A back seat will the president ial candidates ever hit the road and so their brand of politics to americans before the vote follow the u. S. Elections on and just. Accept people to cause a. Test. I. Think. Thats what should. Be. Something. Hello im richard just when youre watching the listening post working from home here are some of the media stories that were examining this week a statue of a slave trader takes the fall in the u. K. As britain confronts its colonial legacy the racism it exported in its days of empire the long running Television Show cox has had its day all that unrest in the u. S. Has broadcasters reconsidering what Television Shows are appropriate viewing the advertising model that corporations can use to convince us that they care about more than profits we here at the company stand with our friends in marginalized groups regard its educational and rwanda revisit it justice has finally caught up to the man who was calling the shots at the Radio Station behind the genocide. The story of that Police Killing of a black american george floyd the video that captured his slow death and the weeks of protests that have followed in the United States have sent ripples across the atlantic triggering demonstrations in the u. K. The defining image from those protests has been the toppling of a statue in the port city of bristol a monument to Edward Colston a slave trader whose wealth helped build that city statues and monuments are built to memorialize to remind. About history and who should be revered when those statues fall they indicate a shift in social consciousness a change in what people want to see honored colstons fall offended those who say you cannot erase the past and that those who profited from slavery should not be judged by todays moral standards tell that to the thousands of british demonstrators not just people of color who are out to tell the real story about britains role in the formation of the slave trade the legacy with. Our starting point this week is. The black lives matter protest in bristol was not the biggest not in the u. K. And certainly not compared to the demonstrations that inspired the ones rippling across the United States what it lacked in scale that it made up for in meek bristol is one of the places that slavery got its start from traders like edward coles. He grew wealthy dealing in human beings shipping africans across the atlantic his riches helped build the city and he was memorialized in brocks. The moment the statue fell the story of slavery and its after it come full circle. It was a time of hope. Was the image is going to be helpful for new the different media people in bristol have consistently tried to get taken down they have little b. They have organized and they have not been hit. To this moment leading presented i think people taking ownership and i think he will stand by our image of black brown white. In the statue down together was a moment of astonishing chance racial unity in that each felt like a moment of historic. Well. Given that edward coasting was a slave trade and given that millions of africans lost their lives in the middle of the atlantic was. Often you treat thrown overboard they were saying enough mythology lets put history back in the picture. The cost in statue had stood for 125 years like similar monuments across the country it sent a clear message to anyone who saw that britain would remember history its way in that respect the activists and protesters demanding the statues be brought down to change a historical narrative. One mans act of vandalism is another mans form of information. Statues and other symbols that the country chooses to correctly flat the stories that that country wants to tell about itself the mythology that country wants to preserve and frankly to export to other nations as well the people who are really invested in that culture and statue are wanting to preserve this business polity of White Supremacy this racial and social order that they are deeply invested in not changing statues represent who is in power at any given point so putting up statues theres never a new. This is then reflected in the kind of history that. So very often what happens in the british media story is told. All of those who undertook those who benefited from it so what we often get is very much a mirror of the statues which themselves are moral. That starts with politicians who plays along in the world think that is awfully disgraceful and that speaks to the acts of disorder public disorder and it trickles down. 2 british drug tests disproportionately white many of whom went to university at cambridge or Oxford Oxford is where a statue of sessile rhodes one of the architects of apartheid in south africa still stands despite the mans to take it down the social divide that separates british journalists from so many of the citizens and issues they cover surfaces on stories like this one there is a reflexive focus on the phantoms the civil disobedience angle from the likes of nick farrar the right wing host of a popular breakfast radio show on l b c. 31 of the british bigger cities in the us are preferred to spectate which we now. Live. And even when you take the ideology out of the british Mainstream Media seem on a quest to understand how racism works in the u. K. They dont have guns legacy of slavery theres no just before the kirsten statue came down there was this exchange on newsnight the b. B. C. s flagship Current Affairs program its not the same as when you talk about the history of Race Relations you have to consider the role of the British Empire but i watched that i shook my head at the news. Because immediately in britain i do often think that the legacy of slavery in the past and eat cake isnt the same that allows it to be really complacent of its racial problems and i hope this is a. Point for many people think along the lines that you just expressed as this is not publicised as widely and allows many people in the country to think that its not a problem at all and i think a lot of times what people dont see they pretend doesnt exist within of course. As many mainstream journalists have illustrated recently has colonial amnesia. They recognize that britain had an empire but they forget exactly what is and i did and so we can point to the United States or maybe south africa as this place where racism this place where apartheid this place where slave youre looking well to our people. I decided to work up the next liver they screwed over big screen captures our shared history with a script that was perfect but if shared its true that we have these places dont speak english because of osmosis these places speak english because they were part of the British Empire and in many ways britain was race races and ethnicities capital for many centuries. The downing of statue was the challenging of narratives and legacies in the u. K. Take the question how far will it go is Winston Churchills legacy for instance now up for debate the dominant media narrative has long had churchill as the ultimate british rule here at western churchill with her to the Great Britain of a lot fitter for a reason is that people believe me i must thank you for the power of his rhetoric and well off in favor of culture for not having. A less savory side to the white supremacist given the fact that indian still hold him responsible for a famine that killed millions of bengalis has never got much play in the u. K. Mainstream media its a red line that news outlets have been unwilling to cross so far you can imagine that if there was so much hostility. About a slave trade nobody had heard of before response tweek you can imagine what happens if and when people start questioning. Someone like churchill and there is certainly a general attitude of how dare you question a great substance. When the truth is that had very sharp racial great were considered actually backward even in his time and theres just no way that here and turn someone into a new. Without a great deal of denial of. The obsession with remembering churchill in the way is really tied up with britains glorification and high because in this kind of telling of history. What is ignored is all of the forms of racism that exists within the u. K. And so it can see the u. K. At the mall really exceptional play in thai everything demick the forms of racism existed within the cave that were spread throughout the will and continue to shape peoples lives now. There are those who say that men like churchill and colston should not be judged by todays moral stand that it was a different time better to keep the statues in traditional narratives in place the basic flaw in that argument is that it denies other figures from the past lesser known its a very rightful place in british history. Slavery was the worlds richest most standards of the black peoples who are enslaved and indeed many people who are standing in solidarity with the never change happen its global and so to say that there is a moral difference between slavery 200 years gone and slavery today i think you raises the resistance and challenging slavery all those centuries ago and of course also it raises the resistance against racism britain hasnt really had a serious engagement with those close. Until it does that it wont be able to serious thinking of its racism and. Were looking at International Coverage of racial unrest now with one of our producers flow phillips flow this social movement is a real challenge for broadcasters how do they explain a story from so far away with so much history to it to their own viewers its not easy richard and some are faring better than others the japanese public broadcaster and h. K. Often uses animated explainers to really break down a global news stories and they try to cram in so much on the George Floyd Protests coming out of the us please print. Ality systemic racism the history of slavery you name it it was in the in 130 Minute Program called now i understand whats going on in the world only they really dont heres the clip that went viral and prepare yourself its a deeply racist depiction of black people or not thats all good single hi good to. Go. Home. With you that she time. So in trying to explain the issue with racism in the us and h. K. Essentially created a caricature precisely the cartoon which an h k shed on twitter had 0 context it shows protesters as raging and violent figures while stats about coronavirus and inequality appear in the sky above them so not only was it racist but it seems to suggest the protest was solely about economics and corona related job losses which of course is far from the full story now the network did take the video down a good knowledge ing that the clip quote did not correctly express the realities of the problem and on that subject taken material down some broadcasters have been combing through their back catalogs doing the same thing out of the way they have paramount network has cancelled the long running and incredibly Popular American t. V. Show cops despite being criticized as sanitizing often glorifying Police Brutality has actually been on the ass in 1909 but perhaps the most surprising move has come from any network theyve Just Announced the cancellation of the Police Reality show live p. D. Its a big hit for the network just last month that actually ordered up 160. 00 new episodes now whats interest. Thing is that both paramount and annie have actually preempted any possible p. R. Problems they didnt wait for the public to push or shame them which is what caused his nominee to actually go out in front presumably because they could see what was coming ok thanks a lot with the global media has extended preoccupation with covert 19 some major news stories have gone under reported one of them took place in paris france on may 16th the arrest of a man named booga booga is accused of being one of the key figures behind the genocide in rwanda in 1994 which claimed the lives of around 1000000 tutsis and moderate hutus set up and funded at adieux middle call in a Radio Station that now lives in infamy r. T. L. Lamb as it was known laid the groundwork for the genocide with its incessant stigmatizing of the seas and then went on to play a key role in coordinating the killings the listening posts nick me your head now on booga and the role of what has come to be known as the hate media of rwandas genocide 1st however a warning to our viewers there are some graphic images in this report that you may find disturbing. A survivor of the rwandan genocide. A journalist who covered the genocide. And an academic who spent a career documenting it all of their experiences relate to this man physician could be again and the Radio Station he created radio meal killing or. After 26 years on the run could be go was finally arrested last month in this apartment block in powers nearly 6000 miles from. A french court has ruled that his next stop will be tens in the air and the uns International Criminal tribunal for rwanda among the charges felician could be go will face 2 counts of crimes against humanity and 5 counts of genocide including this one the direct and public incitement to commit genocide. But. It is not possible to talk about the genocide we go talking about 56 he was the finance hero. And. It was a Radio Station run by genocide ideologues and all day long it was used to insult and demonize to seize to say that they were a constant. Who. Were. Cool to secret sample cockroaches they would refer to the miss snakes they were trying to subject to find them and distance rwandans from one another for the poor people here who work. From very beginning. To started with genocide. Agenda few days before it even went to. A publication called to come on its front page and the tugging at him they said now the 2 tunes i finished. Article him was exploiting ethnic divisions that had long existed within where one. During the colonial era the minority tutsis were treated as superior to the majority hutus and with their full charged with running the country in 1959 the hutus came to power in a revolution and 3 years later gained independence from colonial rule the fear of could see it move returning. And over the next 3 decades there would be outbreaks of ethnic and motivated finance that would send hundreds of thousands of would see refugees into neighboring countries. And his fellow cofounders knew that they could use the station to play on those fears but 1st they needed listeners and the strategy they put in place at a target demographic. F. N. M. Played really quick music i think it was a way of a truck to be particular that people who only good Radio Station wants to print and use music to engage listeners and then in the middle of a truck it would cut straight to the message itself pete. One of the gents had begun the Musical Instruments wes so nice to the young people who even feel like dancing and thus in using with a demo said to us that attacking the victims evil genius how you into tame killers as as a way of taking away the give. This is what i wanted and. By the 1990 s. Exulted see refugees had formed the Rwandan Patriotic front. Which started launching incursions back into the country as with most soldiers when the rebels trained they sang the songs would become popular and godly. Jump in 2nd hutu used to make a living selling music concerts in the city some of which contained those rebel songs and one of the cassettes made it onto our t. L. M. It nearly cost him his life. When i had my name really dont want to read to you when caught cold to my stomach i thought its over for me theyre going to kill me. When our Children Play the rebel songs a psycho who says that they would call him out by name and accuse him of trying to galvanize support for the r p f when the killings speak and he knew that he would be a target say went into hiding in a septic tank. Is a few 100 of the more i entered my home with a small red to listen to at 10 am so legally for a week they used to say jumping out of leaves in this neighborhood you have to cut you have to kill him hes very dangerous if you dont kill him hes going to kill you with that was it all into him after it was made by trickery not to run out because i stood in my hole for 2 months and 15 days. The genocide began on april 6th 1904 when one does hutu president juvenile hobby amalias plane was shot down r t l m was reportedly the 1st station to announce the news they blamed it on tutsi rebels in the weeks leading up to the crash listeners say that they would be told to stay tuned for a big event. Catherine bond was a freelance journalist based in nairobi at the time when news of the president s death broke she scrambled to cook ali. She would soon experience 1st hand the insidious nature of our t. L. M. Spoke us catherine bond channel 4 news golly we were able to get a lift on a convoy of french troops going into kigali into the center kigali to pick up expire and at that point radio mail colleen had cooled people out to greet the french troops and so we saw people here come out out of the houses alongside the road when we passed back along the same spot they were just lines of peoples bodies and it transpired that radial colleen heard called everybody out to greet the french and then in doing so people come out of the houses who were took in hiding and the 2. Militia men had been able to identify them and had moved in and killed them and you can see footage is. Television footage is of. Killers on the road books holding a machete and 100 in the radio and they are. Common the hero is one of the leading experts on the one genocide whose lifes work has been to document the atrocities that were committed he has collected a paper trail the churchs harken begun not only set up and funded dark t. L. M. But also set at the top of the channels hierarchy meaning that the editorial line began and ended with him in the heater recalls how in the lead up to the genocide there were attempts by moderate hutus even in government to stop our t. L. M. From inciting the mass murder of the tutsis. In november and 3 the r. T. M. Was someone. But then minister of information and couple go ahead of the debate edition they were told that the reveal was incendiary and wasnt a team the genocide that is the tutsi this warning was not respected and instead the minister and his firm body were put to them he waited on the 7th over pro 984. After a killing spree that lasted 100 days and took nearly a 1000000 lives to r. P. S. Manage to stop the genocide and many of the perpetrators among them fled the country part of a mass exodus of who to refugees the story spread to governments across the region have used are to let the specter of what happened in rwanda to suppress Media Freedom in their own countries there has never been a station like radio meal complete and genocide where the killers were with a radio in one hand and a machete in the other 26 years later history has a ready judge felician could be good now the courts will do the same. And finally a few weeks back we gave you a sampling of Television Ads built around the theme of the Global Pandemic and how were all in this together since then corporate advertisers have had to pivot and tailor that unity messaging to fit another breaking news story the racial unrest never mind what their politics are or how diverse or not their workforces are these brands and companies are sending signals that they support this movement and that by the way your money is still good. One internet comic who goes by the slightly problematic name of youre an aging tree spotted the advertising formula and was kind enough to create an ad template that any company can use to Pay Lip Service in the fight against racism without actually doing anything about it all you have to do as the viewer is fill in the corporate blanks well see you next time youre at the listening post were in very trying times even though life as we know it may be interrupted the company will always be here for you the events that have unfolded show that we need to do more as a society we here at the company stand with our friends in marginalized group regarding current topic we wont really do anything or truly discuss current topic but this message will be enough for you to not care about any of our policies here are several seconds of a black backdrop to show solidarity with current topic everyone should know that the Company Truly cares about you would public might mistreat marginalized groups who work for us you shouldnt worry about that since we at the company will continue to pander and 1st you signal for marginalized group against a buzzword. Called the beyond well. Taken without hesitation. And dogged for power defines our world we should not have to trade our culture for oil and gas we live here we make the rules investigating exposing and questioning the use and abuse of power across the globe people in power returns to. This aljazeera. Alonzo raman and this is the aljazeera news our life my headquarters here in doha coming up in the next 60 minutes a Health System on the brink of collapse a World Health Organization warning after another spike in corona virus infections in pakistan. The casualties of an attack by a Splinter Group of book overarm in northeastern nigeria dozens are killed. Take a deep breath