Reaction to Nick Griffin on Question Time
Newspapers' reaction to BNP leader Nick Griffin's appearing on Question Time
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Friday, 23, Oct 2009 09:54
By Richard James.
The daily newspapers have reacted with a mixture of disdain and disappointment at BNP leader Nick Griffin's appearance on the BBC's Question Time last night.
The Daily Express today leads with the headline: "A disgrace to humanity", while the Telegraph goes with: "Griffin uses BBC to attack Islam and defend the Ku Klux Klan".
Some papers though took the view that despite the hostile reaction Mr Griffin received from some of the audience members and the protest outside Television Centre by around 500 anti-fascist demonstrators, his presence on show still managed to promote his cause.
The Daily Mail features a piece entitled: "Jeered, scorned and ridiculed - still BNP's Nick Griffin milks his moment in spotlight on Question Time."
The Guardian, on the other hand, attacks the BBC for simply allowing the BNP leader to appear on the show.
An editorial in the paper argues "a ratings-hungry corporation failed to defend the values embodied in its own equality policies; it confused ultra-relativism with a proper commitment to free speech".
The paper concedes that "the week has provided the first serious scrutiny on BNP policies, and they have proved to be as vicious as feared'" but opines that Nick Griffin "was last night handed a golden opportunity to pretend it was otherwise, a chance he should never have had".
The Sun, however, asks the question of whether the BNP leader's appearance on Question Time "made it more likely that voters will support his odious party?", declaring: "The answer, The Sun believes, is an overwhelming NO."
"They [the BNP] have had their moment in telly and the roof hasn't fallen in," the editorial states.
"Nick Griffin has been exposed as an ignorant and nasty liar. And let's face it he ain't that bright.
"Now we've all had a look at him, he can crawl back under his stone."
The announcement of Mr Griffin's appearance on the BBC show had sparked both public outrage and a passionate political debate in recent weeks.
Cabinet minister Peter Hain led calls for the programme to be cancelled on the grounds that the BNP is an illegal entity; having been ordered by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to alter its constitution to allow non-whites to join.
The BBC, though, argued it was not up to the media to censor political parties and pointed to the fact the BNP had won two seats in the European parliament this June.