BBC presenter sacked for making racial remarks

by Amitjha | November 13, 2008 at 01:40 am

727 views | 34 Recommendations | 20 comments

Racism issue pops up again and again, this time in BBC.Although strict guidelines have been passed to control racism, and officially people do control to pass such comments but unofficially the situation is very bad.This issue of racism is really black spot in white history.

BBC is back in a racist row and this time over the racist comments made by its radio presenter off-air.

Sam Mason, 40, who joined BBC Radio Bristol in September this year lost her job after she allegedly told a cab operator not to send a driver with a turban for her 14-year-old daughter as it would "freak her out".

The taxi worker however refused and provided a recording of the conversation to the media.

Sam allegedly told the cab operator "not to send an Asian driver to pick up her daughter. A guy with a turban on is going to freak her out".

"I know this sounds really racist, but I'm not being please. An English person would be great, a female would be better," she further added.

Sam was suspended and sacked 24 hours later after the operator passed a transcript of the conversation to The Sun newspaper. She was later informed by station officials on Saturday that she would no longer work for the BBC.

The transcript records how she ordered a taxi to take her 14-year-old from her Clifton house to her grandparents' home.

"Although Sam Mason's remarks were not made on-air, her comments were completely unacceptable and, for that reason, she has been informed that she will no longer be working for the BBC with immediate effect,” a BBC spokesperson said.

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Dave Keating

at 01:54 on November 13th, 2008

Good story Amitjha. Seems that if this woman was concerned about her daughter being "freaked out," she should have had a talk with the daughter about diversity, not tried to keep people who are different away from her!

Amitjha

at 02:08 on November 13th, 2008

Thanks Dave Keating,

This kind of thing from the torch bearer of freedom, is really disturbing.officially they might control it but this race struggle is there deep inside the heart.which popsup from time to time .

Uwe Paschen

at 01:58 on November 13th, 2008

Good on the BBC.

Amitjha

at 02:11 on November 13th, 2008

Well it is not just about BBC, it is very common in west, who ever comes from that part they complain about this kind of tretment.well let us see how many more centuries they need to realise we all are just Homosapiens sapiens.

Uwe Paschen

at 02:16 on November 13th, 2008

Well, I suppose we are interested in Power and in order to maintain power one had to divide. It is an old Human Practice, used in all sorts of form, Religion, Race, Tall or short, Male, Female... And so on. We still have some growing up to do as Humans. Do not forget though that racism is not a European problem alone, Africa and Asia know many form of racism that are discriminating and offensive just the same. The root of this illness or malaise is deep and will take some time to overcome in our world.

Amitjha

at 02:23 on November 13th, 2008

IT is just not racism but whole mechanism of division, either based on cast ,credd ,nation, region, ethinicity ,sex, cant we look as whole.

Well power can be the driving force behind this division mechanism, why we are so conditioned for power?

Uwe Paschen

at 02:47 on November 13th, 2008

Power, Greed and Fear are the main problems we need to overcome as well as major inequalities with in countries and around the World. Racism is deeply embedded in our World as Slavery and Sexism are as well. Even our languish is discriminating and sexist.

4000 Years ago the old Tong and scripts had no words to separate the sexes into he or she nor did they have words to differentiate Races. It was all based on Clans and Families not Nations or Races.

Amitjha

at 02:57 on November 13th, 2008

That is really intresting, if we follow the evolution of language, we can simply gauge how deep divides have been created in just 2-300 years.

Uwe Paschen

at 03:08 on November 13th, 2008

Yes we could and can. We can even determine where it all started and why. Some people have done much research on this and came up with very interesting finds. Even the translations of the Holy book, may they be into Arabic, French, Latin are filled with mistakes such as the attribution of a gender to a God, in the original transcripts from 4000 years ago, God had no gender nor a form. Same with other scriptures such as Buddha his accounts, the versions known today differ greatly from the originals. In part because we have started attributing genders and divisions.

Dan Finnan

at 03:54 on November 13th, 2008

"it is very common in west"

Amitjha, I'm afraid I disagree. Having been brought up in the UK, I consider our country one of the most multi-cultural societies in the world.

Of course there are some rascists. But I think you are making a massive generalisation.

Amitjha

at 04:15 on November 13th, 2008

I am not saying about any particular counrty , it is normal phenomena every where only the form changes.British history is full of its misdeeds justifying that on the ground of nationhood is nothing but another kind of supiriority syndrome.

Dan Finnan

at 04:49 on November 13th, 2008

Amitjha - I was just using the UK as an example. Although I have visited a number of countries across the world, I can only draw on my experience on living in the UK and France.

No - I wasn't trying to justify the brutality of British colonalism by multi-culturalism. But in my opinion the multi-culturalism that British society exhibits is a positive by-product of that.

My main point was that, no, you can't infer that the 'West' is racist from some stupid comments made by a BBC presenter, off-air.

And incidentally if you look at the make-up of BBC staff, you'll see that at lower job grades, the BBC positively discriminates against the ethnic majority, so much so, that the ethnic minority are actually better represented in the BBC, than they are in society. Of course, that changes when you look at higher job grades, where the ethnic minority are actually under-represented.

Nevertheless, this is getting slightly off-topic.

I have no time for rascists whether they work at the BBC or not.

Dan Finnan

at 03:50 on November 13th, 2008

I think it is also important to note that the taxi radio operator this woman spoke to has also been sacked...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/7721813.stm

Apparently she made this request previously and the taxi firm honoured it.

gerrypopplestone

at 04:18 on November 13th, 2008

I think there is a difference between a person's private beliefs and their public behaviour. I have worked for many organisations where you are not permitted to behave in a racist way, not metter what you think privately. I know a skinhead in London who is a member of the (racist) British National Party but who works in a care home catering to the needs of mainly elders who come from many different countries. His behaviour towards them is, I think, pretty impeccable, even though his political views are at variance with this.

Amitjha

at 04:24 on November 13th, 2008

Thats the point, if your own personality is divided in thought , how can you expect to achieve harmony peace. Conflict of any kind , at personel or social level, bound to create problem.

Dan Finnan

at 04:53 on November 13th, 2008

Gerry,

That is all well and good, but this individual worked for a public service broadcaster.

Despite those being her own views, if she was worried about what kind of taxi driver would pick-up her daughter...what is that likely to mean for her co-workers, colleagues, listeners, phone-in callers, etc.

JoIM

at 08:17 on November 13th, 2008

... I have to say, i do consider her responsible for daughter being "afraid" of everyone but an "English woman"( although a man would have been ok ).

Albert Milliron

at 14:05 on November 13th, 2008

When I was a kid I was afraid of While guys with Beards and Tattoos. I would have preferred not to be picked up by someone who looked like that, why? A man with that description tried to abduct me and attacked me causing injury. What am I saying here? We don't have all of the facts... we certinally don't want to Pre Judge this woman as being racist without full knowledge of the situation would we? Why do we jump right to Racism following an event that may or may not be due to racist feelings?

When she further stated that , "a woman would be better". what if this girl had been raped in the past? This is information we don't have. What is wrong with having a particular driver? I have one girl that does my hair perfectly, If she is not working, I ask when she will be in... Am I a bigot?

What got me when I read the article, the First sentence made huge assumptions: London: BBC is back in a racist row and this time over the racist comments made by its radio presenter off-air. (Source: ibnlive.in.com)

Miss Masson stated that this company has provided her with this request in the past, Mason: "You've managed it before." Mason: "If it were me I wouldn't care if it had two heads, but it's my little girl we are talking about."

, Listen to the call here

(I know what your saying, It must be a slow news day for Politisite)

Dan Finnan

at 15:52 on November 13th, 2008

Source: www.thisisbristol.co.uk

BBC Radio Bristol presenter Sam Mason has spoken of the taxi call row which got her sacked and says: 'I'm no racist'.

Miss Mason has told the Bristol Evening Post she is “devastated” at losing her job and emphatically denies she is a racist.

She said today: “Unfortunately for legal reasons, I cannot comment on the taping of the phone conversation or its content.

“But I am most definitely not a racist.

“My only concern was for my daughter.

“I adore my job and I am absolutely devastated that I have lost it.

“My colleagues were lovely and listeners were fabulous.

“I would sincerely like to thank them for their continued support.”

She then broke down in tears on the phone before she said: “Please believe me, I am not a racist.”

Albert Gitonga (not verified)

at 22:34 on June 10th, 2009

I think British society is so petty and judgmental. The facts are clear, she said something that inflames passions and in terms of "Beliefs" cannot be tolerated.

Personally I am glad I do not live in the UK, this lady was trying to protect her daughter, however badly and the fact that she had had this kind of service before simply shows that there was nothing wrong with it.

To Sam Mason, you will get another job and to those here who are jumping all over her, look yourselves in the mirror and ask if you have never done something like that and the only reason we do not know about it, is that nobody ever leaked it out.