BBC Bias: David Abulafia on GB News

David Abulafia, co-editor of History Reclaimed, is Emeritus Professor of Mediterranean History at Cambridge and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the Academia Europaea.  His books include The Great Sea: a Human History of the Mediterranean (2011; British Academy Medal) and The Boundless Sea: a Human History of the Oceans (2019; Wolfson History Prize, 2020).  He has been appointed Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella by the President of Italy, and is a visiting Beacon Professor at the newly-founded University of Gibraltar and a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Warsaw).  He is a director of the HR company.

Can we trust the BBC with our history?

Our report recommends that the BBC should:
 
1. Update its editorial guidelines to clarify that historical and current affairs documentaries and news reports on historical matters need to be accurate; commit to providing a diversity of opinion amongst contributors where interpretation of history is contested; and ensure that those called upon to give historical interpretations are properly qualified to do so.

2. Commit to reviewing all content produced by its history department that is currently available to download or view on its on-demand services.

3. Update its guidance to independent production companies that history programmes need to be accurate in all significant areas and need to demonstrate a commitment to diversity of opinion amongst programme contributors.

4. Establish an advisory panel of properly qualified historians that reflects the diversity of scholarly opinion to help reduce group think amongst programme makers.

[roadie]

I'm very surprised to see that this video was allowed to be published. I was astounded that a Cambridge history professor would hold views like this, let alone be bold enough to mention them in public, but then I saw that he's Emeritus. Well done, sir.

[raymondbacon]

It's easier and quicker to promote hate than love. That's why we are overwhelmed by social media and the the BBC of course.

[catherinewilkins]

I am fed up of the BBC rewriting history.

[cluckingbells]

Sierra Leone hosted one of the special Vice Admiralty courts set-up to try those caught transporting slaves by the then Royal Navy's West African Squadron. It was also a British protectorate so those freed from such slave ships could resettle with some security of being.
If the BBC programme didn't mention that then it should explain why not.

[andrewdutton]

Fed up with these corrupt people

[laurenceseale]

It is so easy to live without the BBC, believe me!

[turquoiseowl]

listening to some of their harmful climate drivel this morning - almost wall-to-wall atm

[paulbiggs]

The other glaring omission, whenever the shameful slave trade is talked about, are the millions of slaves being sent east. Zanzibar was a slave port and people were taken from East Africa, particularly Kenya and transported first to Zanzibar and many on to India - some estimates suggest as many if not more people were taken into slavery going east as for the transatlantic slave trade - never a mention of this on the BBC when slavery gets discussed.

[colinlawless]

What are ofcom for another waste of time and money. Absolutely useless.

[StillAliveAndKicking_]

He makes a brilliant point. Create debates between the various groups, and enforce reasoned debate. No shrieking, no ad hominem attacks ie callong someone a racist or a white supremicist. We won’t see this.

[carlosfandango]

You misrepresented rangawhatshisname as a comedian! He's not.

[nemesis-fb]

My advice never pay their license fee I never have and never will I will never give money to the likes of lineka and those others on the BBC gravy train save yourself money

[viralarray]

Damn. I just purchased his book "The Great Sea" on ebay ten minutes ago without knowing about this controversy. What do I do now? Should I still read it?

[PedrSion]

Sarpong, Hirsch and Olusoga, race grifters all !

[hugohugo]

Blacks today should be grateful to the slave trade that they’re not starving somewhere in Africa

[peterg]

What about slavery during g WW2, which resulted in a number of high profile companies being worth billions today.

[garywagner]

One truly annoying element of modern “journalism” is this “pressed for time” litany that drives how stories are presented. The interviewer is literally vibrating in his haste to interrupt the professor. Yes, the old fellow is a bit plodding but his point about context and nuance is swept away by the interviewer’s rush to get to the next story. The irony is lost on him. He’s part of the problem. Re-writing history through a woke lens is a very serious issue that, despite his protestations, the interviewer is complicit in without realizing it. He understands, perhaps, every tenth word the professor says and, as a result, misses several key points that he does not follow up. “Does the BBC hate Britain” is a moronic question to which the professor has to waste time responding.

[nbarrett]

I didn't hear any examples of history being "rewritten"... just one supposed sin of omission by a comedian and presenter asking if this means the BBC "hates Britain"

[Theactivepsychos]

Historians until 2015 :
All the good stuff Britain did.
Historians since 2015 : oh by the way we also did all this bad stuff.
Babies who are too easily offended : _stop rewriting history_

[georgebrowne]

If we wanted the Truth or facts about Any Subject, we wouldn't be choosing GB News .

What a Joke!