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God bless Ofcom It is a sad reality that racism and xenophobia have not yet been totally eradicated from our planet. To that end, Ofcom – the regulator for the UK communications industries, which claims that it “exists to further the interests of citizen-consumers as the communications industries enter the digital age” – has admonished a sports commentator for daring to suggest that a non-native English speaker might not speak English perfectly. According to a nameless Ofcom spokesperson:
We believe the experienced presenter should have been more alert to the implications of his comment.
The implications being that some ridiculous government super-regulator will inevitably smear you with the intimation that you are a racist, and your employer will be forced to impress upon you the importance of “the careful use of language”. And gosh, isn’t our country and our planet all the better for this speech monitoring service our government provides at our expense?
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Did Alan Green suggest that Djemba-Djemba may not be able to speak English as well as a native (whoops! I mean fluently) because he’s black, or because he’s from a non-English speaking country and hadn’t been in England for long?
If he didn’t mention race he should sue Ofcom.
I would, but then I’m an argumentative git.
Pete, Ofcom said:
…Despite the fact that race was not mentioned.
I can only speculate that Ofcom officials have decided that imagined racism is as much of a problem as actual racism. They obviously only see Djemba-Djemba as a black man – or as a black man first, and native of Cameroon second. Skin colour trumps all in their view, which I think says more about Ofcom than anyone else.
Come on, lads. I don’t know whether British sports announcers routinely ridicule players, but obviously the attribution of “Me no cheat” was ridicule, which is bad manners.
I don’t think the player’s offense was primarily being black; being foreign is enough for the average Brit. As one explained to me years ago, “Wogs start at the Channel.”
I do agree that it is silly for government offices to scold about manners, although civilized people should take them seriously. It would be better for the discussion to center on the bureaucrats rather than to deny the bad manners.
Has Ofcom made any similar statements by commentators on the BBC for statements calling the leader of a certain allied state Hitler-esque, or even just a ‘cowboy’, his supporters ‘jingoistic’, or worse?
My money says no, but then again, I don’t follow the dictates of this agency to know if they are truly balanced in following the rules of decorum that the Anonymous Coward cites above.
Look, Alan Green is an obnoxious boor in a lavish state-funded sinecure (and he has form in this area – “Chicken Chow Mein” is how he previously described Manchester City’s Chinese defender Sun Ji Hai). If he had been working in the private sector he would have been sacked for gratuitously insulting a section of his listeners, as was his erstwhile ITV counterpart, Ron Atkinson. The idea that “me no cheat” was supposed to refer to Djemba Djemba’s alleged unfamiliarity with English is laughable. Such a ‘pidgin’ construction would never be used to lampoon a white francophone.
I’m not crazy about these super-regulators but their existence is a consequence of the fact that the BBC is insulated from the customer feedback in the market. Given that OfCom is an annoying artefact, what is really so objectionable about this? Green remains in his job and the BBC is forced to offer a weaselly apology.
Frank, I simply do not think that we need this kind of government regulation of speech, whether it comes from obnoxious boors or not.
This is not government regulation of speech. Freedom of speech doesn’t confer a ‘right’ to have such speech broadcast during state-funded sports commentary. Alan Green is quite free spout off to his heart’s content about African and Chinese players. I just don’t see why the licence payers – which include African and Chinese Britons – ought to be forced to pay for the privilege of listening to his ‘insights’.
It wasn’t a regulator which forced Ron Atkinson out of his job, it was the public backlash against his remarks. ITV as a private company has to to react to such customer opprobrium, the BBC is insulated from this.
Frank, from where I stand, the government issuing smackdowns to anybody about “the careful use of language” and implicating someone as a racist does count as government regulation of free speech. Quite apart from Britons of African and Chinese descent, I don’t think anybody in this country should have to pay Alan Green’s salary under threat of violence. Yes, he is free to spout off about whatever he likes, but I do not want the government taking money from me in order to publicly admonish him and his employer about it. (And, again, I don’t want the government taking money from me to bankroll his employer.)
You asked what is so objectionable about this situation, and that pretty much sums it up for me.
Ofcom, wonderful institution. Raison d’etre? To reduce the regulatory burden on the Communications sector. Competencies of other regulators its birth consigned to the bin? 128. New, improved number of competencies specified in Ofcom’s charter? 263!
Trebles all round!
Source: Sandy Starr
Adhib
Frank, you said:
After one second Manuel from Faulty Towers springs to mind, after two seconds Rory Bremner sending up an ‘idiot cowboy President’ springs to mind, after three seconds Spitting Image sending up Ronald Reagan (the President’s brain is missing) springs to mind.
White, aren’t they?
Pete:
Perhaps I should modify that statement, but not as you suggest. I still find it unthinkable that Green would lampoon a white francophone player such as say Robert Pires in this manner but it also occurs to me that he wouldn’t adopt the pidgin vernacular in mimicking a black Frenchman such as, say Louis Saha. So for what it’s worth, even though it doesn’t alleviate his crassness, you could say that Green wasn’t strictly guilty of anti-Black racism, but was guilty of anti-African racism.
As for Manuel, Bremner and Spitting Image – so what? For starters, Live football commentary is supposed to be just that commentary on a football match, it isn’t a comedy show or a forum for impressionists. Secondly, Green’s caricature of Djemba Djemba bears no relationship to how he actually speaks so couldn’t be construed as anything other than a gratuitous insult.
Jackie:
I understand (and indeed share) your objection to OfCom as an institution but I thought you rather let the charmless Green off the hook in the original post. He’s just as much of a parasite as the OfCom bureaucrats.
After one second Manuel from Faulty Towers springs to mind, after two seconds Rory Bremner sending up an ‘idiot cowboy President’ springs to mind, after three seconds Spitting Image sending up Ronald Reagan (the President’s brain is missing) springs to mind.
The second and third thoughts are irrevelant as they refer to individuals rather than a race.
In regard to Manuel this refers to a time when racism was acceptable with jokes about pakis, wogs and niggers.
Alan Greens comments were recent and are now unacceptable and, unlike Ron Atkinson, he did not have the humility to resign.
Listen to Alan Green for any amount of time and you will hear sexist, racist and generally obtuse views – he lives by the sword but refuses to die by one.