Interesting point of debate. This logic says that it is possible only to have an opinion if you speak the language of the country that you have a though about.
This is just silly, I can like a part of Wales without speaking Welsh! It may be impolite to talk about people abroad in English without starting a separate topic in their own language, but it would be plain daft to say any more. I mean, I have an opinion about the ταραχές στην Ελλάδα, but I can't see why the BBC should have a debate about them. 2008/12/8 Dominic Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Good morning list, > > I don't suppose many of you are aware of this, but this morning the BBC > News Online website is being accused of bias by the Venezuelan > Ambassador to the UK for a very (IMHO) interesting reason. > > For those who can read Spanish, the details of the accusation are on the > Venezuelan state TV website: > < http://www.vtv.gob.ve/articulos/reportajes/12217> > > For those who can't, the brief summary is this: The (English language) > BBC News site currently has a 'have your say' section inviting comments > about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's performance in the ten years of > his Presidency at > < http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7760000/ > newsid_7765400/7765415.stm>. > There is currently no equivalent page on the BBCMundo.com (Spanish > language) website. For the avoidance of any doubt, I will clarify that > Spanish is the official language of Venezuela. > > Given that Venezuela has a population of about 60% below the poverty > line and the majority of Chávez's supporters are known to be from the > poorer sectors of the society (who are unlikely to have had sufficient > education to speak English), the BBC stands accused of asking for > comment in English only in order to deliberately manipulate the results > to ensure that Chávez is discussed in predominantly adverse terms. > > Whilst I am pretty certain this is more likely to be a lack of > communication between different parts of the BBC, rather than deliberate > bias, I can't help but feel that the Ambassador might have a valid point > here. I have suspected for a while that 'linguistic discrimination' is > an under-recognised topic amongst website designers of websites with an > international target audience who permit user feedback. The danger for > the BBC, of course, is that this sort of debate could undermine the > excellent work that has gone in to the development of BBCMundo.com and > BBC Mundo Radio in Latin America in recent years. > > Without wishing to turn this into a political debate on this list, I > wonder what you think? How much discussion goes into deciding which > pages should invite comment and is the risk of 'linguistic > discrimination' considered in conjunction with the World Service's > different language services? Would it not be better, for example, for > the invitation for comments to be on the Spanish site and for the > comments to then be translated for the English site? Is there some form > of software platform linking the different bits of the BBC and language > services which allows for comments to be 'shipped' in translation > between different departments? Or perhaps the comments should be > displayed on the English page with a 'health warning' to warn that a > full range of opinions might not be expressed due to the fact that it is > only an English page? > > Best wishes, > > Dominic. > (I do not work for the BBC) > > > > - > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please > visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/ > [email protected]/ > -- Brian Butterworth follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/briantist web: http://www.ukfree.tv - independent digital television and switchover advice, since 2002
