Yesterday, Pakistani Twitterati took the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to town for editing an interview Pakistani Finance Minister Asad Umar did for BBC’s HardTalk.
The broadcaster came under fire for not adhering to journalistic ethics by omitting Umar’s remarks regarding incarcerated Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav from the interview altogether. BBC cited that it had edited the interview for ‘technical reasons’ and therefore could not broadcast those extra 14 seconds of the clip in question on TV.
Twitter users from Pakistan, including some of the sitting ministers, lambasted BBC for their clear bias in this regard. Many alleged that the BBC may have chosen not to air ‘anything against India.’
Federal Minister for Human Rights, Shireen Mazari blasted BBC for the ‘shameful act.’
“Shameful how BBC censored and chopped off Asad’s mention of Indian spymaster Jhadav! Typical bias of BBC!”
Shameful how BBC censored and chopped off Asad's mention of Indian spymaster Jhadav! Typical bias of BBC! https://t.co/sw1ReRmeJj
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) December 13, 2018
Pakistan journalists also kept pushing the program “HardTalk” host Stephen Sackur to come up and clarify the situation.
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
Hi @stephensackur is this true? Would appreciate a response https://t.co/zAxxw9Ut20
— Zarrar Khuhro (@ZarrarKhuhro) December 13, 2018
To this, HardTalk’s official Twitter handle not only confessed that it had omitted the Kublhushan part but came up with a ‘clarification’ for its act.
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
Sackur also shared these tweets from his handle to make a clarification.
To everyone who watched and listened to my interview with @Asad_Umar…. an important clarification from @BBCHARDtalk https://t.co/O7LcxsWuqF
— Stephen Sackur (@stephensackur) December 13, 2018
After the public outrage, BBC decided that it will be airing the program again today, with the additional 14 seconds pertaining to the Indian spy’s involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan. The event also marks a rare victory on the world media front for Pakistan.
No One Like IMRANKhan Goverment
Keep it IK : We Always With You :
What a Pathetic response, but the good thing, they take U-Turn!
“Nice u turn”, I’ll say