BBC continues to ignore Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

Kernow

6 mis Metheven 2018

Contained in the inspection report of National Minorities published following the publication of the fourth opinion on the United Kingdom by the Council of Europe on 27 February, 2017 following their visit and fact taking tour, the following was said of the BBC:

“The Advisory Committee regrets the minimal profile of Cornish on mainstream media. The 5 minutes a week of Cornish programmes broadcast by the BBC on Radio Cornwall was criticised by interlocutors as being totally insufficient – in terms of style, content and length.Independent Internet e-broadcasting and local community radiostations provide a platform for a further one hour a week of Cornish. The ongoing revision of the BBC Charter is perceived by the minority’s representatives as the occasion to improve the situation, since so far the BBC has tended to group Cornwall as part of South West England and in an arbitrary manner blending out Cornish issues.

Finally, there is no Cornish language newspaper in Cornwall due to lack of funding.”

Since that report, the situation has worsened for Cornwall and the Cornish people everywhere following the BBC’s publication of a series of media releases celebrating England and Englishness to the detriment of national minorities, including, most particularly the Cornish.

These BBC reports have been seized by the media and more worryingly by extremist organisations in England and used in an attempt to suggest that the Cornish and their culture are now ‘dead’ and subsumed.

Our group has received countless complaints about the actions of the BBC by email and also via our social media presence and we have struggled to keep up with the volume.

We have shared out the task with other Cornish groups.

We condemn this post imperial and arrogant attitude adopted by the BBC which has resulted in reports of bigoted and racist remarks being directed at innocent people who were proud of their Cornish identity.

With this, we can be sure that the BBC is no friend of Cornwall nor of the Cornish people. We are further aware that a number of Cornish people now decline to pay the BBC tax and understand fully the reasoning behind this action.

Kernow bys vyken!

John, Teresa, Craig, Tony, Matt, Mike, Clive, Ronan, Alex & Mark

Elected Members of the KMTU Steering Group