BBC journalist ‘uses anonymous Twitter account to troll Jewish Radio 5 Live presenter Emma Barnett’
BBC World News journalist ‘is using anonymous Twitter account to troll Jewish Radio 5 Live presenter Emma Barnett after she spoke out against anti-Semitism’ as corporation launches probe
- Nimesh Thaker is accused of trolling BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Emma Barnett
- Ms Barnett spoke out against anti-Semitism following rapper Wiley’s outburst
- Jewish Chronicle reported that Mr Thaker used an anonymous Twitter account to support attacks by people embroiled in anti-Semitism rows against Ms Barnett
- BBC is now investigating World News journalist Mr Thaker’s alleged antics
- ***Do you know Nimesh Thaker? Email jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk***
Published: 07:23 EDT, 3 September 2020 | Updated: 09:15 EDT, 3 September 2020
The BBC has launched an urgent probe into one of its senior World News journalists who allegedly used an anonymous social media account to troll Jewish presenter Emma Barnett after she told of the impact of anti-Semitism on her family.
Nimesh Thaker is accused of using a Twitter account under the pseudonym Not That Bothered to support attacks against the BBC Radio 5 Live presenter.
Ms Barnett, whose grandmother fled Austria to escape the Nazis, used her programme to condemn anti-Semitism following rapper Wiley’s outburst in July.
She claimed that his incendiary comments, which included calls for Jewish people to ‘crawl out’ and defend their ‘privilege’, had fuelled anti-Semitic online abuse, and criticised Twitter for not removing the musician’s shocking posts quickly enough.
Now screenshots seen by the Jewish Chronicle show that Mr Thaker’s alleged Twitter account trolled Ms Barnett after her speech, retweeting one post accusing her of using ‘the same old “antisemitism” excuse whenever people criticise Israel’.
The account also suggested Israel was a ‘racist’ and ‘white supremacist state’, and branded Tony Hall, the outgoing BBC director-general, a ‘white male Tory’.
Mr Thaker, who has worked for the BBC for over 10 years, then used Not That Bothered to contact sources for reports he was making for the BBC – seemingly exposing his involvement with the account, the Jewish Chronicle reported.
The BBC World News journalist is now being investigated by the BBC after a spokesman told MailOnline it takes ‘allegations of this nature extremely seriously’.
MailOnline has approached Mr Thaker for comment.
The inquiry into Mr Thaker’s alleged antics comes ahead of director-general Tim Davie’s shake-up of the BBC following its role in the Proms fiasco this week.
The BBC has launched an urgent probe into one of its senior World News journalists who allegedly used an anonymous social media account to attack Jewish presenter Emma Barnett after she told of the impact of anti-Semitism on her family
Nimesh Thaker is accused of using a Twitter account under the pseudonym Not That Bothered to support attacks against BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Emma Barnett (pictured) after she spoke about the Holocaust following rapper Wiley’s anti-Semitic outburst in July
Mr Davie is expected to tell staff this week that journalists must not allow personal politics to impact on their work, while an incoming review into social media by BBC staff is expected to curtail the social-media activity of reporters.
In a statement, the BBC told MailOnline: ‘The BBC takes allegations of this nature extremely seriously, and while we cannot comment on individual staff issues, we have robust processes in place to investigate any such matters with urgency.’
BBC World is an international channel with an estimated 121 million viewers. It broadcasts news bulletins, documentaries, and interview shows.
The announcement was praised by Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, who has warned the BBC must do more to ‘guard its unique selling point of impartiality’.
‘We are an open and tolerant society and there is no place for antisemitism on or offline,’ Mr Dowden told the Jewish Chronicle today.
‘These allegations are very concerning and, as the nation’s broadcaster, we expect BBC journalists to adhere to the highest standards of impartiality.
Ms Barnett had condemned rapper Wiley after he said in an Instagram video: ‘Crawl out from under your little rocks and defend your Jewish privilege.’
Twitter was then accused of ‘ignoring anti-Semitism’, as Wiley’s tweets were still visible 12 hours after they were first posted.
Speaking on her BBC radio show, Ms Barnett read out his tweets and said: ‘Those words burn, I’m sure I don’t need to tell most of you that, but just in case I do, they burn deep and they are deeply dispiriting and they play on a very well hidden fear a lot of Jewish people have, that some day anti-Semitism will rise up once more, because anti-Semitism is fresh and so raw for us.’
Screenshots seen by the Jewish Chronicle show that Mr Thaker’s alleged Twitter account supported attacks against Ms Barnett, Israel and Tony Hall, the outgoing BBC director-general
Mr Thaker, who has worked for the BBC for over 10 years, used Not That Bothered to make contact with sources for reports he was making for the BBC – seemingly exposing his involvement with the account, the Jewish Chronicle reported
The account also suggested Israel was a ‘racist’ and ‘white supremacist state’, and branded Tony Hall (pictured), the outgoing BBC director-general, a ‘white male Tory’
The Jewish Chronicle reported how Mr Thaker’s alleged account Not That Bothered supported a string of attacks against Ms Barnett as people demanded a boycott of Twitter following its delay in removing Wiley’s anti-Semitic posts.
‘Has the level of hate and political smearing just dropped on twitter or are racists on holiday at the moment?’ the Not That Bothered account posted.
It retweeted a post written by Left-wing activist Jackie Walker, who was expelled from Labour last year for ‘prejudicial’ behaviour during an anti-Semitism row.
Ms Walker’s tweet accused people who wanted a boycott of Twitter following Wiley’s anti-Semitic outburst of being ‘infamous’ for ‘anti-black/Muslim racism’.
On another occasion, Mr Thaker appeared to support claims by Canary editor Kerry-Anne Mendoza, who has also been embroiled in an anti-Semitism row.
Not That Bothered retweeted a post by Ms Mendoza suggesting the ‘antisemitism witch-hunt’ was heading for a ‘face-off’ with the Black Lives Matters movement.
The incendiary post also said: ‘those anti-Black, anti-Palestinian racists are gonna get their arses dragged all over town.’
Meanwhile a post written on Not That Bothered and tweeted on July 7 to the MediaGuido site said: ‘Guido doesn’t like black women to have an opinion.
‘But white male tory as DG of the BBC is ok.’
The revelation comes as Tim Davie begins his anticipated overhaul of the BBC, which is facing accusations of being ‘woke’ following its original decision to censor the lyrics to Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia! at Last Night of the Proms.
The BBC yesterday reversed this decision after more than 100,000 people signed MailOnline’s petition to have the songs – with lyrics – reinstated.
The broadcaster put out a shock statement at lunchtime yesterday announcing there would now be a ‘select group of BBC Singers’ performing the songs. It added: ‘We hope everyone will welcome this solution.’
The shock inquiry into Mr Thaker’s alleged antics comes ahead of director-general Tim Davie’s shake-up of the BBC following its role in the Proms fiasco this week
Pictured: The audience enjoying the BBC Last Night of the Proms, at the Royal Albert Hall. Land Of Hope And Glory and Rule Britannia! will be performed at this years’ Last Night Of The Proms
Downing Street said Boris Johnson – who had accused the BBC of ‘wetness’ – ‘welcomes the decision’. Sir Keir Starmer added: ‘It is the right decision.’
A poll for the Mail last week found that 59 per cent of Britons believed the broadcaster was in the wrong over the row, rising to 80 per cent among over-65s.
A senior BBC executive called the U-turn ‘sensible and unsurprising’, and said if Mr Davie, 53, had been in charge earlier ‘this would have been the original decision’.
Mr Davie’s swift action is being seen as a statement of intent that he wants to tackle concerns that the BBC is dominated by ‘woke’ Left-wing politics. He told staff on his first day on Tuesday that the BBC must represent ‘every part of this country’.
In its surprise statement yesterday, a BBC Proms spokesman said: ‘The pandemic means a different Proms this year and one of the consequences, under Covid-19 restrictions, is we are not able to bring together massed voices.
‘For that reason we took the artistic decision not to sing Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory in the [Royal Albert] Hall.
‘We have been looking hard at what else might be possible and we have a solution. Both pieces will now include a select group of BBC Singers.
‘This means the words will be sung in the Hall, and as we have always made clear, audiences will be free to sing along at home.’
The statement added: ‘While it can’t be a full choir, and we are unable to have audiences in the Hall, we are doing everything possible to make it special and want a Last Night truly to remember.
‘We hope everyone will welcome this solution. We think the night itself will be a very special moment for the country – and one that is much needed after a difficult period for everyone. It will not be a usual Last Night, but it will be a night not just to look forward to, but to remember.’
Pictured: Tim Davie, new Director General of the BBC, arrives at BBC Scotland in Glasgow for his first day in the role on September 1, 2020
‘Those words burn deep’: Emma Barnett’s powerful response to Wiley’s anti-Semitic comments
Good morning.
I don’t know what you were up to on Friday – me? I was eating some chippy chips, bread and butter and scampi in Norfolk on my holidays.
Unbeknownst to me, and perhaps to many of you, a bloke called Wiley, often referred to as the godfather of grime, a successful musician from East London who has been awarded an MBE, was beginning a stream of foul anti-Semitism on social media. Specifically Twitter.
Some of his now removed tweets read like they are straight out of the Hitler playbook of 1930s Nazi Germany – the regime this country so bravely went into battle and defeated.
Let me give you flavour:
‘Jewish people are cowards do something to me I am waiting.’
‘Jewish people act rough but they hide behind the police.’
‘Who writes the laws? Who changes the laws? Who implements new laws? WHO? What is the 5%ers? Who are they all? Who runs the world? Who runs the banks? WHO WRITES THE LAW BOOK? Who hides behind the police? Who owns the police?’
This was Wiley tweeting about Jews…
I caught up with these messages 48 hours later, last night, when catching up on the news agenda for this week after my break.
Those words burn. I am sure I don’t need to tell most of you that, but, in case I do, they burn deep. They are deeply dispiriting and play on a very well-hidden fear a lot of Jewish people have: that someday anti-Semitism will rise up once more. Because anti-Semitism is fresh and raw for us.
My grandmother escaped the Nazis from Wiener Neustadt in Austria and found sanctuary as a housemaid in this country. My husband’s grandmother survived unspeakable torture in Auschwitz. In Europe. A two-hour flight from here. I’ve been. He won’t. He can’t bear to.
Our grandmothers, who read us bedtime stories safe in our beds in this country, this happened to them – people I met and loved.
Only two weeks ago, I opened Twitter on my phone and saw ‘Jewish privilege’ trending. Do you know how that feels? Do you how frightening that is? I have had my fair share of abuse online, much of it sexist or politically charged. But the one form of hate that always stops me in my tracks and makes me feel angry and sad and burned? Anti-Semitism.
Today, there is a walkout of Twitter by thousands of people around the world, under the hashtag #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate. It started at 9am and will go on for 48 hours.
And while there is a very important point to be discussed about the role of unregulated social media platforms to act swiftly and remove racist messages – something Twitter didn’t do quickly in this instance (Wiley has also been banned for a week) – something else must not be missed.
Why is a 41-year-old bloke from enlightened Britain attacking Jews?
And he’s not alone.
Wiley, if you are listening, just in case you need something clarifying, Jews don’t run the law. Jews don’t the banks. Jews don’t run the world. I hate to disappoint you and anyone else who got your memo, but it ain’t true.
A man who enjoys huge success and has legions of fans – where did he get the anti-Semitic memo from? I am interested in curing society of such racism. But can we? Or do we have to accept that certain people, even those with millions of followers and advisors who can educate, will always be deeply prejudiced?
And to fellow celebrities who say they are worried about Wiley and his ‘episode’, I say this: mental health issues – if there are some in this case – don’t make people anti-Semitic.
But what does? And can Wiley be cured of it?
Tell me. The mic is yours.
New BBC director general Tim Davie issues warning to ‘opinionated columnists’ and ‘partisan campaigners on social media’ that they have no place at the corporation as he outlines his vision to make broadcaster ‘utterly impartial’ in speech to staff
By Dan Sales for MailOnline
The BBC‘s new Director-General has warned staff who want to be opinionated columnists or woke online campaigners ‘You should not be working here’.
Tim Davie, who took over this week, said the broadcaster needed to ‘urgently champion and recommit to impartiality’.
He insisted his drive was ‘about being free from political bias, guided by the pursuit of truth, not a particular agenda’.
But it came just days after he floated a radical overhaul of the broadcaster’s comedy output in the coming months, over fears it is seen as ‘too one-sided’.
And his latest remarks – widely seen as a swipe at woke presenters mouthing off on Twitter – came on after he ordered a u-turn on a ban on Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory at Last Night of the Proms.
The comments came in his first official speech in Cardiff on Thursday lunchtime.
He said: ‘We urgently need to champion and recommit to impartiality. It is deliverable and it is essential.
BBC’s new Director-General Tim Davie made his first speech in his new job today
‘If you work here, nothing should be more exciting than exploring different views, seeking evidence with curiosity and creatively presenting testimony.
‘Making use of our own experiences but not driven by our personal agendas. I wonder if some people worry that impartiality could be a little dull.
‘To be clear, this is not about abandoning democratic values such as championing fair debate or an abhorrence of racism. But it is about being free from political bias, guided by the pursuit of truth, not a particular agenda.
‘If you want to be an opinionated columnist or a partisan campaigner on social media then that is a valid choice, but you should not be working at the BBC.’
Tim Davie, new DG of the BBC, arrives at BBC Scotland in Glasgow for his first day in the role
New BBC DG’s TV highlight so far
‘If you want to be an opinionated columnist or a partisan campaigner on social media then that is a valid choice, but you should not be working at the BBC’
‘I want a radical shift in our focus from the internal to the external, to focus on those we serve: the public. From Cornwall to Shetland, from Suffolk to County Fermanagh’
‘I want staff to spend much more time outside the BBC listening to those who pay for us’
‘We must pick our battles carefully and make sure we get the biggest bang for limited bucks’
‘It is so easy to roll your eyes when we hear of bureaucracy and internal politics as if it cannot be changed. But we can and should be better than that’
He warned there was ‘no room for complacency’ over the broadcaster’s future.
The new director-general added that it was ‘still relevant in millions of people’s lives’.
But he insisted that ‘as we look to the future, there is no room for complacency. The truth is that for all our extraordinary efforts there is significant risk.
‘If current trends continue we will not feel indispensable enough to all our audience. We must evolve to protect what we cherish.
‘The evidence is unequivocal – the future of a universal BBC can no longer be taken for granted.’
Mr Davie is also looking at options for alternative funding for the organisation.
The BBC’s current licence fee model is guaranteed until 2027 under a royal charter.
But speculation is growing that Mr Davie could opt to change the funding model earlier for a new long-term option, reports The Guardian.
The Swedish-style income tax model is one option, while Mr Davie’s predecessor Lord Tony Hall has previously mentioned an option which would see the fee added to council tax bills.
Lord Hall’s exit after seven years in the role came amid a turbulent time for the BBC.
Tim Davie’s rise to the BBC’s top job
Tim Davie was born in 1967 and was educated at Whitgift School in Croydon, south London, before going on to study English at Cambridge University.
He has a background in the private sector and prior to joining the BBC in 2005 he served as the vice president for marketing and franchise for drinks giant PepsiCo Europe.
When he joined the broadcaster he became director of its marketing, communications and audiences division in 2005.
He subsequently became director of the BBC’s audio and music division in 2008, assuming responsibility for its national radio stations including Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4.
In the same year that he took on the role, Davie had to address controversy surrounding a prank call made by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross to actor Andrew Sachs on Radio 2.
Brand quit the station after the broadcast of the pre-recorded prank, in which he left an obscene message on Sachs’s voicemail.
Davie also decided to axe the 6 Music radio station in 2010, a decision which was later reversed.
In 2012 he became chief executive of BBC Worldwide, a commercial arm of the broadcaster.
In November of that year he then stepped in to become acting director-general after George Entwistle left the corporation in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.
He served in the post until Lord Tony Hall took over in April 2013.
After Lord Hall became director-general, Davie returned to BBC Worldwide and oversaw a merger with BBC Studios in 2018 and later became CEO of the production arm.
The broadcaster faces scrutiny over equal pay, diversity, free TV licences for the over-75s and competition from streaming services such as Netflix, as well as the on-going coronavirus crisis.
Davie was acting director-general for four months following George Entwistle’s resignation in November 2012 before Lord Hall’s appointment, and previously served as the corporation’s head of audio.
Before joining the BBC in 2005, he worked in marketing.
Davie started as the BBC hit controversy over the decision to play orchestral versions of Rule, Britannia! and Land Of Hope And Glory at the Last Night Of The Proms.
The BBC is also expecting to receive a report into the use of social media by its staff, including presenters, written by Richard Sambrook.
It comes as The Mail on Sunday revealed how a former Downing Street adviser is behind a secret new project to set up an ‘impartial’ television news channel to rival the crisis-hit BBC.
Sir Robbie Gibb – who was a senior BBC executive before becoming Theresa May’s director of communications at No 10 – is spearheading a drive to raise funds for GB News.
The 24-hour station, due to launch early next year, aims to capitalise on growing discontent over the BBC, with sources describing it as an antidote to the ‘woke, wet’ Corporation.
Sir Robbie’s channel will use standard digital platforms such as Freeview, and has already been given a licence by broadcasting regulator Ofcom.
Pressure on the BBC will further increase with the development of a second rival news channel from Rupert Murdoch’s News UK company, likely to be streamed online in a similar way to Netflix.
Sir Robbie’s venture comes amid growing tensions between No 10 and the BBC, with Downing Street saying the Corporation speaks only to a ‘pro-Remain metropolitan bubble’ and Boris Johnson accusing the BBC of ‘cringing embarrassment about our history’.
The Government periodically boycotts flagship news programmes such as Radio 4’s Today, while Downing Street is also considering accelerating its plans to decriminalise non-payment of the £157.50-a-year licence fee.
A sure sign Auntie is adjusting the dial to ‘listen’ mode: ROBERT HARDMAN is delighted the BBC has reversed decision over Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory at the Proms
By Robert Hardman for the Daily Mail
Deep down, Tim Davie may be rather grateful to whoever came up with the bonkers idea of deleting the words of Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory from this year’s Last Night of the Proms.
In his very first week as director-general of the BBC, Mr Davie has been handed a very simple, headline grabbing and entirely cost-free means of making his mark on the Corporation.
And it is a decision which will be welcomed by most level-headed people around the country, not least within the BBC itself.
For Mr Davie has simply listened to a national chorus, led by this newspaper. He has told the managers of the Proms concerts to put the traditional words back into the traditional finale.
They have now done so. There has been some predictable bleating from predictable quarters – a Guardian executive yesterday voiced instant outrage at a lost opportunity ‘to end this annual supremacist indulgence once and for all’ – but there is no accusation (yet) that Mr Davie himself is a racist or a fascist.
Pictured: Sakari Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory will return for this years’ event
Rather, he has shown himself to be someone in tune with what ordinary people are thinking, as opposed to what an enlightened and virtuous minority believe they ought to be thinking.
That has to be a good thing, even if it has happened in a thoroughly BBC-ish sort of way.
For the statement announcing yesterday’s U-turn was both condescending and nonsensical.
‘The pandemic means a different Proms this year and one of the consequences, under Covid-19 restrictions, is we are not able to bring together massed voices,’ it said.
That is simply not true. The original BBC announcement about the Proms stated that the Last Night would feature a soprano ‘and the BBC Singers’. If the BBC Singers do not count as ‘massed voices’ then what the hell were they doing there in the first place?
Pictured: Tim Davie, new Director General of the BBC, arrives at BBC Scotland in Glasgow for his first day in the role on September 1, 2020
It was also announced that the BBC Singers would be singing, among other things, the show tune-cum-football anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone.
They just wouldn’t be singing anything which might somehow irk the infallible forces of woke.
Yesterday’s U-turn continued: ‘This means the words will be sung in the Hall, and as we have always made clear, audiences will be free to sing along at home.’
Well that’s jolly decent of them. I am so glad that we are free to sing what we like in our own homes. Thank you, BBC. Spoken like a true Auntie.
Let’s not be churlish. Let’s not get carried away either. However, this is a sure sign that the BBC is very gently readjusting the dial from ‘transmit’ mode towards ‘listen’ mode. And I know plenty of people within the Beeb who are glad of it.
Some are BBC lifers, appalled by this pointless storm in a teacup and delighted at what appears to be a fresh direction of travel. This is still a world-beating organisation, which so often sets the standard in its radio and television output – from the big set piece occasions to so much of its news, its drama and, yes, the Proms themselves.
Even more stirring than the Last Night is another annual fixture at the Royal Albert Hall, which comes two months later – the Festival of Remembrance.
Pictured: The BBC Symphony Orchestra performs at the last night of the BBC Proms festival of classical music at the Royal Albert Hall in London, September 12, 2015
Year in year out, it is among the most powerful and moving productions in our national calendar, rivalled only by what happens the following morning at the Cenotaph. As for the World Service, I can only defer to the words of Land of Hope and Glory: ‘Wider still and wider shall thy bounds be set’.
As an occasional BBC contributor myself, I want it to thrive. I’d hate to see it slowly corroded by the rise of free-range platforms like Netflix, helped on its way by a craven managerial cadre in relentless pursuit of a youth audience that doesn’t watch telly anyway.
In other words, stop sneering at the middle ground and embrace them a little more.
Some BBC trendies may scoff at Mr Davie’s past life in the marketing department of Pepsi, but it seems to have served him well. Hence the word from within – which no one has rebutted – that he will not be adopting a ‘preferred pronoun’ in deference to trans sensitivities, and that he regards the BBC’s comedy output as ‘too Left-wing’.
To read some of the responses on social media, you’d think he was about to censor every last shouty comedian in favour of round-the-clock Ealing comedies and repeats of Terry and June.
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden, MP Rob Butler and Talk Radio host Mike Graham reacted positively to the news of the BBC’s U-turn
But beyond the more fashionable London boroughs, the Glastonbury VIP zones and the after-parties on the awards circuit, there has long been a sense of disconnect.
Hence it is funny to crack jokes, say, about the death of Margaret Thatcher, but repeats of Little Britain are not allowed.
It is acceptable, for example, for Frankie Boyle to host a BBC2 show – as he did in 2017 – in which he said that the Grenfell Tower fire was ‘worse’ than murder by the Tories, that Brexit was ‘Christmas for racists’ and that Jeremy Corbyn ‘does make me feel hopeful’.
Yet when Jeremy Clarkson described Mexicans as ‘lazy’ on the same channel, he was reprimanded and forced to recant while the BBC sent a formal apology to the Mexican ambassador. I don’t want Frankie Boyle taken off air and I am sure that Mr Davie does not either. But viewers will need to feel a greater sense of balance during the culture wars that lie ahead.
After decades of this sort of thing, the public does not need some rent-a-quote Tory backbencher – or even a wise BBC insider like Andrew Neil – to warn them of a default London/liberal bias. They have absorbed it by osmosis anyway.
That same narrow mindset came close to removing Rule Britannia from the Proms – and who knows what thereafter.But based on the evidence so far – and it is, admittedly, early days – Mr Davie seems willing to stand his ground.
