BBC in trouble again!

BBC is in trouble again; this time with the most powerful person in the world. Donald Trump has given an ultimatum to the BBC over a blunder it should have corrected and apologized for, a long time ago, which it did not do for reasons best known, perhaps, only to the hierarchy of the BBC.

- BY DR UPUL WIJAYAWARDHANA

Many wonder whether it is due to sheer arrogance or, pure and simple stupidity! Trump is threatening to sue the BBC, for a billion dollars in damages, for the defamation of character caused by one of the flagship news programmes of the BBC “Panorama” broadcast a week before the last presidential election.

BBC is the oldest public service broadcaster in the world, having commenced operations in 1922 and was once held in high esteem as the most reliable broadcaster in the world due to its editorial neutrality but most Sri Lankans realized it is not so now, due to the biased reporting during Sri Lanka’s troubled times. By the way, it should not be forgotten that the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation is the second oldest public broadcaster in the world, behind the BBC by only three years, having commenced operations as ‘Colombo Radio’ on 16 December 1925; it subsequently became ‘Radio Ceylon’. It soon became the dominant broadcaster of South Asia, with a Hindi service as well, and I wonder whether there are any plans to celebrate the centenary of that great heritage but that is a different story.