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BBC Managers: Share Caribbean news with the rest of the world!
Tonya H.
started this petition to
BBC Managers
Dear BBC Managers:
The Caribbean exists as a region for over 36 million people who, as others in the world, experience their lives as world citizens with all the complexities this implies. This ought to make us newsworthy to the BBC World News Agency. Furthermore, the existence of millions of peoples of Caribbean descent at the heart of British territories, including in Britain in several generations certainly qualifies us for BBC news interest. We do not hear Caribbean news of any kind on your station which runs continuously in our region for several years now.
We expect you will appreciate our distress, as BBC is recognized as an authoritative source of news. It shapes and reflects world opinion. To people all over the world, the BBC defines what is news. Nevertheless, someone in Asia, Africa, Europe and the listening to BBC world news over the past two years at least would be tempted to think that the Caribbean did not exist. It seems the BBC is saying we do not merit coverage. We have nothing to add to world news whether it be political, economic, cultural, historical, entertainment, literary, sporting achievements or lifestyle news.
The cumulative effect of all this silence is that we do not exist for the world. We experience this situation as insulting and lacking in care for British Caribbean citizens who have a right to hear Caribbean tales, whether of woe or joy and all the nuances in between these. Obviously we did not create the Caribbean.The peoples who live here do not experience the region as a figment of our imagination. It must not be of yours. We Caribbeans are able to share in solidarity with the peoples whose lives you bring us. That makes for the integrated humanity we all seek. You have a responsibility, apart from the significant reasons we have offered, and given the titling of your news, to allow other hearts to share our equally human lives.
We who write this letter listen regularly to your programmes on the station established by the BBC in the Caribbean since you dropped your country reports. We enjoy the coverage and can engage even if not always agree with the depth of analysis brought to particular stories. We abhor the silencing of the Caribbean in your world coverage. We ask that you change the policy that once more creates the Caribbean as a figment of the imagination.
The Caribbean exists as a region for over 36 million people who, as others in the world, experience their lives as world citizens with all the complexities this implies. This ought to make us newsworthy to the BBC World News Agency. Furthermore, the existence of millions of peoples of Caribbean descent at the heart of British territories, including in Britain in several generations certainly qualifies us for BBC news interest. We do not hear Caribbean news of any kind on your station which runs continuously in our region for several years now.
We expect you will appreciate our distress, as BBC is recognized as an authoritative source of news. It shapes and reflects world opinion. To people all over the world, the BBC defines what is news. Nevertheless, someone in Asia, Africa, Europe and the listening to BBC world news over the past two years at least would be tempted to think that the Caribbean did not exist. It seems the BBC is saying we do not merit coverage. We have nothing to add to world news whether it be political, economic, cultural, historical, entertainment, literary, sporting achievements or lifestyle news.
The cumulative effect of all this silence is that we do not exist for the world. We experience this situation as insulting and lacking in care for British Caribbean citizens who have a right to hear Caribbean tales, whether of woe or joy and all the nuances in between these. Obviously we did not create the Caribbean.The peoples who live here do not experience the region as a figment of our imagination. It must not be of yours. We Caribbeans are able to share in solidarity with the peoples whose lives you bring us. That makes for the integrated humanity we all seek. You have a responsibility, apart from the significant reasons we have offered, and given the titling of your news, to allow other hearts to share our equally human lives.
We who write this letter listen regularly to your programmes on the station established by the BBC in the Caribbean since you dropped your country reports. We enjoy the coverage and can engage even if not always agree with the depth of analysis brought to particular stories. We abhor the silencing of the Caribbean in your world coverage. We ask that you change the policy that once more creates the Caribbean as a figment of the imagination.
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