BBC’s Afghan Child-Marriage Coverage Shows How Far the Network Has Fallen

If we’re going to spend the next five, ten, or 20 years investigating the radicalization of young men and women, we may as well also study the radicalization of the news media, because whatever happened to the BBC demands a thorough review.

For years now, the state-funded outlet has drifted further to the fringe left (“left” by U.K. standards; by U.S. standards, it’s Pravda with its pinkie out). But last week it outdid itself, publishing a feature that, through unrelenting emotional manipulation, tried to cast the Afghan men who sell their preadolescent daughters into slavery and child marriage as sympathetic characters, while portraying austerity-minded U.S. legislators as villains.

About the Author

Becket Adams

Becket Adams is a columnist for National Review, the Washington Examiner, and The Hill.

Featured Tags

If we’re going to spend the next five, ten, or 20 years investigating the radicalization of young men and women, we may as well also study the radicalization of the news media, because whatever happened to the BBC demands a thorough review.

For years now, the state-funded outlet has drifted further to the fringe left (“left” by U.K. standards; by U.S. standards, it’s Pravda with its pinkie out). But last week it outdid itself, publishing a feature that, through unrelenting emotional manipulation, tried to cast the Afghan men who sell their preadolescent daughters into slavery and child marriage as sympathetic characters, while portraying austerity-minded U.S. legislators as villains.