The BBC's over-sensitivity to the sensibilities of Muslims can make them look really odd at times.
Their own big scoop today is a Radio Two interview with Prince Charles, and his comments (on the programme) have been widely taken up by other news outlets.
Yet if you read the account on Sky News (Prince Charles: UK Youth Extremism 'Alarming'), you find a words that you don't find in the BBC's own account (Prince Charles says radicalisation of young people 'alarming'). Here are two paragraphs from Sky's report:
Prince Charles said preventing the radicalisation of Muslim youth was a "great challenge" and something that could not be swept "under the carpet".
He expressed particular concern over the threat posed by young Muslims coming into contact with extremists online, describing it as "frightening".
Nowhere in the BBC account, however, will you see the words 'Muslim', 'Muslims' or 'Islam'.
Prince Charles used them, but the BBC has simply chosen not to report them in the context of its lead article.
Why? Well, pace Rotherham, surely simply because the BBC journalists behind this piece are being overly politically correct, avoiding explicitly linking those words to the dangerous words 'extremism' and 'radicalisation'.
Can there be any other explanation?
