BBC blacks out Edwards on race

Update: The BBC has replied to this.


The BBC news website — one of the most popular news websites in the world — is running a story entitled “Democrats clash over civil rights“. With the South Carolina Democratic primary only 12 days away, naturally I assumed this was following up on reports like the one from CBS News which bore the title “Race Enters Discussion Now That Edwards Is In S.C.


CBS was reporting on John Edwards’ appearance last week before a packed house in South Carolina’s Penn Center, one of the first schools in America for freed slaves and a key meeting place for Martin Luther King Jr and other civil rights leaders.
In that speech, Edwards once again took the lead in raising issues other candidates refused to touch. He talked directly about race. According to the CBS report, “John Edwards told voters that race is still a clear divisive issue in America.”
Edwards told his audience that “race plays an enormous role in the economic conditions of Americans. We can pretend it’s not true but decade after decade of slavery followed by decade after decade of segregation, followed by decade after decade of discrimination has an impact. It has an effect.”
Edwards continued by pointing out that “the average net worth of black families is about $8,000; white families is about $80,000”. He said “African-American children who were born into middle class families in the 1960s are now living in poverty.” Edwards concluded that “we’re not moving in the right direction”.
It was an important speech, and there is independent coverage from CBS, Fox, and MSNBC, as well as local media in South Carolina.
So how did BBC cover it? Their story doesn’t mention Edwards even once. The “clash over civil rights” concerns a spat between Clinton and Obama, with each side claiming the other misunderstood some off-the-cuff comment the other made.
BBC could be forgiven if Edwards were an insignificant figure in the race, but he’s tied with Clinton and Obama for delegates and South Carolina, the state he was born in, is the only state he won in 2004. Back then, at this point in the race, he was running fourth — but went on to win 45% of the vote in South Carolina’s primary. Today, he’s spent more time in the state than any other candidate.
Of course the BBC can claim in its defense that its reporters cannot be everywhere and cannot cover everything. They don’t have the vast resources that, say, any individual with an Internet-connect PC has. A word of advice for the BBC: there’s a new tool you should check out. It’s called Google. Try keying in “John Edwards” and see what happens.

1 Comment on "BBC blacks out Edwards on race"

  1. Roy Nitzberg | 14/01/2008 at 12:58 |

    Seems that BBC is following the suit played by the major US papers. Despite the flurry of articles and TV news commentaries on how wrong the reported polls were in Iowa, the media still reports almost exclusively about Clinton and Obama.

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