The Media’s Nick Ferrari Problem

This morning, Gammon Emeritus Nick Ferrari has turned up for his LBC show as if nothing were untoward. That’s the same LBC that told listeners that it would observe a minute’s silence on Monday evening as a mark of respect for George Floyd, murdered by a now former Police officer in Minneapolis. But while LBC acknowledges another victim of racism in the USA, it has no problem employing a blatantly racist presenter.

Carry on being racist

Because Nick Ferrari is a racist. He has demonstrated his racism on an edition of Sky News’ The Pledge. What happened has been much discussed, and can be put directly. His co-host Afua Hirsch had told “All over the world, statues are coming down … now it’s time to take a long, hard look at problematic figures that we continue to glorify”.

Afua Hirsch

At this point, some of her co-hosts began to bristle. “Such as Horatio Nelson [groaning], Cecil Rhodes, and, yes, Winston Churchill”. Ferrari had his head in his hand; Carole Malone appeared irritated. Ms Hirsch stuck to her task. “Doing nothing, burying our heads in the sand, and hoping this debate will go away is simply no longer an option”.

So who was going to reply to her? Yes, it was Ferrari. “I really like you, but” he began. And it was a big but. And then he said it. “Why do you stay in this country?” WHAT? He doubled down. “If it offends you so much, how do you manage to stay here?”. I say, uppity black person, if you don’t like OUR country, why don’t you go elsewhere?

Ms Hirsch later told her followers “In a former life, when I thought you [could] politely persuade people not to be racist. Their response? ‘If you don't like it here, LEAVE’. Which I'm yet to hear said to a white British person. Racism is telling black people who have a critique of their own country, they should leave”.

Ms Hirsch recalled that incident on the same day that LBC - the broadcaster where Nick Ferrari is being allowed to carry on as normal today - reported that “A group of peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters were told to ‘go back to Africa’ during a demonstration in rural Hertfordshire yesterday”. Those behind that remark can always cite Ferrari in their defence.

1950s and 60s racism still there, still being peddled, still legitimised by a national broadcaster and further legitimised by another national broadcaster allowing the perpetrator to carry on presenting. And that’s the wider problem: Nick Ferrari’s racism is not merely his problem - it is a problem for the media establishment itself.

Why so? Consider who has reported Ms Hirsch's concerns. The Express ran an item. And of the mainstream media, that’s it. Sure, new media outlets, particularly left-leaning ones, have covered it, but not those that form part of the establishment. But perhaps Spiked, so called because it should have been long ago, will be along to excuse Ferrari.

And that is the reality: racism is, for the media establishment, still acceptable to the extent that those indulging in it can just carry on as if nothing has happened. There is not even a mention on their Twitter feeds of Ms Hirsch's concerns from any of the other co-hosts of The Pledge. It’s all been tidied away and forgotten about.

The problem for the media establishment is not just the racism. It’s that those indulging in it are allowed to not only do it, but to get away with it. And that’s not good enough.

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