Did BBC’s focus on one potential Glastonbury controversy miss another?

Getty ImagesLast yr the BBC received a Bafta for its Glastonbury protection. This yr it is being attacked for it. Or, to be extra exact, for one hour of it, two on the most, for those who rely Kneecap’s set, which adopted Bob Vylan’s on the West Holts stage on Saturday afternoon.I had arrived early to cowl the Belfast rap trio’s efficiency, conscious that the prime minister had stated it should not go forward, that the pageant organisers had stood agency towards political strain, that one of many band’s members is on bail on a terror cost, which he denies, and that the BBC had introduced that morning it would not stream the present stay.I’ve to confess, I hadn’t heard of Bob Vylan. However I do not think about many others had both. Of the thousands and thousands who tuned in to the BBC’s protection over the weekend, the stay streamers of the Bob Vylan set would have doubtless been a tiny proportion.However you’d should have been beneath a rock (or maybe partying too arduous on a Somerset farm) to not have heard of the punk duo now.As I stood within the crowd and caught the lead singer’s feedback – about utilizing violence to get your message throughout, and main the gang in chants of “demise, demise to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]” – it was clear, because the pageant’s organisers stated afterwards, {that a} line had been crossed.This was not the peace-loving, welcome-to-all vibe that Glastonbury tries to undertaking.Police have launched a prison investigation into Bob Vylan’s set to establish if statements made on stage broke the legislation.Some folks within the crowd chanted “demise to the IDF” again. They seemed to be on board. Bob Vylan additionally platformed the controversial “From the river to the ocean” slogan. Some use the mantra as a name for Palestinian management of all land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, together with Israel. Critics say the slogan is a name for the destruction of the state of Israel. That interpretation is disputed by pro-Palestinian activists who say that most individuals chanting it are calling for an finish to Israel’s occupation of the West Financial institution and blockade of Gaza, not the destruction of Israel itself. I made a observe on the time that from my vantage level, conversely that slogan didn’t get a substantial amount of response from the gang.The scrutiny has been on the band, the pageant organisers and the BBC. However the place does the liberty of expression for the hundreds in that Saturday afternoon crowd start and finish?After Kneecap’s set, I spoke to followers within the crowd who supported that band’s stance on the Israel-Gaza struggle and had been happy that they had been sending a message to the British authorities.However I additionally spoke to Jewish festival-goers who instructed me they needed to disguise their identities at Glastonbury this yr as a result of they feared the response they could get. One instructed me in a spot that’s so optimistic and accepting of everybody, “there is a distinction for those who’re a Jew”.Each views needs to be heard.Getty ImagesIn that discipline on Saturday, it felt to me that the BBC had spent a lot vitality on how it might cope with Kneecap at Glastonbury, that it had missed Bob Vylan’s potential to trigger it issues. Generally, if you find yourself centered on one potential controversy, one other one arrives to chunk you.It couldn’t have identified precisely what Bob Vylan would say or do on stage. There are questions whether or not due diligence was completed within the run up. I am instructed it was. It is the BBC’s response because the set unfolded, and the notion it was too gradual to behave, that may be a larger downside.I’ve lined various BBC ‘scandals’ in my time as media editor at BBC Information and as I have a look at the headlines throughout the media, and the bashing the BBC is getting, I remember the fact that tales in regards to the BBC are sometimes utilized by different media organisations as a stick with hit the company. And generally, there are different company pursuits at play for many who wish to see a weaker BBC for their very own profit.However the BBC has stated it regrets not pulling the stay stream throughout the efficiency. From reminiscence, the feedback got here in direction of the top of the set, however there was nonetheless time to take motion. It could have wanted to have been a fast determination although. So if the group needed to refer up for editorial recommendation, it is doable the efficiency was already over – and it was later pulled from repeat viewing on the iPlayer.The BBC says it is taking a look at its steering round stay occasions in order that “groups are clear on when it is acceptable to maintain output on air”.PA MediaBobby Vylan of the group Bob Vylan was surrounded by a sea of Palestinian flags throughout the band’s setFreedom of speech, the liberty to precise opinions and the appropriate to inventive expression could have been within the BBC’s thoughts because it went into the pageant. As the ocean of Palestinian flags within the crowds on the efficiency illustrated, solidarity with the Palestinian folks (and for some, the accusation that Israel is committing genocide, which it denies) is shared by many at Glastonbury and wider. The BBC wouldn’t wish to be seen to be censoring opinions.Incitement to violence, although, is not an opinion. It may be a prison offence.Tradition usually holds a mirror as much as politics and what has been taking part in out at Glastonbury is illustrative of the broader, heated debate raging throughout the nation about what’s going down in Gaza.The Bob Vylan set has rightly begged questions of each the BBC and the Glastonbury organisers, in addition to the performers themselves. They had been those who made the feedback within the first place, though it is proper that the BBC, as a publicly-funded organisation, faces scrutiny. And within the contested instances we stay in, what’s occurred has compounded issues for the company with its protection of Israel and Gaza already referred to as into query. An investigation is ongoing right into a documentary it already broadcast in regards to the youngsters of Gaza and one other documentary about medical doctors in Gaza was dropped by the BBC and can now be broadcast on Channel 4.