Not looking too good for BBC.
In a recent interview with our Finance Minister, BBC apparently trimmed out some choice words of Asad Umar and suffice to say, Pakistanis are pretty pissed about it.
The host of the BBC talk show ‘HARDtalk,’ Stephen Sackur and Umar spoke about a number of topics and allegedly, that included words on Kulbushan Jadhav, an Indian spy who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military tribunal in 2017.
Unfortunately, no one heard what Umar had to say on the topic of India’s role in terrorism as conveniently, that information was withheld from the public and trimmed out of the video.
This was pretty much enough to piss a whole lot of Pakistanis off.
Mr @stephensackur
Can you do a @BBCHARDtalk with @BBC bosses who put your credibility at stake by censoring the mention of Indian spy Jhadev by @Asad_Umar in you show?The irony is that you asked Asad about media censorship in Pak but @BBCNews censored your show @BBCHARDtalk 😊.
— Anwar Lodhi (@AnwarLodhi) December 13, 2018
People are livid that BBC would take such action and are calling out the hugely successful news channel for their role in promoting censorship.
Hey @stephensackur, did you really delete mention of Indian Naval Officer Kulbushan Jadav during the @Asad_Umar interview?
You or the @BBCWorld would never be intimidated by India’s intelligence agencies!
Would you?
What’s the story? What happened?
— Mosharraf Zaidi (@mosharrafzaidi) December 13, 2018
For a guy who survived Hard Talk. Most nervous experience of my life. I think @Asad_Umar did well. Especially in the part they left out 🤭
— Shahbaz Taseer (@ShahbazTaseer) December 14, 2018
And it’s brought up the conversation of censorship in this country overall, as well.
Funny how people, including some journalists, are losing their shit about Asad Umar’s interview being cut by the BBC but few have any qualms about the way the entire media is being censored in Pakistan including the blocking of the VOA websites. Double standards much?
— Nida Kirmani (@nidkirm) December 14, 2018
In lieu of this negative attention, BBC came forward and put out a statement, completely assuring the public that the name was omitted out of the TV version of the interview, due to a technical error and nothing else.
The reason Kulbhushan Jadhav’s name was deleted from the TV version of the HARDtalk interview with Asad Umar has a simple technical explanation.
The recorded interview was too long for our broadcast slot and so had to be edited. This was done separately for radio and TV. 1/2— BBC HARDtalk (@BBCHARDtalk) December 13, 2018
His name was omitted from the TV version. This was not an act of censorship, but clearly confusion has been caused, so we are happy to restore that short section to the TV broadcast and we’ll give the new programme an extra airing tonight as well as tomorrow morning. 2/2 https://t.co/STjcCKsWGt
— BBC HARDtalk (@BBCHARDtalk) December 13, 2018
They have even been putting clips of the interview on their social media.
Should #Pakistan be ashamed of supporting Saudi Arabia after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi? No says Finance Minister @Asad_Umar pic.twitter.com/9lCZhayAIX
— BBC HARDtalk (@BBCHARDtalk) December 12, 2018
Of course, that was enough to get Pakistanis riled up again.
The real explanation why BBC HardTalk edited Asad Umar’s interview to delete the name of #Indian navy spy caught in #Pakistan sponsoring terrorists to sabotage #CPEC is that: #BBC Board & Executive Committees are filled with British Indians but not even a single British Pakistani pic.twitter.com/hyZ7J8ufz9
— ViiTv (@viitvdotcom) December 13, 2018
Super riled up.
Bbc Hard Talk is even less convincing than Hameed Haroon.
— Asfandyar Bhittani (@BhittaniKhannnn) December 13, 2018
😂😂😂 they are making even a bigger mockery by giving this explanation, out of all they found his name to be edited 😂
— Israr Cheema (@iamcheemaa) December 13, 2018
That's your explanation? Had to edit the bit about the Indian terrorist but left everything else. A tad weird, no?
— Mehr Tarar (@MehrTarar) December 13, 2018
The topic of censorship and media censorship in this country specifically have been major topics of concern not only for those reporting but for the public who want to know the realities of their own country.
Something like this may not be the best step for a platform like BBC and if what they claim is true, it seems as though Pakistanis are past the point of listening.
Have you seen the interview? Watch the whole thing here.
What do you think of the ‘technical’ issue? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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Cover photo source: The News/Walton And Allen