...to be angry with the BBC Africa Desk?

[SilverDragonfly1]

First iabu but please, don't be gentle. If I'm being a woolly do-gooder I need to know. I genuinely am unsure, so thought I would ask the scariest people I know to be the judge.

In January there was a story on the BBC website about a 10 year old girl who had been rigged with explosives and used to kill 19 people as well as herself. The report referred to the 'girl bomber' and 'suicide bomber' in specific and general terms about women and children. I felt that was an inappropriate phrase to use as it strongly implies that this child and others can make the choice to commit suicide and murder of their own free will due to religious belief. In my eyes, this child was a murder victim as are any other children and many women used in this way.

I made a complaint to the BBC and received the response from the Africa Desk stating "It is impossible to know the precise circumstances of any of these people – and whether they volunteered to kill themselves or were forced to do so.
In these circumstances, while we accept the points you have made, we think it is best to use the phrase suicide bomber as that is a term our audiences are used to and so will quickly convey what has happened."

I replied to point out that a child cannot make an informed choice to volunteer to do this and that if audiences are 'used to' the phrase the BBC must take much of the responsibility for that. I also said that I felt audiences were intelligent enough to understand the difference between suicide and murder.

The BBC have replied to state they have nothing else to add (" We do not believe your complaint has raised a significant issue of general importance that might justify further investigation.") and will not be replying to any further discussions on the subject. In fact, they spent 3 paragraphs telling me that they aren't talking to me any more.

My question is, am I being unreasonable to think this is a genuine issue that deserves to be addressed? I think that portraying a little girl as a murderer is very wrong and that it contributes to the 'othering' of Muslims by suggesting that even their children are irredeemably wicked before they reach secondary age. But I'm a white, fairly privileged woman who undoubtedly has too much time on her hands. So perhaps I am getting angry about something that is okay and that doesn't really matter.

Sorry for the length, I can't see anything to cut without losing relevant details!

I really appreciate your insights Mummy. Everyone's actually, whether they agree or disagree! I feel much better for being able to discuss it sensibly (don't have anyone to do that with irl) and with people who don't have any reason to agree just to shut me up :)

Shalli where do you think would be the best address or place to send it? I could tweet, but would anyone actually read that?

Martha I agree that 'child porn' is different, because it deliberately juxtaposes two words that should never be associated with each other. What I found interesting about the situation is that the BBC apparently do agree that children can't consent to sex, but are more ambivalent about whether they can consent to murder. For me, it's just a bit close to the 'slippery slope' cliché and as such does have a tangential negative effect on the perception of child abuse images.

sorry, social media not my strength...what about the feedback programme on R4? that's for all BBC output I think

It's not mine either. I will have a look around.

Yanbu, I agree with you.

Well done , OP - something I also felt strongly about but failed to act on. Thank you for pursuing it with the BBC.

YANBU words matter hugely if you realise it or not, you could argue that words are at their most powerful when you don't realise how they are forming bias.
Your thought experiment is the perfect argument for why this is so unacceptable, I could never have managed to explain it with such clarity.
The way the media portrays events like this can have a massive effect on the way people view world events. The way this is worded is not going to change the opinion of anybody who already holds a strong view one way or another but it is the people who have yet to form an opinion, the swing voters if you will, who use mainstream media reporting to decide which side of the fence they are going to come down on and the unconscious bias of this type of wording can do such a huge amount of harm.

I realise that my choices of words are probably not great and I am fumbling around with my attempt to make my own point!

I agree with you completely with regards to applying the term suicide bomber to children though I have problems with you suggesting some women but not some men should also fit into this category.

I am however with Enduring Calling a child a 'suicide bomber' operates almost as a euphemism to hide the true malignancy of the act. It is a shorthand that lets our mind skate over the knowledge that radicalised Islamists strapped a bomb to a child and sent them out to kill themselves and others.

Alternative terms like living bomb/human bomb/forced suicide bomber (and I also agree that these terms are slightly problematic - too glib, to much like a soundbite) far more cogently and accurately describes the monstrous actions of people who would do such a thing. Though they do not go far enough in conveying the horrific nature of the forced sacrifice/complete lack of autonomy involved.

YANBU. I was shocked when I heard that report, and commented to my dh that the BBC really should know better than to use the phrase "suicide bomber" about a child.

Rather pathetically I didn't contact the BBC to complain, and regret that, as if more of us did then maybe the BBC would listen.

Well, I've tweeted the link to the R4 feedback team, but it seems as though the last activity on twitter or on the website was on December 19th. There doesn't seem to be an up to date alternative.

Have sent it to @BBCNews, but they have already ignored one of my tweets so not hopeful.

Interesting points OP.

At best, the term 'suicide bomber' is inaccurate and lazy reporting. She's a victim, she's been murdered ffs.

If someone did this to a child in this country (I know, unthinkable) I don't believe for one minute, the public would tolerate the description 'suicide bomber'.

Especially not when there are simple and better descriptions such as 'ten year old strapped with explosives'. If the BBC are worried about being factual and not knowing the circumstances of these individuals then at least this is factual.

Have you ever seen 'Newswatch'? Why not contact them? You could point them to this thread.

I don't watch TV at all (not in a snooty way, more a poor attention span way!). Usually it doesn't bother me, but seems to be a bit of a handicap in this instance!

Its a review of the news and the ways its been reported. It includes lots of comments from viewers.

It often covers shortcomings in the way topics are reported and highlights bad reporting habits. I'm going to try and remember some examples (but they're often this kind of thing).

The presenter sometimes interviews the reporter who is being discussed and they have the opportunity to explain their reasoning.

I would prefer the use of the word "victim" when describing the 10yo girl, as that is most likely what she was. Victim of abuse, manipulation, coercion, and ultimately murder. Sometimes the words don't need to be spectacularly clever, just basic. IMO "victim" is appropriate.

Victim is the correct word, absolutely. In reports though, there would have to be more detail which is where 'victim of a forced suicide bombing' or whatever would be needed.

Thanks wantto I will do some research.

Just sent it to Newswatch and Thank You to the person who has also called attention to the thread on Twitter!

Is the report still on the BBC site? Do you have a link?

The BBC are shit and a law into themselves.

No they are not!

(Funny thing reason and argument isn't it)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30761963 It doesn't seem to use 'suicide bomber' in reference to the child any longer, but retains general references to suicide bombings by young girls. It's now been integrated with an update about the massacre on Saturday so the original has been cut I think.