Does The BBC Somali Service Uphold “Impartiality And Diversity Of Opinion”?
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By Liban Ahmad, London
“When I say or write something, there are actually a whole lot of different things that I am communicating. The propositional content (the actual information I am trying to convey)is only one part of it. Another part is stuff about me, the communicator. Everyone knows this. It's a function of the fact that there are uncountably many well-formed ways to say the same basic thing, from e.g. "I was attacked by a bear!" to "Goddamn bear tried to kill me!”
David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster: Essays and Arguments,
Writing in a celebratory booklet for the 40 th Anniversary of the BBC Somali Service, Mohamed Abdillahi, former head of the BBC Somali Service, recounted a story about a man who criticized a reportage the former head of the service made about a visit to Hargeysa, capital of ‘Somaliland’. The man argued that Mohamed Abdillahi exaggerated what he had seen in Hargeysa. The story underscores the challenges that go with an editorship of the BBC Somali Service. Even factual information angers some listeners. I have not been able to find examples about one sidedness in the programmes broadcast on the BBC Somali Service but on BBCSomali.com, the Somali Service website, I have found a breach of objectivity. This is made more serious by the fact that the people whom the BBCSomali.com treated unfairly have been at the receiving end of personality bashing more than once.
Mohamed Qanyare Afrah is a Somali politician who has been the target of vengeful caption writer.
Qanyare: wrongly targeted by a caption writer
In a news story about a Security Committee set up by the Prime Minster of Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, a photo of Mohamed Qanyare was used to illustrate the story. The photo caption reads “Qanyare waxa uu ka mid yahey masuuliinta shirkii wasiirada ka soo baxey Isniintii” (Qanyare is one of the incumbents who stormed out of the cabinet meeting on Monday.” ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/somali/news/story/2005/03/050322_pmplanformogadishu.shtml)
No such information appears in the story. The only reference to Qanyare in the story is that he was no member of the new Security Committee. Another commentary by the current head of the BBC Somali Service, contains a picture of Qanyare with a caption that reads ‘Qanyare-- Wasiir Gadoodsan’
( http://www.bbc.co.uk/somali/news/story/2006/01/060102_yemen.shtml)
(Qanyare—A Mutinous Minister). The English equivalent of gadood is mutiny; gadoodsan means mutinous in English.. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, mutinous is an adjective word. OALD defines ‘mutinous’ as:
“Adj.1 refusing to obey the orders of [someone] in authority. 2 taking part in a mutiny.
Parallel to that caption is a paragraph summing up Aden Conference that brought together Abdillahi Yusuf, President of Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, Parliamentary Speaker. The BBC Somali Service editor, Yusuf Garad Omar, observed the challenges facing newly reconciled leaders thus:
Hase yeeshee, marka la fiiriyo tirada hoggaamiyayaasha kooxaha ee Muqdisho ku sugan ee weliba uu khilaafku soo kala dhex galay, isla markaana ku caan baxay isu talin la'aanta, waxaa la dhowri doonaa, sida uu Guddoomiyuhu u oggoleysiin doono in dhammaantood ay u hoggaansanaadaan talada Yemen ka soo baxda.
In English the paragraph will read:
“But given the number of the faction leaders in Mogadishu who are not on good terms with each other and are notorious for lack of self- rule, it is to be seen how the Parliamentary Speaker will persuade all of them to adhere to the decisions from Yemen .”
The Somali Service editor has indulged in exhortation for characterizing Mogadishu based faction leaders as being “notorious for lack of self rule”. Was Yemen acting as a neutral party keen on consolidating the ‘Embagathi’ outcome or was it forcing on the Somali leaders decisions factional leaders at home will reject? Could there no be other ways to make the point without sounding like an ancestor admonishing his progeny for failing to band together? There are two other pictures in the editor’s commentary-- those of Abdillahi Yuusuf, the president, and Maxamed Cumar Xabeeb , former Chairman of the Middle Shabeelle Political Committee. Their names serve as captions. In another commentary the editor discusses America’s renewed interest in Somalia. It contains the following paragraph:
Waxaa uu khilaafku u dhexeeyaa gaar ahaan Madaxweynaha, Cabdullaahi Yusuf Axmed iyo Ra’iisal Wasaaraha, Cali Maxamed Geeddi, oo daafacayay kana dhaadhicnayay dadweynaha in la keeno ciidan shisheeye oo aan loo kala saarin saf hore iyo mid dambe. Dhinaca kale waxaa ka soo horjeeda ra'yigaas hoggaamiyayaal hubeysan oo hadda Wasiirro ka ah dowladda oo ka soo horjeeda in ciidan laga keeno dalalka deriska ah.
In English the paragraph reads:
“The differences are between particularly the President, Cabdullaahi Yuusuf Axmed and the Prime Minister, Cali Maxamed Geeddi, who was defending and convincing the public [the merits] of deploying of foreign [peace keeping] troops without distinguishing between the front-line states and rear ones. On the other side, armed leaders who are now ministers in the government are against the deployment of troops from neighboring countries.”
Since the formation of the ‘Transitional Federal Government of Somalia’, both the President and the Prime Minster have been on the same side and in favor of deploying African peacekeeping forces. The above quoted paragraph has given me the impression that Cabdullaahi Yuusuf, the president, is on the side of “armed leaders”. Was Prime Minster Geeddi defending his pro- African Peace keeping forces stance or was he defending the Public?
The most glaring objectivity related flaw occurred in a news story about a Somali politician, Muuse Suudi Yalaxow who has become BBC Somali Service’s first victim of exclamation mark and breach of competence based trust.
Muuse Suudi: Victim of punctuation misuse
In translation the headline of the story reads Muuse Suudi Blames himself! ( Muuse Suudi oo is eedeeyay!” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/somali/news/story/2005/03/050308_musesudi.shtml)
The story is about Muuse Suudi, former Minister for Commerce in the Transitional Federal Government of who alleged that Ethiopia has armed him and his one-time antagonist, Cismaan Cali (Cismaan Caato) separately. Despite the misuse of the exclamation mark, the headline puts a question mark on the objectivity of BBC Somali Service. The first paragraph o f the news story reads:
Wasiirka Ganacsiga ee dowladda Soomaaliya ee ku meel gaarka ah, Muuse Suudi Yalaxow, ayaa dowladda Ethiopia ku eedeeyay in aanay wadin maslaxad Soomaaaliyeed.
In translation it reads:
“Somali Transitional Government’s Minister for Commerce, Muuse Suudi Yalaxow, has blamed Ethiopia for not having Somalia’s interest at heart.”
The first sentence of the story has contradicted the headline. “An exclamation [mark] can… be used to indicate an element of irony. The speaker or writer is commenting with ‘tongue-in-cheek’” writes Marion Field in her book, Improve Your Punctuation.
I have typed the name Alex Salmond, the leader of Scottish National Party, in the search part of BBC news website. Up came this headline: Brown accused of 'smash and grab' ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4500764.stm , Monday, 5 December 2005, 20:08 GMT .) I wonder what would happen if the headline writer had chosen to write the headline like this: Brown accused of 'smash and grab’!
Do the above-mentioned examples of objectivity breach about BBCSomali.com contain grounds for libel action against the BBC? According to the BBC‘s Action Network Guidelines, “d efamation is any published material that damages the reputation of an individual or an organization. This covers material on the internet as well as radio and television broadcasts - so even drama and fiction can be defamatory if they damage someone’s reputation. Internet sites are not exempt from any libel laws. If you are publishing on the internet you are bound by the same libel laws as print publishers.”
Ensuring that BBC Somali Service producers and presenters have a satisfactory grasp of media law and BBC Editorial Guidelines could have prevented such serious editorial lapses. These lapses bring to light questions about equal opportunity employment and the need for a review of the BBC Somali Service equal opportunity policy.
Liban Ahmad was a trainee researcher at BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Programme.
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