BBC – no longer independent and certainly not unbiased…

I belong to a generation brought up to believe that there was no more authoritative source of news in the world than the BBC.

As a student and for many years later, I cultivated a habit of listening to BBC – later watching it on TV and then migrating online – depending on its news-site for coverage of international news and important events.

Like hundreds of other concerned and politically-conscious Indians, I picked up this news report  on 2nd August about Tony Blair’s speech in Los Angeles talkin of the “Arc of Extremism”. It resonated very well with one of my earlier posts on this subject and I promptly posted it on my blog   without giving it any further thought.

To my surpise, I received an email later in the day which said that Blair had actually referred to Kashmir in his speech – a fact that signalled a momentous change in policy – as any avid watcher of the West’s stance towards India would know.

I did not recall seeing any reference in the news reports that I had seen. So I went back to the BBC website and checked again – no mention of Kashmir.

The email referred to the Times of India report on Blair’s speech – and sure enough, Kashmir was indeed mentioned (excerpt: In his speech, Blair said that the West had been mistaken in previously failing to link Kashmir and Chechnya-inspired terrorist attacks to a growing baleful Islamism.)

Looks like even this “grand” institution is no longe insulated from political lobbying, manipulation and hidden agendas…

So much for a “free press” in a “free country”…