Letter to the Clerk of the Committee from
the Parliamentary Officer at the British Council
The article refers to a project managed by the
British Council's cultural relations think tank, Counterpoint.
The objective of Counterpoint is to stimulate debate about cultural
relations. The project, Keeping in Touch, involved hosting an
online community of 17 young journalists from the UK and overseas
who shared their ideas about their society and the world in general.
The launch of the project coincided with the outbreak of war in
Iraq, which was inevitably a subject of concern to those involved.
The Keeping in Touch participants were selected
by British Council offices on the basis of their proven ability
as outstanding young journalists. We believe it is vital to engage
with young journalists as people who play a critical role in influencing
how other countries are perceived by their audiences. The journalists
came from Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India,
Egypt, Turkey, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nigeria,
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Sunday Telegraph quotes from some
of the postings to the site. One Jordanian writer described Israel
as a "fascist Jewish state." The site was moderated
by a respected Afghan scholar and broadcaster. Our policy on moderation
is to screen out extremism whilst keeping open a space for opinions
which some people might find uncomfortable. We accept that as
a non-political organisation we should not have allowed this particular
description to have been published on a website managed by the
British Council.
In the light of this incident we are undertaking
a full review of our policy and guidelines on the pre- and post-moderation
of websites run by the British Council, using the extensive and
thorough guidelines used by the BBC as a starting point. The draft
policy is due to be presented to the Senior Management Team in
January and will then be implemented across all our websites globally.
The contributions made by the journalists explored
many aspects of life in their societies that had nothing to do
with the war in Iraq, such as cinema, gender relations, the Anglican
church, consumerism, Mariah Carey, globalization, female genital
mutilation, race, alcohol and Roma.
Some of them voiced their feelings about the
international political environment in ways which some people
in the UK would find challenging but which were widely discussed
in the British and international press.
We believe that it was appropriate to allow
these views to be aired in the context of a much wider discussion
of contemporary cultural issues because it is impossible to explore
cultural relations without being seen to be prepared to listen
to other people's points of view.
This is particularly the case when dealing with
independent minded and well educated young people whose perceptions
of the UK may be significant for the future of our international
standing and who would not participate in an activity which constrained
their freedom of speech in ways which they regarded as unacceptable.
Publication of these views did not imply that the British Council
endorsed them. Nor do we accept that publication "fuelled
anti-British extremism."
The project should also be seen in the overall
context of the British Council's global commitment to building
greater intercultural trust and understanding. This has included
our Connecting Futures initiative which has involved more than
4 million people in its activities in 40 countries since 2002,
with some 27,000 taking part in more detailed and intensive engagement.
The Keeping in Touch pages were removed from
the Counterpoint website in June 2005 because the project had
finished. Some of the articles remained in the archive and these
were the ones quoted from in the Sunday Telegraph. All articles
relating to this project have now been removed.
CHEVENING SCHOLARSHIPS
Chevening scholarships are an FCO programme.
The British Council administer many elements of the programme
to FCO specifications under a Service Level Agreement. It is therefore
appropriate that questions relating to Chevening should be directed
to the Public Diplomacy Policy Department of the FCO.
Kate Buxton
Parliamentary Officer
17 November 2005
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