MOTHER

Today, in an era of highly competitive news reporting, channels like Channel 4 are desperate to justify themselves and snatch the latest scoops. Since extremist Islamism and its tiresome wave of sick and nihilist violence inevitably tops most news gatherers’ topic lists, such channels have relaxed their recruitment criteria when hiring journalists who speak the relevant languages of Muslim communities. After all, it’s these reporters with their Urdu, Punjabi and Arabic who are likely to deliver cutting edge stories. Reporters like Secunder Kermani from BBC Newsnight spring to mind. A plethora of former extremists operate as counter terror talking heads.

This year the Channel 4 News journalist Assed Baig has already been rightly pulverised by Guido Fawkes for sending racially-charged tweets and slurring injured British soldiers. His racist remarks were also picked up by the Daily Mail. And, predictably, as sure as MPACUK blames Mossad for stolen shoes, UK-based Islamist propagandists – in spite of the black and white tweet evidence – responded with accusations of Islamophobia and targeting.

Since then, Baig has been warned by his Channel 4 News bosses to be careful what he tweets. In general, he’s listened to what they have said. These days his timeline is mostly comprised of harmless retweeting, although he’s trigger happy retweeting anything anti-white, anti-Indian, anti-Royalty or anti-British.

Baig comes across as an angry conspiracist:

and someone who possesses a veritably dodgy political compass:

It’s when you look at the full array of Baig’s past tweets, his blog posts and weigh up his CV that you wonder how it’s possible that Channel 4 still employ “Bigot” Baig. He’s more an Islamist activist than a journalist. His “scoops” to date have hardly been noteworthy.

Channel 4’s Diversity Charter, which launched in January 2015, puts “a commitment to diversity at the heart of everything that we do, both on and off screen.” One might add “even employing racists, if they are from specific scoop-likely minorities. Of course, any other staff being utterly exposed as racists we will immediately fire on the spot.”

In respect to the Diversity Charter, Channel 4 have pulled off a coup employing the articulate and intelligent Fatima Manji. Other journalists like Keme Nzerem help underline the channel’s  diversity commitment. However, their lack of a reaction to Guido’s Exposé of Baig was a big mistake as Channel 4’s apparent hypocrisy is there for all paying members of the public to see.

The Channel now owes the public some answers.

Whilst one could write a book about hothead Baig’s innumerable dodgy tweets, we thought it worthwhile publishing some more of them for public record. Just so Channel 4 viewers get a flavour of the man behind the mic.

Make up your own minds, Dear Readers.

Any principled organisation – certainly one operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, a public corporation of the Department for Culture, Media & Sport – should make a statement worthy of the Great British public it serves.

UPDATE 30.08.2017: Channel 4 has a parting of the ways with Assed Baig. About bloody time.