From this week's Tribune , dated 29 February 2008

THE BBC World newsreader gave an indulgent smile. “How pleasant to finish on a light note”, that smile indicated, metaphorically patting viewers on the head. Shuffling her papers, the presenter bid her adieus and the credits rolled.

I spluttered with indignation at what I had just seen broadcast in the name of cutting-edge journalism. Notwithstanding news broadcasters’ belief that their audience needs something a little frothy at the end of a heavy news session, there is light and then there just plain moronic.

The brief “human interest” item I had just witnessed concerned the alleged controversy surrounding Afghan Star, Afghanistan’s answer to Pop Idol. I say “alleged”, because none of the conservative mullahs reportedly so outraged by the programme were actually quoted, let alone interviewed. Meanwhile, the talent show has apparently been a sensation with young Afghanis previously deprived of such evil fripperies as pop music.

So far, so banal. The massive global success of the pap that is the Pop Idol phenomenon is newsworthy, if only because – sadly – it reflects something of the preoccupations of modern societies and cultures.
But this “news item” was not about American Idol, Australian Idol or Idol Serbia-Montenegro and Macedonia. It was about Afghanistan – hotbed of religious and political instability and conflict. And a country where a woman legally counts as half a man.

Did the BBC provide this context? No. “All but one of the [programme] wannabes are men”, said its reporter, “but then so are most of the country’s most famous singers – and the ones who phone in to vote.” He didn’t bother to explain this assertion but added that for women, taking part “really can be life-threatening”. Again, no elaboration whatsoever was offered.

Summing up, he gravely described Afghan society as deeply “conservative and traditional”. Come again? Italy is deeply conservative and traditional. Afghanistan is a seething morass of fundamentalist tension and violence. Still, it all made for a nice, simple – and utterly crass – storyline; one that implicitly suggested the popularity of the show somehow represented social progress.

Of course, one picture can say as much as a thousand words. Dozens of men appeared in clips throughout the report:  at the show’s final rehearsal, in shops and on the streets.

The “youngsters in the crowd”, queuing up to be part of the programme’s live audience, were – exclusively – young men, who gushed to the presenter about the opportunities afforded by the show for “people” (for which read: men) to display their talents.
Women, on the other hand, were conspicuous by their absence. I spotted just three:  the only female contestant and two women, covered up, lurking uncomfortably in one indoor shot.

I’m no raving “Millie Tant”, but I can’t be the only one to be alarmed when I repeatedly see female-free crowd scenes in Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran. I cannot complacently sit by and accept as civilised a society which does not accept – and does not even see – the female half of its population. That the BBC let the imbalance pass without meaningful comment is unacceptable, particularly given the reality of life for Afghani women.

That reality is a human rights travesty. According to United Nations research, more than 80 per cent of Afghani women are illiterate. Less than a third have access to an education and the average life expectancy rate is just 44 years.

As many as 80 per cent of women (or, rather, girls) are forced into arranged marriages – and this tends to be before the age of 16.

Physical, psychological and sexual violence is endemic – not least within the home – and the past few years have seen an increase in the incidence of so-called honour killings and self-immolation of women (usually setting fire to themselves).

In one city alone – Farah – 30 women have been registered as having self-immolated since the beginning of the year. That’s assuming they really did do it to themselves. And it’s anyone’s guess how many deaths – self-inflicted or otherwise – go unreported.

Women had it horrifically hard under the Taliban, but the evidence suggests “regime change” in Afghanistan has in many respects been irrelevant to women. To all intents and purposes, they remain the chattels of their fathers, brothers and husbands – mere pawns and servants in a man’s world.

On this basis, you could argue that women have more important things to think about than talent shows. But that would be to miss the point. Afghani women desperately yearn for basic human rights, equalities and opportunities – including the right to appear in a talent contest. The point the BBC failed to address was that they are effectively barred from doing so.

Last month, a newspaper in the United States ran a feature on a music school in Kabul where the male students use the front door and their female counterparts secretly slink in and out via a dark back alley.

“Many Afghan men believe a woman’s voice should not be heard by men and some clerics believe it’s a crime against Islam for women to sing or perform music”, explained the school’s teacher, aware that by teaching women, he and his protégées risk imprisonment or worse.

A number of female musicians – who perform and record clandestinely – described how threats of violence and even death had been used to “dissuade” them from continuing their careers.

That is the reality of life in a country where extreme religious doctrine – and the cultural and social mores that go with it – supersede state law; that is the context of Afghan Star.

And that is where BBC World’s ostensibly innocuous coverage can only be described as sloppy, lazy and unacceptably indifferent. It lent credence to something (albeit a daft pop show) which helps to perpetuate (albeit indirectly) the enforced invisibility of half of humankind.

My criticism has nothing to do with journalistic impartiality and everything to do with journalistic responsibility and balance.   

Ultimately the news broadcasters’ mind-bogglingly trivial spin – Islam versus pop idolatry – was academic. As long as the grotesque gender apartheid and the mindset whence it springs persist in Afghanistan, the impact of a pop culture show format from the West is likely to be minimal.

The mullahs need not fret; their country remains firmly entrenched in the dark ages.

For more information about Tribune, and to subscribe, visit www.tribunemagazine.co.uk