BBC Complaint 
JK Rowling

Follow Up Complaint

​

I recently complained to you about the headline coverage of JK Rowling’s attack on the Labour party’s stance on trans rights, as below, which had been couched as her taking issue on their stance on Women’s rights. My complaint was as follows.

 

‘Headline reporting of transphobia 

 

You have just had as the top of your home page a headline that says

'Labour says it is party of women's equality after Rowling criticises gender stance' and then has a front page article headlined 'JK Rowling accuses Labour of abandoning women'. For all of her claims otherwise, Rowling is a leading transphobe and the spokesperson for a campaign that is seeking to eradicate those unfortunate enough to be born transgender from society.

 

Why does the BBC continue to promote her and this campaign's propaganda and how can one justify it giving it headline status? Would you publish headlines and articles that said 'Labour says it is party of white's equality after Rowling criticises racial stance' and 'JK Rowling accuses Labour of abandoning whites' or 'Labour says it is party of Christian's equality after Rowling criticises Semitic stance' and 'JK Rowling accuses Labour of abandoning Christians'? , though you can of course substitute some other 'national treasure' for Rowling?

 

If the answer is no then you cannot justify the publication of these headlines and articles. The BBC is being used for the spreading of hate and being transgender, something I was born as, I am on the receiving end of this. It is frightening and it is also deeply offensive that you continue to show both ignorance and bias in your reporting of this.’

 

You responded to me as follows

 

‘Our reporting was to look at the article in which Ms Rowling, a former Labour donor and supporter, has been critical of the Labour party’s position on gender identity.

 

We felt the coverage was relevant to our audience, particularly with the general election approaching, however on reflection the reporting would have been more accurately framed as her viewpoint on women’s rights, rather than trans rights, and this has been acknowledged by editors in the news team.

 

We appreciate your feedback here, which has been recorded and also shared with senior management in the BBC News team.’

 

This response, whilst appreciated, makes no sense. As this tweet from Ms Rowling demonstrates her sole issue is with Labour’s stance on trans rights. Women’s rights and the false claim that these are compromised by trans rights, are merely deliberate misdirection and a cover for her involvement in a sustained anti-trans hate campaign. It would, therefore, have been impossible to have framed the article as a viewpoint on women’s rights rather than trans rights, as you suggest.

 

This tweet exposes her true agenda. She slanders women with a transgender past by calling them ‘biological males’ and ‘men’, which anyone with an understanding beyond nursery school biology knows is a nonsense term and a dog whistle, while anyone with an understanding of the law knows a gender recognition certificate doesn’t grant anyone, male or female, additional rights to enter ‘women-only spaces’. And yet this malicious gibberish is worthy of headline reporting?

 

As I pointed out in my complaint, I know the BBC takes great care in identifying and in its reporting of racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, ableism, homophobia and so on. At the moment, though, it is being manipulated and used to promote a campaign whose stated aim is to eradicate, on purely ideological grounds, trans people from existence, and for which Ms Rowling has, knowingly or otherwise, become a leading spokesperson.  

 

For those who have had the misfortune to be born transgender, like me, life is challenging enough. To have misinformation and propaganda published and broadcast by an organisation such as the BBC, especially as a headline, whose actual purpose is to deny one’s proven biology and nature and get one’s rights, treatments falsely and existence removed is not merely offensive, it achieves its aim of being harmful, especially when it is repeated over a sustained period of time, as is the case. 

 

I, therefore, repeat my request you corporately apply the same rigour and standards to your reporting of this anti-trans hate campaign and its spokespeople as you do those other characteristics above. One may have right to speak and be a ‘National Treasure’, but that doesn’t give one a right to be headlined and heard.