'Propaganda Outlet': Scholar Calls BBC Out on Anti-Russian Bias

As a BBC stringer admitted that the broadcaster is searching for proof of Russia’s alleged role in the "Yellow Vests" protests in Paris, George Szamuely of the Global Policy Institute and author of the “Bombs for Peace: NATO's Humanitarian War on Yugoslavia”, explained to Sputnik how this development may affect the TV channel’s reputation.

Sputnik: What is your attitude towards the BBC hunt for ‘evil’ Russians in the French protests?

George Szamuely: It was not surprising, that is exactly what BBC does – it’s the pressure that editors put on journalists and journalists put on stringers, which is to get the official story out, the official narrative out that it is the Russians who are behind everything that we don’t like. So that’s exactly that I would expect the BBC to be doing, because that’s the gist and thrust of most of the stories that the BBC does.

We’re so used to the drumbeat of the “Russians are behind everything that we don’t like” so it’s unlikely to make much of an impact. Whatever the story — whether it’s Brexit, Donald Trump’s victory, referendum in Macedonia, independence of Catalonia – whatever it is that elites don’t like, let’s blame the Russians for it.

That’s exactly what people expect now, so I don’t know whether this exposure would get much traction in the media.

Sputnik: And what’s your take on these revelations in terms damaging the BBC’s image?

George Szamuely: The BBC now has such a low reputation – a reputation that has been in a downward spiral for many years, going back from the Iraq War onwards – I don’t know if this is going to damage the reputation of BBC any more than it has already been damaged.

READ MORE: Russian Foreign Ministry's Spokeswoman Urges Britons to Assess BBC Fake News

I don’t think that anybody really expects from the BBC some sort of objective, dispassionate, impeccable news reporting. I mean, people now think that the BBC is just a propaganda outlet, so I don’t think that it’ll be much worse that what we already have.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect Sputnik's position.