fascism.