THE British media must engage in more open debate about the monarchy and stop “insulting” audiences by dodging republicanism, a politics lecturer and journalist has said.
Ash Sarkar, who has lectured in political theory at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam, has slated the BBC for seeming “scared” to platform anti-monarchy views and called on them to engage in a “grown-up debate” about whether the royal family is good for the UK.
The Novara Media senior editor added she believes the media should adopt republican royal correspondents as she criticised how coverage of the monarchy was “uniformly dictated by people who believe in the institution”.
She told the Sunday National: “I want some more open debate about the monarchy.
“I recognise it’s a minority position in this country [the UK] when you look at the polling but there are lots of minority positions that get an awful lot of airtime.
“Having a second referendum on the EU was a minority position but it got a really fair hearing.
“But when it comes to the monarchy, it seems like the only acceptable discussion is ‘the Queen was great, Harry and Meghan are the devil and Prince Andrew is a wayward son – but we’re not going to ask too many questions about whether his immense unearned privilege might have had an impact in insulating him from justice’.
“I think it’s really insulting to the audience and the country.”
Sarkar was on the Question Time panel earlier this month and did not hold back her republican views during a discussion about revelations in Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare. She blasted the “grubby dealings” between the institution and the tabloid media which were exposed and branded the family a “hideous cartel”.
Sarkar added that she thought of the royal family as “zoo animals who’ve been bred in captivity” while others panellists claimed they have an important “constitutional role”.
The North Londoner said it was rare to get the opportunity to be critical of the monarchy on the BBC.
She added: “It is exceptionally difficult to have a straightforward conversation about the royals.
“I think that the BBC are very timid – I would even go as far as to say scared – of openly debating whether or not the royal family are an institution which is good for the entirety of the UK.”
There have been many occasions where pro-independence supporters have been left despairing over the BBC’s commentary on the monarchy, particularly around the time of the Queen’s death.
Last September the BBC’s royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell was criticised for a “crass monologue” on Scottish independence as he took four minutes to talk about what the Union meant to the Queen while she was under medical supervision at Balmoral.
He argued the Queen was “greatly distressed” about the possibility of Scotland leaving the UK while North America editor Sarah Smith described her as the “glue that holds the Union together”.
Sarkar insisted the British media was out of step with the rest of the world when it comes to discussing the monarchy. In the same way as political journalists and media institutions have contrasting views on the Government, Sarkar believes there should be republican royal correspondents to bring better balance to coverage.
She added: “I said this as a joke a couple of years ago and then I realised it wasn’t a joke – I think there should be republican royal correspondents.
“Do you only have political journalists who are slavishly in support of the government? No, because that’s an unhealthy media culture.
“So why is it when it comes to coverage of the royal family it is uniformly dictated by people who believe in the institution? You wouldn’t accept that in any other area of journalism.
“I think this is an area where the British media finds itself out of step with the rest of the world.
“The rest of the world treats the royal family with a healthy degree of scepticism
“You look at what’s going on in the Caribbean with Barbados becoming a republic, Jamaica saying they want to do the same and of course, with Scottish independence right at the top of the political agenda, there is going to have to be a reckoning with the monarchy. These conversations are being had elsewhere and yet the BBC are plugging their ears.
“We should be able to have a grown-up debate.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “Our coverage of the royal family examines and analyses the state of the monarchy, past and present, for which we know audience interest is high.
“Across the BBC, our coverage and analysis aim to explore many viewpoints and provide facts with context and informed insight.”
