Mind Your Language!


It's intriguing watching the changes to the BBC News website report Anas Sarwar wins Scottish Labour leadership race (via Newssniffer).

The BBC is getting itself in its usual tangle over race and language.

Version 7 saw two paragraphs change. One changed from:

Mr Sarwar, who is the first minority ethnic leader of a major political party in the UK, got 57.6% of the vote, while Ms Lennon got 42.4%.

to:

Mr Sarwar, who is the first non-white leader of a major political party in the UK, got 57.6% of the vote, while Ms Lennon got 42.4%.

The other changed from:

On becoming the first minority ethnic leader of a major political party in the UK, Mr Sarwar said: "That doesn't say something about me. That says something great about Scotland and its people."

to:

On becoming the first non-white leader of a major political party in the UK, Mr Sarwar said: "That doesn't say something about me. That says something great about Scotland and its people."

And then in Version 8, one paragraph changed from:

Never before has any major political party chosen a leader from a minority ethnic background.

to:

Never before has any major political party chosen a leader from a non-white minority ethnic group.

I'm assuming part of this though came in reaction to a tweeted version of the report from BBC Scotland's political editor Glenn Campbell: 

Stewart Cotterill, among many others, tweeted in response, "Glenn, re your BBC article about the new Scottish Labour leader. He is not the first minority ethnic leader of a major UK political party. Disraeli, Howard, Miliband predate him. Just thought you might want to change the piece."

Yes, the BBC had forgotten all three Jewish leaders of major UK political parties.

Glenn hasn't acknowledged the change on Twitter, but the change has happened nonetheless. 

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