Sunday 22 September 2019

"John Humphrys’s privilege is showing"


Ben Hunte

I see that Ben Hunte, the BBC's first LGBT Correspondent, has hit back at John Humphrys. 

The former Today man had objected to him saying after his appointment, "I'm looking forward to being the mouthpiece for some marginalised groups". JH thinks the BBC "must not act as anyone's mouthpiece" as "that's what lobbyists and public relations people do" and that "to confuse the two is to undermine the job of a journalist".

Here's Ben's response, quoted in The Sunday Times
John Humphrys’s privilege is showing. I am not a spokesperson for the LGBT community. However, what I can do — and I have done — is open the BBC’s platforms to some individuals who have been left out of the conversation for so long.
Hmm, if you say you're not a spokesperson maybe you shouldn't have used the word 'mouthpiece' then, Ben?

mouth·piece

 (mouth′pēs′)
n.
1. part, as of a musical instrument or a telephone, that functions in or near
the mouth.
2. Sports A rubber or flexible plastic protective device worn over the teeth, as by boxers.
3. Informal One, such as a spokesperson, through which views are expressed.

1 comment:

  1. This privilege nonsense needs to be stopped. It is the other way round. People like YAB, Diane Abbott, Dawn Butler, Peter Tatchell, Germaine Greer, Afua Hirsch and the like can say all sorts of racist, discriminatory and controversial things because PC culture privileges their utterances. John Humphrys has to be very careful about what he says and the way he says it. He only gets points for being Welsh and working class (and he makes sure we know it). Had he been English and upper class he would probably have been sack for his offences against PC some time ago.

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