Burning Issue

Published on Wednesday 4 June 2008 20:21

Is the BBC fostering prejudice against the UK's Polish community?

Yes

DANIEL KAWCZYNSKI

MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham

DURING the Second World War, Polish nationals made hugely significant contributions – notably in the Battle of Britain and in the field of intelligence, such as the work done by cryptographers at Bletchley Park towards the breaking of the Enigma code.

Now, the vast majority of Poles who have come to this country in the past decade have been young and energetic, hardworking and law-abiding, although they have often received poor wages and endured unsatisfactory working conditions. The trend is now reversing and many Poles are already returning to Poland; I believe this country will soon be missing their contribution, particularly in our agricultural and construction sectors, as well as healthcare, where many Polish doctors, dentists and nurses have been playing vital roles in our NHS.

Unfair bias shown by parts of our media against Poles and other eastern European nationals living and working in this country is particularly prevalent among the "liberal elite" of the BBC, as witnessed in key broadcasts such as Question Time and Panorama.

Immigration is an issue almost everyone agrees must now be discussed and it is accepted uncontrolled immigration is not possible. However, I am increasingly concerned Poles are being seen as a soft target, as – unlike with immigrants from Asia or Africa – adverse comments about white Christian eastern Europeans are not viewed as racist. However, I do view the victimisation of this particular white minority ethnic group as racist and have called on the Commission for Racial Equality to address the issue with due urgency.

No-one is speaking out at a high level in support of the Polish community, although Poles are increasingly finding themselves the victims of misinformed racist attacks across the UK, attacks which are being fuelled by the bias in media reporting from the BBC and elsewhere.

No

STEPHEN MITCHELL

Deputy director, BBC News and Head of Programmes, BBC News.

T HERE was no evidence in the interviews by Daniel Kawczynski to back up his allegations, nor does he provide any for his comments in The Scotsman. The picture he paints is not one we recognise – to say that the BBC doesn't run stories about other immigrant groups and simply concentrates on the Poles is not true.

Here's one example: recently, there has been coverage of other eastern European migrant workers in the fruit-picking industry and a report on the routes taken by immigrants from West Africa into Europe and the UK. There has also been extensive coverage of the concerns, lifestyles and cultures of the African, Caribbean, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. However, Polish nationals make up one of the largest group of recently arrived legal immigrants into the UK and our coverage reflects this.

Our coverage of Polish immigrants aims to be fair, accurate and balanced, as with our coverage of all immigrant communities. In his piece for The Scotsman, Mr Kawczynski introduces criticism of two specific programmes, Question Time and Panorama.

We wrote to him just over a month ago pointing out that any views on Question Time were those of the panellist and the audience, not the BBC, and that Panorama had not made a programme critical of Polish immigration. This remains the case.