Saturday, September 16, 2006

BBC not homophobic (apparently)

One of the best things about writing this blog is the chance to make a wide range of contacts in the media, entertainment, education, psychology and politics. One MP who read my blog said he didn't think the BBC was guilty of discrimination. After all, he said, take gay people out of the Beeb and it would collapse!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Dave,
I applaud your sentiments in general, but I think you have to be careful with the word 'homophobic'. I doubt that Newsround or any other media group in the modern world (maybe the odd tabloid newspaper?) actually has an anti-homosexual agenda, in the sense of perpetrating derogaratory beliefs about them.
A more reasonable complaint would be that Newsround is 'heteronormative'. And that is a profound and important point, since the tendency to normalise hetreosexuality with children is a genuine issue, which few people identify. Another instance of it, related to this, is that - allegedly - there was a gay kiss planned for Doctor Who episode, involving the lovely Andrew Hayden-Smith; presumably, the plan was overruled, or at least changed, because of the young audience of the program. The idea that straight relationships are less suitable for children than gay ones is, I'd guess, widely held, and very unfortunate.
I also can't help reflecting that this way of thinking is so wide-spread that it is slightly unfair to pick out Newsround for criticism. What is needed is a wholesale cultural change.
All of which aside, your blog is very interesting, well written and well intended, so I'm sorry to be so critical of it!