[ad_1]
Nicola Sturgeon stepped down from a joint BBC conference next month after learning that former Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon had been invited to participate.
The Scottish Prime Minister has said that letting Bannon freely express his views risks "legitimizing or normalizing far-right racist views".
She also criticized the BBC for attempting to justify the inclusion of Bannon at the News Xchange event in Edinburgh on 13 November in an e-mail sent to her office.
She tweeted on Saturday: "I passionately believe in freedom of expression but as @ScotGovFM I have to make balanced judgments – and I will not participate in any process that legitimizes or normalizes extreme racist views. right. I regret that the BBC has put, as well as others, in this position. "
She added later"The BBC e-mail sent to my office to justify the inclusion of Bannon described him as" a powerful and influential figure … promoting an anti-elite movement. "This kind of language to describe opinions that many would seem to be fascists, seems to me to run the risk of normalization. "
The two men were to appear at the conference on different days.
Until August 2017, Bannon was one of Donald Trump's most trusted collaborators. He left the US government after losing his seat on the National Security Council in the middle of a power struggle and has since continued to advocate right-wing political causes, although his presence at events be controversial. In September, his invitation to the New Yorker Festival was withdrawn.
In a statement, the BBC stated that Bannon had been invited on behalf of the European Broadcasting Union's (EBU) News Xchange Committee.
The statement adds, "Good journalism in a world of false information and misinformation is more vital than ever. Journalism is about asking tough questions and understanding what's going on in the world and why.
"A conference designed to analyze the big problems that affect this world is not an endorsement of anyone or anything – it's a function of what journalism is all about. "
The EBU, the organizer of the event, said Bannon was a "key influencer" in the rise of populism.
"We also consider that it is our journalistic responsibility to share and consider a range of relevant points of view in a balanced debate," added a spokesman.
[ad_2]Source link
