The BBC - Once an Icon of Somali Broadcasting May Become an Irrelevant Entity

[Sophist]

The BBC - Once an Icon of Somali Broadcasting May Become an Irrelevant Entity

WardheerNews Editorial

October 23, 2005

 

 

It is called "Bush House." Gothic in architecture and Celtic in design, the mere walk in the corridors of Bush House that lead to its recording studios is arresting. Located on the historic corridor of Kingsway in Central London, Bush House has a colonial flavor both in architecture and in its reach to all the corners of the world. Started in 1938, the World Service broadcasts in all major languages, and the Somali language was added to its broadcasts in 1957.

 

 

Bush House, housing the offices and studios of the BBC World Service

 

Walking into the tiny, vintage recording studio of the Somali program is an imposing "she camel" poster that claims the entire façade of a prime wall. Beneath it is the simple inscription of " hoyga Af-Soomaaliga," or “home of the Somali language.†Implicit, yet bold message, these simple words express a commitment to excellence in Somali journalism and culture whose consumers are the "Somali speaking people."

 

That is why any Somali speaking person who heard, either on prime time or on preserved antique tapes ( Cajalad ), the immortal and ageless essay that Sulaymaan Dahir Afqarshe has aired on the occasion of the Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth in the 1970s, can immensely appreciate the Service's role in Somali journalism and culture. In Af-Qarshe's essay, the Somali is simple, beautiful, and descriptively rich enough to bolster and unleash the listener's imagination into the setting and gravity of the function described.

 

That was then, radio days, whence the BBC Somali program could boast to have in its employment ranks luminary journalists like the late Mustafa Xaaji Nuur , Abdullhai Xaaji (now a part timer,) Cusman Sugule, Cusman Xasan, Sulaymaan Daahir Af-qarshe , Idris Xasan Diiriye , Kaltuum Iimaan and others. The rhythmic voices of Xaaji and Xaaji on the news hour, the rhetorical clichés of Sugule, the rhyming tones of Cusman Xasan and the soothing touch of Kaltuum Iimaan, these qualities are what made the BBC an immortal institution of journalism and cultural repository for the Somali speaking people who occupy a significant portion of the Horn of Africa region.

 

 

The newsroom of the BBC World Service is manned 24 hours a day seven days a week, with reporters gathering stories for use by all language services.

 

Moreover, the programs [aired on the BBC then] were well programmed, diversified and spoke to the better-educated staff that organized them. "This week and Africa," or in Somali, " Todobaadkan iyo Afrika ," represented, among other things, the finest of Somali journalism, just as did ABC's "This Week with David Brinkley" for America. And to a population that is largely pastoral and oral-based, yet with unmatched appetite for world politics, it was a venue for education and International Relations 101.

 

Today's BBC programs are poorly organized and have become something akin to the 1980s Somali plays at Mogadishu Theater, when national art and culture were reduced to a field that appealed only to the less exposed. Due to inferior programming and biased news coverage, the Service often avoids certain issues and over indulges in others, thus a declined quality of broadcasting.

 

For example, the Service, either by omission or because of its limited professional capability, missed an opportunity to broadly cover the recent elections in the Somali National State in Ethiopia, where the second largest Somali speaking population (second only to southern Somalia ) lives. Despite top-down manipulation of the results by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the August 2005 elections were the only thing close to a semblance of "liberalization" of Abyssinian rule that this region has seen since emperor Menilik II conquered it. The Service could have given a better coverage to let its listeners learn more about the magnitude of the election fraud, and the fact that hundreds of Somalis discharged their duties by casting their votes against many odds, including casting their votes under the shadow of armed soldiers inside military barracks. But it settled for the cursory and expatriate-like review of events of Mr. Caddow, whose earlier coverage of the region has been utterly disappointing.

 

Worse, the Service does not have a single reporter in the Somali region. Adan Cusman, a part time reporter who has retired from the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA), is charged to monitor the region out of Addis Ababa.The Service's reporting of this region, hence, is through second hand informants who deliver nothing more than government official line or what Somalis aptly refer to as "kutidhi kuteen," or news of the rumor mill.

 

The lowest point of the Service is marked by its uneven-handed coverage of the visits of the President of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and the Speaker of the Transitional Federal Parliament, Sharif Hassan. The President was the only [official] invitee to the General Assembly, and that was the prime news-making event. Speaker Hassan was invited by a non-governmental body, Association of World Parliaments, and was practically on his own. The Service should have given a prime coverage to the president. It once again, deliberately erred by totally ignoring to cover the President's [official] and historic visit, while it spent many news hours on covering minute details of the Speaker's multi-track trip. Worse, the BBC continues to insist on addressing Mr. Abdillahi Mohamud Jama “ Sifir †as the deputy prime minister, despite the removal of “ Sifir †from that post earlier this year by the prime minister. This represents present-day rather activist, albeit unwarranted face of the Service!

 

Or, consider the time - this past summer to be exact - when Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf visited London and the decision maker of the Service, probably Mr. Yusuf Garad , who is currently the program Editor rendered it non-newsworthy! They only interviewed the president only after he paid a visit to Bush House to be heard. Strangely enough the BBC often provides a platform for the junior players who are either in Mogadishu or are affiliated with the Mogadishu-based sectarian wing of the TFG through interviews and coverage of their minor events ..

 

In which ever way you slice it, notwithstanding one's clannish or even ideological opposition to Mr. Ahmed or his government, the president's trip to London , home of thousands of Somali refugees and the seat of one of Somalia 's colonial powers as well as the BBC itself, was a serious newsworthy event. It should have been given an adequate coverage.

 

Whatever satisfaction Mr. Garad had driven from this creepy incident, it did not constitute a humiliation of the president. On the contrary, it painted Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as someone who has taken the higher moral grounds who can ignore little men's idiotic feelings and focus on the big picture - in this case getting his message out. The Service's decision on this matter must be viewed to represent its lowest point and should not pass without denting the credibility and integrity of what truly once was " hoyga Af-Soomaliga ."

 

 

Editor - BBC Somali Service

The failure of the Service to field a reporter to Jawhar one year after most of TFG members and 2/3 rd of the parliament moved to that city as their transitional administrative seat is baffling. Once again, the Service's coverage of TFG news out of Mugadishu is politically biased and is not based on sound journalistic decision. An Aha moment! The BBC is no longer what it used to be, or in Somali, "War miyaanan garan in aanay goblanto BBCdu tii hore ahayn !"

 

The BBC has failed also to cover adequately the dispute between Puntland and Somaliland. A case in point is Adhi Cadeeye, the only active theater in the entire Somali speaking world where two heavily armed belligerent militia forces (Somaliland against Puntland) are facing each other, only separated by an unmonitored mere 10 kilometers of barren land. The potential conflict that could flare up once more, especially if Somaliland thinks that submission of the people of Sool , Sanaag and Buuhoodle regions to secession, be it by brute force or persuasion, is a prerequisite for its hard-after-sought recognition, is newsworthy to many Somalis.

 

The Service also declined, by design or by benign neglect, to make any reporting on the temporary relocation of the office of Puntland's speaker of the parliament to Lascaanood during the entire period when the rather well covered Somaliland local elections were taking place. The entire Puntland's effort was mounted and placed in Laascaanood to avoid any meaningful election to take place in these regions. This too was newsworthy, as Somaliland and Puntland had almost had a repeat of showdown on where to limit Somaliland 's elections.

 

The BBC Somali Service is, in the eyes of many critics, either corrupted, which is not an unlikely phenomenon under Somali management, or lacks the collective professional integrity. Perhaps both.

 

Many of our readers have contacted us to comment on the declining quality of the Service's coverage of Somali-speaking regions and wanted to hear our recommendations. Some of you have even tallied to us the details of who is employed when and from where in order to emphasize the imbalance that is reflected in the staffing of the program. In other words, you maintain the charge that Garad has skewed the employment of the Service to one side and has compromised on the Service's quality of journalism.

 

As things stand today, the BBC Somali Service is not the icon of journalism and culture it once committed itself to be. Like all other Somali institutions that have been gutted and dumped into the gutters, the Service's deterioration by showing affinity for narrow/sectarian objectives plus poor programming warrants a new search for an alternative approach to " hoyga Af-Soomaliga " in post civil war Somalia.

 

After careful monitoring of the Service's daily and weekly programs, we came to the following unavoidable conclusions: The quality of the Service's Somali program had indeed declined, coupled with pervasive biased approach to both news-making events and news-makers, be they politicians or [somali] bandits. Wide spread disappointment of million of Somali listeners of the BBC Somali Service has surpassed that of the time when Peter Gilcks , a British journalist married to an Ethiopian women, headed the entire African program and promoted an anti-Somali environment in the midst of the Ethio -Somali war in 1977-1978.

 

If these issues are left unattended, the loosers are both the Service and Somali listeners.

 

To ameliorate the situation, we recommend two simple but painful steps that the World Service has so far resisted:

 

1. That the management of the Service look into the allegations of bias and poor programming, which have plagued this valuable program and correct the problems expeditiously.

 

2. A re-assessment of the programming and staffing of the Service so that it can meet the need of a growing demand of more news-savvy and better educated Somalis, who are exposed to western style news making.

 

That is the only way, we think, the Service can remain relevant and still aspire to its original commitment of excellency in journalism and cultural promotion.

[QabiilDiid]

The following is my opinion I posted on WardheerNews.com in April, 2005.

-------------------------------------------------

 

I have my beef with BBC Somali Service and its Chief Somali editor Ina Garaad. I have been listening to it since the arrival of radio broadcast message on the internet. I do not recall a single program in which they had explained in simple plain language, to the Somali people the positions of U.N., A.U., the League Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Conferences, the E.U., the Russian Federation, People's Republic of China, and other pertinent world bodies and governments, in regard to the national unity and territorial integrity of the Somali Republic. A lot of people in the Northwestern regions of Somalia, who occasionally sympathize with the few secessionists in power, are not aware of the World stand on Somalia. Ina Garaad and his crew neither keep the average Somali informed about the international community’s unpreparedness in tampering with the national borders of the Somali Republic nor ask the secessionist leaders the hard relevant questions when it comes to have a dialogue about the restoration of the Somali Republic.

The issue of the Somali unity is always on the back burner in their programs. I have never heard a single debate aired by the BBC Somali Service taking place between the Somaliweyn believers in Hargeisa and the flag wavers of the secessionists. Their correspondent in the city, because of partiality and hidden agenda, never bother to seek opinions diagonally opposed to that of the armed few. I mean it is the job description of the modern journalist to see conflicts from different angles. Ina Cige is paid by Ina Garaad. Can you recall Ina Cige going to LaasCaanood, LaasQoray or even to Boorama to check the political beliefs of the ordinary persons in the street of these cities? I doubt you can! Mind you Ina Cige has been in North Somalia for more than 4 years employed by the BBC’s Ina Garaad! That is one of the reasons I am saying that he has a hidden agenda. He is in bed with the secessionists and tacitly is approved by his masters in London.

Without prejudice, when you look at the disintegration of Somalia and the suffering of the ordinary Somalis caused by the few, one can say that the BBC and ina Garaad are not doing their full potential to keep the ordinary Somalis (especially those in the countryside) timely informed in fair and equitable manner. If one asks a common Palestinian Joe or Jane the main resolutions of U.N. on Palestinian-Israeli conflict, chances are that he or she will recite them without hesitation because the Arab media constantly remind us the importance of the world stand on the occupied territories. The ever-on-going reminders keep the Palestinian people realistically united in their struggle. Unfortunately, the world stand on the fractured Somalia drafts from our memories day after day. Here is where Somali media fails. They do not structure programs or what I call reality checks that frequently keep the common Somali person aware of the importance of the U.N. resolutions on the sovereignty, national unity and territorial integrity of the Somali Republic and their implications on him or her or on other nation-states in the universe. How many of you can tell me what does Security Council Resolution 1587 stand for?

 

Examples are countless but what happened on April 12th of the current will shed light on the unfairness of Ina Garaad’s radio to Somalia. On that day, F. Waraabe was given a scope of air time to spread his waraabiisim (cannibalism) and nonsensical reasoning for his suicidal attempt to dismember Somali Republic. Worst than that he did not call Ina Garaad’s radio as it is normal for Somali pseudo politicians to phone BBC for addressing accusations made against them by others. But examine this carefully. He was contacted and interviewed by one of Ina Garaad's staff. Several times he stressed that the Somali people in Sool and Sanaag regions and the few secessionists in Hargeisa share an exclusive umbilical cord of brotherhood and that they together have common enemies who are no other but the other Somalis who he described as the black evil hand separating them. He said he wanted to capture their hearts and minds for his blind and unrealistic cause.

 

The straw that broke the camel's back is that Mr. Waraabe insulted and labeled radio Laascaanood a liar and propagandist.

 

Where is Ina Garaad’s journalist impartiality? Wasn’t it the right time to ask Mr. Waraabe if he believed the principle of self-determination and whether he was prepared to accept the judgment of the people of Sool and Sanaag if they are polled through ballot box to go with the secessionists and dismember Somali Republic or preserve Somali unity and stay with the bigger family??? Wasn't it the right time to remind him of the world stand for the sovereignty, political freedom and territorial integrity of Somalia and recite to him Security Council Resolution 1587? (Adduunku waxa uu idiiin arkaa in aad kuligii walaalo tihiin)…

 

On the other hand Ina Garaad did not bother to call radio Laascaanood journalists and reporters and asked them about what they had been accused of! Radio Laascaanood is a respectful Somali local radio and has large numbers of listeners. The only thing they propagandize is the Somali unity….but the question is why Ina Garaad is always putting the issue of Somali unity on the backburner and at the same time loosen the rob for the few secessionists by giving them free air time? How many Somali people can the likes of Mr. Waraabe speak for? Sadly, British taxpayers’ money is being wasted.

 

It is unacceptable that Somali voices remain silent on the ridiculousness of what Ina Garaad with the help of his right-hand man Ina Cige are doing to the Somali psyche, especially the psyche of the people of North West Somalia. It is given ( let Ina Garaad ask his immediate British supervisor) the objectives of the BBC Somali Service is to help Somali people get relevant information that may, in whatever degree it is, improve their living standards. I mean, basically, all man-made institutions toil to enhance the living conditions of human beings. Whatever role they play in societies, their functions directly or indirectly contribute to the wellbeing of humanity. The air waves of the BBC are not intended to work against the interest of the Somali people.

 

It is as clear as the light rays bombarding your retina if you are not blind; the whole world, including the British government has been denying the claim of the few armed militias to break up The Somali Republic. For more than fourteen years, the world has been denying Ina Riyaale and likes forum to convince the universe that Somalis, one of the purest races in time memorial, can not live together under one nation-state. Recognition of the Hargeisa’s municipal council as an independent state is light-years away. As Somalis say, it is like hair strands budding out of a palm.

 

It is self-defeating to tally for the few who are suffering from SBS (Siyad Bare Syndrome) the rationales on which the world bodies based their refusal to break up the Somali Republic for many articulate true sons and daughters of Somalia have been doing justice to them and had unaccountable knockouts. Pseudo journalists Ina Garad and Ina Cige must know their ways to these treasures and all other supporting arguments for the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Somalia. They must stop being submissive to the Riyale’s militia and the other fake so-called political parties that are caged in Hargeisa’s zoo.

 

Do not think I am just using superlatives to mud the BBC Somali chief editor’s name. (ninka aan Soomaalinima ku dikriyin waa cadowgeiga koowaad). Ina Garad heads a powerful tool that affects the psyche of many Somalis especially the young and innocent. He is accountable to his actions and his unbalanced editorial piece for it seems his British supervisor gives him a free hand to run the show. In his mind he may be trying to be impartial but he is not. An example illustrates this point. On 26th of April, Ina Garaad gave 12 minutes and 20 seconds of free air time to Riyale’s militia when his right hand man In Cige granted an interview to the head of so called commission of elections, Mr. Cadaani, a hypocrite who claimed that 70% of the bill for the anticipated elections in Hargeisa is footed by European Union along with the British government. For an inattentive person, this interview carries the message that the E.U. perceives Hargeisa’s municipal council head a sovereign African government. Was not it the right moment that Ina Cige ask the interviewee to clarify to the listeners if the E. U. is funding the elections because they see Northwest regions as self governing province of the Federal Republic of Somalia or as a sovereign bankrupt African “democracy†that deserves financial assistance?

 

On 30th April, Ina Cige reported that an A. U. fact finding mission arrived in Hargeisa. The delegation met the press and declared their intention to visit different regions of Northern Somalia. If Ina Cige is not partial, wasn’t it the right time to ask them how it would be practical for them to visit the Northeastern regions such as Sool and Sanaag if they had to be escorted by Riyaale’s militia?

 

News serving industry works for the people. When Ina Garad and Ina Cige give free air time to Riyale’s militia to spread their misleading propaganda and falsehoods, have they ever thought how the minds of the 9 years olds in Hargeisa are being manipulated and distorted? Are they not preparing him for a war that he will never win?

 

This is a wake up call for all Somalis and other peace loving people. We all have to write to the BBC and demand them to structure programs for their Somali listeners that reflect the world stand on Somalia. They have to come up with interviews that challenge the intelligence of the few armed secessionists in Hargeisa.

 

Ahmed Abdi

 

Midnimadu waa lama huraan.

[Jumatatu]

Originally posted by Sophist:

The lowest point of the Service is marked by its uneven-handed coverage of the visits of the President of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and the Speaker of the Transitional Federal Parliament, Sharif Hassan. The President was the only [official] invitee to the General Assembly, and that was the prime news-making event. Speaker Hassan was invited by a non-governmental body, Association of World Parliaments, and was practically on his own. The Service should have given a prime coverage to the president. It once again, deliberately erred by totally ignoring to cover the President's [official] and historic visit, while it spent many news hours on covering minute details of the Speaker's multi-track trip.

It sad to notice, but not entirely suprising, the basis of your grievances narrows down to the lack of coverage of Yeey.

[Sophist]

You mean I? This is a copy from Wardheernews.com so if you have an issue with the article you should present your case either on this place coherently or perhaps write an email to these chaps.