The New Dark Age

3 February 2012 — PSC

The BBC has denied it was wrong to edit the word ‘Palestine‘ from an artist’s performance on Radio 1Xtra, but has said its producers may have been ‘overcautious’.This final ruling issued at the end of January, marks the end of an eight month campaign by PSC to hold the BBC to account for its bias in censoring the lyrics ‘I can scream Free Palestine for my pride/still pray for peace‘ from a rap performed by the artist, Mic Righteous, on 1Xtra.
In an extraordinary exchange of correspondence, during which the BBC‘s excuses for cutting out ‘Palestine‘ grew ever more bizarre, one producer wrote: ‘Referencing Palestine is fine, but implying that it is not free is the contentious issue’.

PSC would like to thank all our members who wrote to the BBC on this issue, and especially those who carried on the campaign for eight months.

Read PSC’s press release, New Statesman article, the Washington Post and Left Foot Forward blog on the BBC‘s decision. PSC‘s Amena Saleem has written in Electronic Intifada today about the BBC‘s ingrained bias against Palestine. Follow the Twitter debate @PSCupdates