Editor, Reference is made to Victor Visathan’s article, “The BBC has succumbed to the sin of ‘manliness’” (The New Times, March 18). BBC is reaping the fruits of its own inflated sense of importance, its arrogance and hubris. It became big, financially powerful on the backs of compulsory rate (rent?)—extraction from UK residents, its sub-quality programmes were still considered kind of okay, and because it had correspondents (lately local stringers) in more places than many of its competitors it was concluded they had a better and more credible news-gathering operation. In reality, all this was no more than a Potemkin Village facade. In terms of its news gathering and programming, the BBC is only a shadow of its past on which it continues to trade. Like the real gold standard that Nixon ditched in 1974, the BBC is no news gathering standard any more. It would like to be considered as such but, like todays money, it is only so by fiat, because we are continually told it is, not substance. We are better off with it off our frequencies. Mwene Kalinda
