Saturday, 9 April 2016

BBC World On The Move Day




On 16 May the BBC "will host a day of special live coverage examining how the movement of people is changing the world we live in and how our economies develop." 

It will  be an "all-day Today programme" and dominate that day's output on both Radio 4 and the BBC World Service.  

The BBC says "the discussion will impartially cover how migration is changing our world" and promises "a range of speakers from different sides of the arguments" to "set out the most important new ideas".

But, looking at the press release, I've got my doubts. 

After all, the star attraction of Word On The Move day will be Angelina Jolie Pitt - a celebrity "activist on behalf of refugees" (in the words of the Guardian). 

And the press release says the day will be "bookended" by two live Radio 4 programmes - one (Today) looking at "how reverse migration has seen Asian people return to their countries of origin to promote economic growth, such as in India and Vietnam" (which sounds very much like a positive, pro-migration angle), the other (The World Tonight) "looking at how multinational workforces are serving the creativity of the tech sector" in California (which also sounds very much like a positive, pro-migration angle).

This sounds ominous.