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Bbc Bias Against Sikhs And Selective Use Of The Term Asian


Paneer Monster
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Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

I have posted a letter I wrote and a response from the BBC regarding issues concerning Sikhs and the BBC. I am aware that there Sikh users of this board who can produce better quality reports then the one I have written. Additionally, I am aware that I have barely backed up issues regarding the BBC Asian Network (messageboards and radio shows) as I did not anticipate that I would be making a complaint and therefore I did not keep a log.

I would like to know if the sangat on this board agrees with the issues outlined in the complaint below.

Please note: some of the news article references have been edited since..

Any feedback is appreciated.

The BBCs Religious Bias and selective use of the term Asian

Once being an avid viewer of the BBC, I and many others now believe the BBC is explicitly biased against Sikhs when relaying information to the general public and have outlined reasons why in this report. Below are numerous examples which some feel are only a snap shot in support of this conclusion:

Gross under representation of the Sikh community by the BBC

In recent times the BBC has been accused of having a pro Islamic agenda by Sikh, Hindu and Christian faith communities. Previously, Michael Wakelin the head of the BBCs Religion and Ethics told the NSO that religious bias in the BBC was non existent. He expressed the ratio of Muslims to Sikhs and Hindus in the UK is 2:1 and therefore, in his own words: "if Muslims get 60 minutes a year, the Sikhs and Hindus should share 30 minutes each."

In view of Mr Wakelins logic, it is important to note that between 2001 and 2008 the BBC made 41 programmes on Islam, 5 on Hinduism and only 1 on Sikhism. Clearly the BBC does not even come close to matching Mr Wakelins ratio of broadcasting to the ratio of Sikh, Hindu and Muslim communities residing within the UK.

BBC portraying the fifth Sikh Guru in false character

I refer to the article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/5074248.stm [last accessed 29th October 2009] In 2006 the BBC published an inaccurate article quoted below regarding the 400th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev Ji :

A BBC correspondent in Lahore says this is the first time the Pakistani government is allowing large-scale movement of Sikhs from India to pay tribute to a saint whose role in history has served as a dividing line between the Sikh and Muslim communities across the subcontinent.

To say that the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Ji served as a dividing line between the Sikh and Muslim communities across the subcontinent is not only untrue, it is also a slur. The martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Ji first and foremost shows us that he opposed Mogul tyranny and essentially died fighting for freedom and democracy as did his followers of different faiths during the seventeenth century.

I wrote a detailed email to the BBC highlighting the causes of Guru Arjan Dev Jis martyrdom, and the affects it had across the subcontinent. As a result the BBC had edited the page to read:

'It was the first time since partition in 1947 that such a procession of Sikhs was granted entry by Pakistan.

I applaud the fact that the change was made, however such carelessness not only misinforms the public at large, but also reinforces negative relationships between Sikh and Islamic communities. As a responsible and renowned broadcasting company, the BBC should appreciate the importance of delivering unbiased, accurate and up to date information concerning the Sikh community even if it is sparingly.

Selective use of the term Asian & BBC bias against the Sikh community

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8191833.stm [last accessed 29th October 2009] The link above refers to arrests made at the anti Islamic protest. The following is a quote from the article:

I thought they were just football fans, but then a larger group of black and Asian people turned up and it all kicked off.

Notice the term black and Asian is used to refer to predominantly Islamic youth. There are a number of images and video footage taken at this event [widely available on the internet and YouTube] all showing the vast majority of heated youth were in fact Muslim. The BBC news article went on to quote:

You had people burning the Union flag. People were being kicked - some of them weren't anything to do with the protests

Here, Blacks and Asians are further reported to have attacked white shoppers at the Bullring shopping complex in Birmingham. It is unfair and against the favour of all Asians (and the Black community) to camouflage a significantly Muslim issue as an Asian issue.

Further supporting the argument of loose reporting from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8328743.stm [last accessed 26th October 2009]

Is a BBC news article in reference to the Gaza protests in January stating:

A branch of Starbucks coffee shop was looted and items including coffee mugs thrown at police."

Again it is evident to note there is numerous video footage available on news websites and YouTube covering this incident. It is abundantly clear that Starbucks windows were getting smashed in by Muslim youth wearing traditional Saudi Arabian attire, some with Islamic/Arabic themed bandanas on their heads and others wrapped in Pakistans Islamic flags. In some videos you can hear Muslim youth shouting:

Allah hu Akbar.

These are certainly not representatives of the wider Asian community. Despite these facts the BBC still failed to mention these protesters as essentially being Muslim protesters causing thousands of pounds worth of damages in addition to numerous injuries.

In 2005 the BBC covered a story on an offensive play Bezti. There were several protests by members of the Sikh community who were requesting for Sikh artefacts to be respected on site, whilst other Sikhs requested for the setting to be changed from a Gurdwara [sikh place of worship] to a community canter. The protesters had support from religious representatives across all faiths. After several nights of peaceful protests, on a Saturday night, drunken youth of non-Sikh identity, disturbed the peaceful protesting and stormed the Birmingham Rep theatre. The BBC did not hesitate in broadcasting head lines such as: Theatre stormed in Sikh protest: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4107437.stm [last accessed 29th October 2009]. Unfair references were also made in other BBC news reports such as damaged in a protest by Sikhs over a play http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4109711.stm [last accessed 29th October 2009]. This statement was later retracted when the issue lost focus.

The BBC did not broadcast Asians stormed theatre as this would have been the case if members of the Islamic community were involved. The headline Anti-Racist protest could also have been used and would equally have sufficed after all this is the approach taken by the BBC when covering protests concerning the Islamic Community (i.e.: the Gaza Protest headline). Not a single BBC article covered Starbucks stormed in Muslim Protest. The BBC deemed it appropriate not to expose Muslim youth who committed the attack, and merely mentioned the attack in passing within the Gaza protest article. In comparison to the Bezti article, not only did the BBC state that Sikhs stormed the theatre; the BBC deliberately constructed this as the headline.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8261027.stm [last accessed 29th October 2009] above is a BBC news article covering conflict between the EDL and Muslims… or does it? The following is a quotation taken from the article:

"The EDL has been involved in running battles with young Asian youths on Birmingham's streets."

EDL is against Islamic extremism not Asians! To say conflict is between EDL and members of the Islamic community is much more appropriate and factual as apposed to portraying conflict being between the EDL and Asian youths as a whole. Such spin on recent events is rather misleading at minimum.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8226762.stm [last accessed 26th October 2009] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8226968.stm [last accessed 26th October 2009]

Above are two BBC links referring to Munshur Ali aged 22 who was sentenced for repeatedly raping two 13year old white girls in a Church car park. Often Munshur Ali is pictured with a trimmed Islamic style beard. There are two obvious religious elements in this incident, the religious appearance of the individual and the rapes themselves taking place underneath the shade of a Church. Despite this, the BBC did not mention the words Islamic, Islam or Muslim anywhere in the two articles published.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8326550.stm [last accessed 29th October 2009]

The link above is a BBC article detailing how three men deny being a part of a conspiracy to launch terrorist attacks. Two of the men have Islamic beards showing their alliance to the Islamic faith. Islamic terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda have also been mentioned in the article. Once again, despite the undeniable issue of religion being central to the incident, the BBC article refused to mention the words Islamic, Islam or Muslim anywhere.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/7935049.stm [last accessed 29th October 2009] The link above is a BBC article covering a topic particularly sensitive to most British people. 200 British soldiers marched through Bedfordshire to be confronted by Muslims holding placards displaying messages such as:

Anglian Soldiers Go to Hell" and "Butchers of Basra".

This article referred to the Muslims as being anti war protesters. Again key terms such as Muslim community and Islamic community are simply brushed aside. If you examine the video in the link above and other videos on the internet you can see that every person protesting are all Muslims. Many of them wearing the Saudi attire and wearing Kufis [religious Muslim style hats]. Furthermore, EVERY woman partaking in the protesting [positioned behind the men] were covered from head to toe in burkas [islamic clothing].

Other footage covering the event available on news sites and Youtube objectively show another perspective, one where the British crowds warmly welcome the soldiers amongst which practising Sikhs [visibly representing their faith] are shown in appreciation. This was particularly noticed and appreciated by the general British public who expanded on this point through British websites and other forums on the internet. Please note that members of the Islamic community were not present in support.

In addition to this the following non-BBC news article positively highlights the attitudes of most Sikh citizens towards British Soldiers: http://www.emgonline.co.uk/news.php?news=7631 [last accessed 1st November 2009] It is on this basis I would like to emphasise that the term Asian should not be used inappropriately as the BBC has done in a number of places including live broadcasts and internet news articles. Evidently the word Asian is being wrongly and tactically used by the BBC when addressing some members of the Islamic community to suit their own agendas.

I would not expect the BBC to acknowledge an event [such as the www.emgonline.co.uk link above] because Sikhs are only distinguished from other communities [Asian] when the BBC are executing a U-turn with a focus for negative reporting. In example, the BBC recently reported a case of rape labelling so called Sikhs as the offenders. The BBC viewed it essential to highlight the offenders as specifically being Sikhs which is evident in the following video report:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8311429.stm [last accessed 27th October 2009] The following quotes are stated:

her extended Sikh family that robbed her of her childhood…and …sentenced the three Sikh men…

Here, the BBC did not refer to the offenders as being members from the Asian community as they have done with Muslim offenders as proven above. The term Sikh is used unnecessarily to describe the family that robbed her of her childhood and the men receiving their prison sentence. Why it is that Sikhs have been associated so strongly with this disturbing incident of family rape? In the previous BBC news articles I have sited, the religious backgrounds of the Islamic criminals have never been stated. In this incident there has been no indication to say the criminals were motivated by any tenants of the Sikh faith either. This is an incident which has deeply saddened and shocked the Sikh community, as I am sure it did most of the UK. The victim does have every right to express her opinion and views however she wishes and from her own perspective. However, the angle of news reporting in this video does raise further questions because at one point the reporter stated:

the young woman said shes been ostracized by the Sikh community

yet when the victim was speaking she did not mention the word Sikh once. The Sikh community would like to know:

-Was there any specific Sikh Gurdwara or community centre involved?

-Was the victim ostracized by practising Sikh community or the Asian community?

- How was the victim ostracized by the Sikh community?

These concerns are incredibly important because the term Sikh has been brought to focus 3 times in the video report, which suggests the blame lies in the Sikh community.

According to the United Sikhs organisation based in London, the Sikh emblem [Khanda] was depicted within the BBCs news report covering this case of rape, directly linking the Sikh faith to the crime. To date the BBC have not provided any comment or explanation in regards to this issue.

The BBC have blatantly targeted the Sikh religion in this article prompting the viewer to unfairly cast doubt and suspicion on the Sikh way of life itself. This is completely unacceptable to say the least. When there is an article that involves Muslims planning acts of terrorism, Muslims raping two teens in a religious setting, Muslim youth smashing a Starbucks coffee shop and the list goes on the BBC simply refuse to acknowledge that the criminals in question are from Islamic and even Pakistani backgrounds even though a majority of the time Islamic issues are often the foundation of these incidents.

BBC Asian Network Message Board A Megaphone for Racists

The moderation of the BBC Asian Network message boards is incredibly poor especially considering they are being used as a blatant platform to launch racist abuse at largely Sikh, Hindu, Jewish and occasionally Muslim users. Vindictive messages towards particular communities are posted at any given opportunity. This is a daily occurrence particularly on the Nihal message board. Undoubtedly the BBC message board archives will support the presence of heavy racial tension.

Racist users are sometimes put under moderation by the administration team but only for short periods of time thus allowing the racists to repeat their abuse. This is a good example of how the BBC sends out inconsistent messages possibly in an attempt to stir controversy at the expense of licence paying minorities.

In May 2004, a guest on the radio show posed as a woman from a Sikh background and slandered Guru Nanak Dev Ji [the founder of Sikhism]. Despite provoking conflict, the caller was not taken off air by Sonia Deol. From 2004 to date, it seems the BBC have not reflected and improved on its practices as far as promoting racial harmony and tolerance is concerned. The BBC has a responsibility to firmly send out the message that racism towards any community is unconditionally inappropriate and will not be tolerated. Users that shun anti-racist rules should be given an immediate ban.

During 1984 the Indian army attacked the sacred Harimandir Sahib [Golden temple complex of the Sikh] and later fuelled the Delhi Riots persecuting the Sikh population. These events in history have been raised time after time on the BBC message boards, and are often abused by users who mock the atrocities that had taken place. In addition to making jokes about genocides they also poke fun at the victims of 9/11 and 7/7 which many people find unacceptable and often express why on the BBC message boards. Such views are unbalanced and are posted to create tension and consequently, racial and religious divides.

On 27th October 2009 an administrator of the BBC Asian Network created a topic titled bhindranwale posters? A reference to posters relating to Sikhs and events that occurred during 1984. The content of the post was nothing more then a link to a news article with no personal opinion or anything else. It was viewed by many as an attempt to spark conflict (not discussion because the moderator had no opinion and did not pose an objective argument). All users of the board are conscious that threads like these give racist users an opportunity to mock the Sikh cause and then the Sikh religion itself. Disturbing events in Sikh history such as the Sikh genocide and Operation Blue Star have been kicked about in every possible direction by the BBC Asian Network [radio and discussion boards] simply to stir emotions knowing specific users will encourage racial tensions. I expect the administrator of the BBC at the very least, to realise it is not necessary to post a thread on an issue that has been brought up countless times before.

The BBC Asian Network Message board does not appreciate that these are sensitive issues that require appropriate measures in order to reduce the output of such racism. It is disheartening to know that BBC representatives i.e. moderators are stooping so low in a desperate attempt to generate active users on the message boards.

BBC Asian Network Radio Obsession with the Kirpan and Khalistan.

The Kirpan is an article belonging to the Sikh faith as recognised by the constitution of many leading countries worldwide. UK legislation does not recognise the Kirpan as an offensive weapon. Therefore, it is a legal right for devout Sikhs to bare the Kirpan in the UK. There is no record of any a trend of incidents regarding Sikhs abusing the law and using the Kirpan unnecessarily.

The BBC Asian Network radio show has raised the relevance of Sikhs carrying the Kirpan repeatedly. There have been many discussions and shows centred on the Kirpan as well as the Kirpan being brought up in other topics of interest. There is nothing wrong with an open dialogue discussing the Kirpan from different perspectives, however BBC presenters have negatively questioned the validity of the Kirpan on a significant number of occasions. The overall structure of these so called debates is appalling, there are no objective introductions given as a foundation for listeners to offer their views from. Hosts of such debates have a duty to remain impartial which often is not the case as the examples of Adil Ray and Nihal have clearly shown in their previous radio shows. Additionally, no other radio station has ever singled out the Sikh Kirpan as many times as the BBC Asian Network Radio. This includes the well established Sunrise Radio which is appreciated by many generations of UK South Asians. Conveniently the BBC will not provide links for the previous radio shows in question.

The BBC are fully aware that Sikhs are comparably small in number and generally do not have much representation on both a national and international scale. As a result the BBC considers the Sikh Community to be an easy target. The BBC continuously draws negative attention towards the kirpan and need to realise that the bottom line is: the British government and British public at large have no qualms with the way Sikhs practice their faith and moreover respect the right of a Sikh to carry the Kirpan.

Just recently on 30th October 2009, Sonia Deol stupidly drew comparisons between Khalistan and Shariya law during a discussion with a Sikh caller regarding protesting for Shariya law. Regardless of Shariya law being associated with the extreme end of Islam it must be said; the Sikh ideology of Khalistan has nothing in common what so ever with Shariya law. I will give one example: Religious tolerance is promoted in the Sikh faith which is why no Sikh Leader in history has imposed the Sikh faith on the general public. On the other hand Shariya law orders every woman whether Muslim or non Muslim to wear the burka [full covering for Muslim woman]. Furthermore practising Sikhs view the burka as a symbol of gender in-equality therefore Sikhs are forbidden to wear them. I could list other distinct differences however, one wonders whether the presenter made an uneducated stab in the dark in attempt to level with the caller or was simply satisfying a concealed agenda. Can a member of the Sikh community not telephone the show without being questioned about either Khalistan or the Kirpan? It seems not. Many members of the Sikh community do not understand why certain members of the BBC continuously seek to wedge links between Sikhs and extremism.

Summary

The BBC should not use the word Asian when referring to Islamic related incidents. At times the Asian community are enormously divided on issues such as the EDL and British Army troops as detailed in this report. Sikhs (and other faith groups) have a history of making positive contributions towards the wider UK community. The Sikh community holds dearly the fact that in both world wars Sikh Soldiers were awarded 14 Victoria Crosses despite being less then 2% of Indias population.

British people are highly indebted and obliged to Sikhs for a long time. I know that within this century we needed their help twice and they did help us very well. As a result of their timely help, we are today able to live with honour, dignity, and independence. Sir Winston Churchill

It is clear the BBC generally choose not to publish positive articles where Sikhs are concerned or provide objective reports in regards to Sikh matters. Sikhs also have very minimal coverage and are only really shown in a different light when an inclusive faith event is being covered. Many plights have been reported by the BBC in relation to other faiths even if they are worded tactically though sadly, the same can not be said where the Sikh voice is concerned. The BBC needs to recognise that Sikhs do not appreciate sensitive events in Sikh history such as the Sikh genocide and Operation Blue Star being wiped strategically all over the BBC Asian Network Message Boards (Nihal) as well as radio shows as evidently this often leaves the Sikh community open to endless vile abuse.

Furthermore it is apparent the BBC continues to negatively use the Kirpan as a tool to generate controversial debate through a highly questionable approach. Yet, strikingly the BBC have chosen not to cover significant activities within the Sikh Community taking place in more recent times such as the reporting of the Sikh rallies and mass demonstrations held annually in London.

These rallies take place to raise awareness of 1984 and still remain ignored by the BBC for a number of years despite many requests to broadcast them by the Sikh community - clearly demonstrating selective reporting and a blatant lack of genuine interest in Sikh concerns. Tweaking key terms and crucial information to suit the Islamic community while providing in-accurate accounts in regards to Sikh matters during such a long term basis, has left one with no choice but to speak out against the slant on BBC reporting where the Sikh community is concerned.

Answers

In respect to the incidences detailed above, I put forward the following questions to the BBC:

-When some members of the Islamic community orchestrate disorder in the UK, why are they referred to as Asians?

-Why did the BBC wrongly tie and promote the storming of the Birmingham Rep theatre to the Sikh Community when they hide the fact Muslims stormed Starbucks in the Gala protest?

In regards to the BBC article regarding family rape:

- Why did the BBC place great emphasis on the Sikh religion?

- Was there any Sikh Gurdwara or community centre involved?

- How was the practicing Sikh community informed of the incident and how did they ostracize her?

As suggested by United Sikhs (London):

- Will the BBC produce positive documentaries on the Sikh faith to mitigate the effect of mis-using the Khanda and insulting Sikhs in the UK by linking rape to the Sikh religion?

BBC & its responsibility:

- What will the BBC do to prevent the growing racism on the BBC Asian Network message boards? Why are racist users not given an immediate ban?

- Why has the BBC Asian Network singled out an article of the Sikh faith [Kirpan] on so many occasions?

- What steps will the BBC take to ensure all future news reports are accurate and unbiased?

Many more Sikhs within the UK are beginning to question if the BBC do have an anti-Sikh agenda. As licence paying British citizens the BBC have an obligation to provide positive programming about the Sikh faith especially when existing coverage of Sikh matters is considered prejudiced and rare.

I hope the BBC considers all matters raised as serious and eagerly await a response.

Regards,

Tirath Singh.

The response…

Dear Mr Singh

Thanks for your e-mail.

I understand you feel our programming, and output in general, is biased towards Muslims and against Sikhs, by consistently referring to Muslims involved in anti social activity as "Asians" while referring to Sikh's in news stories as "Sikhs". I also note you feel our message boards, particularly the Asian Network boards, are acting as an outlet for racial hatred

Choosing the content of our news bulletins and indeed all our current affairs output is often a difficult and complicated process. In making their decisions our editors need to take several different factors into consideration including whether the news is breaking and the perceived level of public interest in the subject matter.

We appreciate that our audience hold a wide range of opinions, and this, coupled with the subjective nature of our editorial decisions means we'd never expect everyone to agree with every decision we take.

Impartiality is the key consideration in the minds of all our programme makers and we ensure that all our staff are aware of this commitment so as to allow us to deliver fair and balanced output. We'd never seek to weight our coverage of any issue towards any particular group or interest, rather we strive to present the facts and allow our audience to make up their own minds.

I assure you that in no way is our use of the term "Asian" intended to be disparaging towards any group of people, rather we feel this is a term that the majority of our audience use to describe Muslims.

As a public service broadcaster we've an obligation to reflect our audience as much a possible, and this includes using the language in use in every day life. No offence is intended by the use of the word and I regret any you may've been caused at any stage.

Unfortunately I'm unable comment on your complaint about our message boards. If you've seen a message on a message board that you think may break the House Rules, or wish to complain about the behaviour of another poster on a BBC message board, please complain about the post on the message board by using the 'Alert us about a message' button on the post, or posts, that concern you.

If you've complained about a posting using the 'alert button' and feel that the Moderators have allowed a posting that may break the House Rules to remain on the board, please email Centralcommunitiesteam@bbc.co.uk including a copy of the email that you received in response to your complaint, which includes the complaint reference number. The Central Communities Team will then review the moderator's decision.

Nevertheless I appreciate your strong feelings on these issues and I'd like to take this opportunity to assure you that I've recorded your comments, including that you feel we should include more coverage of the Sikh faith in our output, onto our audience log. This is an internal daily report of audience feedback which is circulated to many BBC staff including senior management, producers and channel controllers.

The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.

Thanks again for contacting us.

Regards

Ciaran McConnell

BBC Complaints

The BBC did not answer all the questions I put forth, particularly the case regarding family rape. Is this because the answers would reflect bad practice? Or did they simply think this issue was not important?

I do not believe the term Asian is a term that the majority of our audience use to describe Muslims as the BBC put it. Asians are people of the continent of Asia (who belong to a huge number of faith groups) including China, India, Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia Thailand, etc etc.

Guru Pyare Sadhsangat Ji, I would really like to know how you feel about the issues I have raised and the response I have received.

Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh

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I think maby, if we all feel the same way, we should all bombard the BBC with messages at the same time.

Or, some kind person who is well articulated (cough, cough BLOOM) could chop / edit / add to/ improve what I have wrote and send it accordingly.

Any person is free to use the points I have raised above in any way they please.

Amrit79 ji, in respect to what I have written, and from your own observations do you believe the BBC is biased when reporting?

Does any of the sangat have previous recordings of the bbc asian network radio shows that are cantered around the Kirpan? if i had a list (dates, times and recordings) of all the times the Kirpan has been discussed it would help

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I do not believe the term ‘Asian’ is ‘a term that the majority of our audience use to describe Muslims’ as the BBC put it. Asian’s are people of the continent of Asia (who belong to a huge number of faith groups) including China, India, Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia Thailand, etc etc.

That's not even a reason for calling them 'Asian'. Take for example, black people in the US are refered to as nigger by many many Americans. And even black people themselves use the term nigga to refer to each other. So does that make it alright to call black people nigga or nigger on national television. Also in the states Sikhs were refered to by the audience as terrorist, so should they, the National television broadcastors start calling Sikhs terrorist. And southernor in states are refered to has rednecks.

And the audience, if anything call Muslims Terrorist or Pakis or Taliban.

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What we need to do is get the media on our side - constant complaints are not going to achieve that.

I don't think they're biased aganist Sikhs per se, just ignorant of certain facts. Also, in the UK, Sikhs are regarded as an ethnic group rather than just a religious group (and this gives us many rights under the race laws - there are none for religion), but 'Muslim' is just a religion. So when a Sikh or Sikhs get on the news, they are identified as such. It is factually correct that most of the Muslims you mention above are Asian, so we can't really complain about that.

The worst thing is to keep whinging/complaining for every little thing - then when we really need to make a stand it will be undermined or ignored.

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I do not believe the term ‘Asian’ is ‘a term that the majority of our audience use to describe Muslims’ as the BBC put it. Asian’s are people of the continent of Asia (who belong to a huge number of faith groups) including China, India, Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia Thailand, etc etc.

That's not even a reason for calling them 'Asian'. Take for example, black people in the US are refered to as nigger by many many Americans. And even black people themselves use the term nigga to refer to each other. So does that make it alright to call black people nigga or nigger on national television. Also in the states Sikhs were refered to by the audience as terrorist, so should they, the National television broadcastors start calling Sikhs terrorist. And southernor in states are refered to has rednecks.

And the audience, if anything call Muslims Terrorist or Pakis or Taliban.

Excellent point veerji i totally agree. theres a number of things wrong with the BBC's response. if you wish you may use my letter as a body to compose your own, or write a summary of your feelings.

The BBC reference number for my complaint is [T2009110600KAS010Z6946038]‏ - feel free to refer to it, but please assign your own names.

if anyone else has any issues they would like to share regarding the BBC and Sikhs please do so. I am sure there are a number of issues i have not covered regarding the BBCs bias towards Sikhs.

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What we need to do is get the media on our side - constant complaints are not going to achieve that.

I don't think they're biased aganist Sikhs per se, just ignorant of certain facts. Also, in the UK, Sikhs are regarded as an ethnic group rather than just a religious group (and this gives us many rights under the race laws - there are none for religion), but 'Muslim' is just a religion. So when a Sikh or Sikhs get on the news, they are identified as such. It is factually correct that most of the Muslims you mention above are Asian, so we can't really complain about that.

The worst thing is to keep whinging/complaining for every little thing - then when we really need to make a stand it will be undermined or ignored.

Thanks for your post.

How do you suggest we get the media on our side?

Do you feel it was appropriate for the BBC to explicitly link acts of rape to the Sikh faith?

On the basis of Sikhs being regarded as an ethnic group / race do you thinks the BBC picks and chooses when to refer to a community by their ethnicity and when to refer to them according to their faith?

Do you believe Sikhs can be or should be classified as Asians?

Do you believe the faiths and ethnicities / races of communities should be exposed in every news article, just some articles or none at all?

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Thanks a lot for putting this together. It totally exposes the biased view of the BBC. I think what has happened is when the BBC was first putting together staff for covering "Asian" stories, it adding a lot of Muslim people plus some desis hostile to Sikhs. We're continuing to feel the effects.

You should make your concerns known to some politicians as well.

I don't know why some British people are out to appease Muslims as they are so hateful towards Britain.

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Guest fordcapri

Hey glad a few more are on-side with this, i to over the years have taken this issue up with the bbc, here the letter that use.

Dear Sir/Madam. I wish to make a complaint about your use/abuse of the descriptive term "Asian" to generalise anyone from the continent of Asia and the sub continent of India.

It would seem that your use of the term is typically one of negativity when a particular group is in the news for reasons other than socially and culturally conducive reasons.

Many people are upset at the generalised term "Asian" when most of the population of the minorities who do come from the continent of Asia and the Indian Sub continent do not use this term.

Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese are all Asian, they can all be described under the terms of Asian and it is in my opinion quite wrong to generalise such a diverse swathe of people in this broad, sweeping inaccurate term.

It is something I feel that is in danger of creating a broad distrust of minorities in general. If one community is in the news for criminal and public order issues then they should be described specifically.

Yours Sincerley

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    • yeh it's true, we shouldn't be lazy and need to learn jhatka shikaar. It doesn't help some of grew up in surrounding areas like Slough and Southall where everyone thought it was super bad for amrit dharis to eat meat, and they were following Sant babas and jathas, and instead the Singhs should have been normalising jhatka just like the recent world war soldiers did. We are trying to rectifiy this and khalsa should learn jhatka.  But I am just writing about bhog for those that are still learning rehit. As I explained, there are all these negative influences in the panth that talk against rehit, but this shouldn't deter us from taking khanda pahul, no matter what level of rehit we are!
    • How is it going to help? The link is of a Sikh hunter. Fine, but what good does that do the lazy Sikh who ate khulla maas in a restaurant? By the way, for the OP, yes, it's against rehit to eat khulla maas.
    • Yeah, Sikhs should do bhog of food they eat. But the point of bhog is to only do bhog of food which is fit to be presented to Maharaj. It's not maryada to do bhog of khulla maas and pretend it's OK to eat. It's not. Come on, bro, you should know better than to bring this Sakhi into it. Is this Sikh in the restaurant accompanied by Guru Gobind Singh ji? Is he fighting a dharam yudh? Or is he merely filling his belly with the nearest restaurant?  Please don't make a mockery of our puratan Singhs' sacrifices by comparing them to lazy Sikhs who eat khulla maas.
    • Seriously?? The Dhadi is trying to be cute. For those who didn't get it, he said: "Some say Maharaj killed bakras (goats). Some say he cut the heads of the Panj Piyaras. The truth is that they weren't goats. It was she-goats (ਬਕਰੀਆਂ). He jhatka'd she-goats. Not he-goats." Wow. This is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard in relation to Sikhi.
    • Instead of a 9 inch or larger kirpan, take a smaller kirpan and put it (without gatra) inside your smaller turban and tie the turban tightly. This keeps a kirpan on your person without interfering with the massage or alarming the masseuse. I'm not talking about a trinket but rather an actual small kirpan that fits in a sheath (you'll have to search to find one). As for ahem, "problems", you could get a male masseuse. I don't know where you are, but in most places there are professional masseuses who actually know what they are doing and can really relieve your muscle pains.
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