If europe, his government has rejected attempts by the African Union to mediate in the conflict in northern ethiopia, the fighting has triggered what the United Nations is calling a full scale humanitarian crisis. Those who fled across the border into soup done are afraid of going hungry and say they are desperate for help him and you know that all when we came here we didnt find any services. We read that we took from the little look at this massive crowd of some people get trampled and stand in long queues to eat. Only have one meal would be most another people just want to eat and they say we didnt die in the war. But now, is it possible that we die of hunger and understand how the government should help those of us who are suffering from hunger . We ask the government to help us make whatever they can. We cant do anything alone. Now hundreds of refugees and migrants have been transferred to a makeshift camp on a military site. In Spains Canary islands follows a record surge in people arriving by sea from africa, which has overwhelmed the local government. The migration minister says more camps will be set up next month on the main island, gran canaria, as well as in tenerife and 4 to ventura. More than 18000 people have arrived in the canaries over the past month. There has been outrage across brazil following the death of a black man outside a supermarket. Protesters have been demonstrating at branches of the french Supermarket Chain car for 2 security guards in brazil of being investigated over the killing. One of them is an off Duty Police Officer with the headlines this hour coming up next on aljazeera. Its the listening post. His mom called as chairman, i was wrong to your face. Have you been on your land and no standing in the political shift, or is there anything that at night as politically hardly news to me, the b. B. C. These are the most vital, important, accessible cultural institutions in the last ball, not possibly in the world. The b. B. C. Was born almost a century ago in 1922. Just count the fuzz, its the worlds 1st public broadcaster 1st National Radio service. 1st state backed television provider. The b. B. C. Wrote the book supplied the model for the networks that have sprung up to cross continents, including the one youre watching now, is probably the highest quality, independent news and documentary coverage of any bold vision of well nothing, but i dont understand you. Sometimes the networks mission to inform, educate and entertain. A service for the people funded by the people not funding is the b. B. C. Strength and its achilles heel. The u. K. Government controls the purse strings, which puts the b. B. C. s domestic comm on a collision course with the politicians. It covers like the current Prime Minister baraks johnston, who is out to get it. He was never underestimate the malice of a Prime Minister, who wants to destroy or beast reduce the power of the b. B. C. , concept of a quick service. If the government has it in for the b. B. C. , my advice is always try. If you see the enemy is movers. As its 1st director, general john reefed put it. The b. B. C. Would serve the whole of the wealthy and the poor, the genius and the food. And it would report the news without fear or favor. Mission statements are much easier to write the film. And it didnt take long for a conflict to sufis between the b. B. C. s dependence on the government and its journalistic need to be independent from it. The b. B. C. s news and Current Affairs output here in the u. K. Is at the heart of that conflict. One that has various points in the networks history. Its very existence there is a pub tension between the government of the day or whatever political color and that the b. B. C. Ive put it this way. The b. B. C. Is independent of government pressure until such time as it is not a report from every other country to reveal the general which began an enormous industrial 926. Millions of workers take to the streets in a general strike called. d in support of britains coal miners put workers stop the presses in solidarity that left the b. B. C. Less than 4 years old. As the countrys only National News source, one the conservative Prime MinisterStanley Baldwin wanted on his side. As the b. B. C. s founder, john reith knew that independence and impartiality crucial to its reputation. He also viewed the governments patronage as key to the b. B. C. s future. So general strike was a really crucial moment in the b. B. C. s history. The person who become the b. B. C. s 1st right to general is relying on the goodwill of government for the institutional future of the b. B. C. So thats the immediate context. Now the government strings along this kind of threat of the b. B. C. Being brought in the direct government control into the strike itself. And the reason they do that is pretty obvious because they know that it will impact editorially on what the b. B. C. Does. John reith compromised the, government would not commandeer the b. B. C. , but it was effectively given a veto over what could be broadcast dissenting voices from the trade unions to the Opposition Labor Party band. In order to resume negotiations, the general counsel the trades Union Congress decided the general strike today. By the time the unions called off the strike, the strike has had a new name for the b. B. C. The british full said corporation. And that was before with invited Prime Minister baldwin to broadcast to the nation from return study even helped write the speech i of peace. But i will not tolerate the safety and security of the british constitution. Hey, we can say that silly found all of the principles of an independence. It was actually a man who allowed the Prime Minister of the day or when to broadcast from his own house and was very proud of his involvement in editing the words and making it sound better. Ask that gray area that the b. B. C. Ends up occupying during the general strike and the persons reporting which are very overtly progovernment. That tells us something about the organization of the b. B. C. From the beginning. John reiths diary entry about the b. B. C. s role during the strike is pretty telling. The strike he wrote, many have lasted much longer, had it not been for us. And just months later, the network got the Government Official seal of approval through a Royal Charter that formalized its existence. But it came with Strings Attached ministers were given the power to choose, the b. B. C. s chairman and members of its board. The government word control the b. B. C. Is funding through a license fee collected from listeners. And the network will be up by the government. Every 10 years its taken only with no one on the right. People may be right. When britain entered world war 2, its media had to toe the government grind. As the primary distributor, an amplifier of Winston Churchills wartime speeches, the b. B. C. , now a global player, grew central to the governments propaganda drive. At the dawn of the television age, the b. B. C. Was well positioned to grow with the technology. And the times that was most clearly reflected in the 1960 s. And seventys. When a culture of deference was making way for a determination to challenge authority, it was an age of liberation. Questioning the old egypt post war assumption was a lot of foreign news more more, more than they do not. They were the wars in africa nam was going to be artillery support for the americans and for the cause of the us, theyre not immediately likely to lose out here. But i feel that the climate changed. I think perhaps mostly under the Prime Ministership of margaret thatcher. Good evening. Well it looks like being one of the most exciting election nights when the possibility of a very close result and the prospect having its 1st woman Prime Minister at the end of the night. Margaret thatchers election victory in 1979 triggered a transformation of britains economy and institutions, including the b. B. C. By then a vastly expanded confident and at times combative news operation. Had the network in her sights and member doing an interview with her. And when we sat down, because it was live and we had to make sure it went out, we doubled up on the numbers are twice as many cameras twice as many people. Mrs. Margaret thatcher is here on panorama tonight, some time before. So she went on, going 1234 should come to everybody in the room who are 13 people. And she said to mr. Dimbleby, you know, ahead of the American Television here this morning and there are only 2 of them. She believed that the b. B. C. Was soft in the head. The b. B. C. Was too liberal. The b. B. C. Was not understanding what she wanted to do. And from the very beginning, she was trying to find ways of emasculating. The b. B. C. There were 2 strands going on a government that was determined to leave the b. B. C. To make the b. B. C. Do what it wanted there in terms of the message. And it was also very busy chasing programme. That was its way of fighting back. The politicians and Programme Makers soon came into conflict, critical documentaries, on topics ranging from britains intelligence agencies to the falklands war were attacked censored, sometimes shout, but no issue was as contentious as the troubles in northern ireland. Where british troops were 10 years into fighting an insurgency by the irish republican army. The ira waged, a brutal bombing campaign, while British Forces committed atrocities of their own. And the pressure on b. B. C. Journalists covering that story from politicians from locals from their own bostons was unrelenting. 6 in 1985, the fracture government got wind of a b. B. C. Documentary that followed 2 extremist politicians, one of whom was a suspected ira. Nida will be the cutting edge of a which will bring freedom to the government. Wanted to ban the film, the b. B. C. s board of governors, many of whom a been appointed by fracture agreed but the decision was the director general. Allister milne, a t. V. Producer by trade, was having none of it. And today to reassert his already existing controversial documentary on golden would run. The film was broadcast, but only on the addition of footage like this. 20 seconds dedicated to the victims of the ira. But members on borrowed time, soon appointed a new b. B. C. Chairman his mission as he later wrote. Oust milne quickly and brutally that was direct pressure. I just feel now that it is a ridiculous question because they are very sick. But its the old saying about the search area. This is the b. B. C. So why i wasnt touched because he removed the director general. But we will still win terms of mine whos striving really well to john. But came along for john birt soon to become director general was everything. Alistair milne was not namely, a fellow believer in free market ideals. But point was very important because he represented someone who share the view that more Market Forces ought to be brought into the b. B. C. ,. Full disclosure for much of the 1990 s. , the Government Official in charge of the department handling broadcasting policy was my father. Hayden phillips, he and john had their work cut out. We worked closely together in the run up to the b. B. C. Charter renewal and hears it were managed to enable the government to agree to a charter settlement, which was after years of tension with a sort of peace treaty. It was very important person in terms of the acceptability of the b. B. C. Within government. Oh, we couldnt stand him in new risks and couldnt stand him because he was shaking things up and he was a pain in the bum in lots of different ways. But thats great. And cheap and whos to recognize is when the beautiful world was going, had it not been for bert in the b. B. C. Would not be worried whose today . George bush is by all accounts, willing to stop side to help his ally and friend, their weapons of mass destruction is going to fall apart. On the the 1st director general of the 21st century, greg dyke was a controversial appointment to greg dyke was all smiles. This morning when he heard the top wrote construct a top job as a form, a donor to the party in power. New labor during was Prime Minister tony blair as favored candidate. But he was no pushover. By 2003, that rosy relationship had morphed into another confrontation between the b. B. C. And a government of war. Tony blair, as the Prime Minister wrote to me just before the war, started to say his thought that our reporting of the run up to iraq had been unfair. So i heard a pretty aggressive letter back saying, im sorry, but youve got thousands and thousands of people on the streets, protesting against you. Half your party going to vote against you, your whole future is in doubt. And no, sir, you cant be the judge of pashtuns, youve got to leave it to our baghdad tonight to have a model. And on the day the war started, the invasion of iraq was britains Largest Military operation since world war 21 that lacked International Legal authority. What the majority of the British Press supported the war, the b. B. C. s mandate was to be impartial. Not that that was always obvious. When Coalition Troops captured baghdad in april 2003, some b. B. C. News reports sounded similar to the spin coming out of the blair government. And even tiley, ungracious, even for his critics not to acknowledge that tonight, he stands as a larger man and a stronger Prime Minister. As a result, weve become a government, most peace, the worst specific voices who were not allowed. Tariq ali was one of them. I remember saying to my, to my admitted when you go to low war protestors onto this program and he said, well, we have to let the parliamentary opposition do his job for us. Meanwhile, outside the 2000000 people on the streets of london, norm of them ever being reflected properly in the program. I rather doubt that news and newsnight and those people deliberately withheld opponents of the war. Do you think they did enough to scrutinise the case for war . All i know is that from the moment from 911, im words on the program. I was doing question time. We had a wide range of views both for and against. Im just going to go and have a look. Ive got a folder with all the questions and stuff said just cause a 2nd and ill get it. Michael moore was Michael Moore in favor of the war rather doubt it. Here we are said to him, the 26th 2002, terra galley. You see. So he certainly wasnt some b. B. C. Journalists directly challenge the official line, which led to trouble. Defense reporter Andrew Gilligan was investigating the blair government dubious claims of iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Claims the from the case against saddam husseins regime that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical or biological weapons which could be activated. Within 45 minutes, gilligan had been briefed by government weapons inspector and concluded that downing street had quote, sexed up its case for war. He took his story on to b. B. C. Radio. 4 seconds correspondent is Andrew Gilligan. Yes, i did. The 1st interview with gilligan downing street a week before publication ordered it to be sexed up to be made more exciting. You can get everything right, but he got the heart of it. Right. Thats to say that effectively weve been lied to and the world will forget, we can clear this group pretty much at the end of the interview. Number 10 was for, me, the b. B. C. Demanding a right look by demanding that we retract everything that we going to send, which of course we do. Greg dyke, the director general defended the b. B. C. And his report. But when going to going source was found dead a case of suspected suicide. Gilligan was left exposed and the government went on the offensive. But i ordered what came to be known as the hutton inquiry. Its official brief to establish the cause of death of delegates. But when the inquiry published its findings, it exonerates the government over its w. M. D claims and focussed on the shortcomings in gilligans report. The verdict was it, the b. B. C. Was guilty. Hayden phillips was the Civil Servant in charge of setting up the inquiry. The hutton report is often described as a whitewash. What was your reaction when you 1st saw the reporters . I mean, a lot of my colleagues in government would you believe that the result of the b. B. C. Had a lot to answer for in the way they handled something which is quite difficult for them, but they still dont themselves into a trench. And wouldnt im not saying that b. B. C. Were innocent and the government was guilty, but i was genuinely surprised by the decisive this in which he pinned blame on the b. B. C. And nobody else. The chairman of the b. B. C. , he designed, i thought wrongly and told him only and the following day. The governors of the b. B. C. Got rid of me. So you would say that you were pushed. I was pushed was no doubt the governors of the baby. She lost their battle. Ringback like honesty, milne almost 2 decades earlier paid the price for defending the b. B. C. s independence. The new government approved management struck a more compliant tone. We must now study the hutton report carefully learn appropriate lessons and implement relevant measures. There were in the wake of the departure of the chair and the director general attempts to once again introduce a risk averse editorial controls over controversial issues at the b. B. C. So we see the same pattern in place, risk averse culture, disseminating for the organization. As a result of an over conflict with the government. This for me was an important turning point. When i talk to older, more senior people, they date that that money isnt seizure of power away from journalism much earlier. Sometimes in the 1990 s. On the john birch, but by the time you had this defeat by the government over the report, it was that level of management control on steroids. Impartiality became really the excuse for an ideologically driven safety and refusal to challenge those in power. I personally didnt change anything quite literally anything about the well, the none of the editors, i think, well maybe i should qualify that a little. Some of the editors with whom i worked were maybe a bit more cautious. Otherwise, i think that was in the people of the issues theyve run since the turn of the century, the b. B. C. Has tried to move with the times through diversity drives, streaming services, as well as physically branching out of london with its own 100th birthday. Just 2 years away, its future is by no means assured like many other states, but broadcasters around the world. Over the past decade, the b. B. C. Has been under constant pressure from right wing governments. And just like those other networks, its enjoyed wave after wave of cuts to its journalists programmes and channels to top it off. The b. B. C. Is now confronted with a conservative Prime Minister who came into office with his own broadcast agenda. Good evening and welcome to the b. B. C. News at 6 from downing street where Boris Johnson has promised to repay the trust of voters. Last december 1 day after his election victory Boris Johnson led a government boycott against flagship b. B. C. Programmes. Within weeks, his aides were Briefing Journalists of their plan to quote whack the b. B. C. By abolishing t. V. Licenses its main source of income. As it turned out, it was the government that was about to get whacked. The u. K. Governments Emergency Cobra Committee met this afternoon to discuss coronavirus, the b. B. C. Reminded the country of what it had to offer. What citizens were paying for the prying Vital Services to a population under lock down from home. How do you know, what are you supporting right back to home schooling correctly . This is parts its audience crippled and keener than ever to reach british aizen is johnson was back on the b. B. C. Working together, tackling the, the disease using the social distancing measures following a boyds collective. Whether the pandemic has forced johnson to change course, or whether its just delayed, the inevitable is far too early to say. At the heart of this uncertainty is the b. B. C. s journalism. If an increasingly cautious b. B. C. Can still speak truth to power and hold its government paymasters to account on enviable challenges for the b. B. C. s, new director job, tim davie is a b. B. C. Insider. But one with commercializing instincts and a background in conservative politics. Compared with the lofty ambitions of his predecessors, davies mission is a modest one. Keep the b. B. C. s enemy is at bay. Its been a really troubleshoot or has to be has to be kept Simple Organization over the trusted year of almost a 100 years after the b. B. C. s birth. John reiths dream of a broadcaster that would inform and educate and entertain. The nation has been realised several times over, but wreaths ideal of a truly independent b. B. C. Has been far harder to deliver. The tension it created with its government sponsors has at times of crisis. Looks more like a contradiction. One that as the b. B. C. Heads towards its 2nd century, looks no closer to being, a result. Were going to lose a lot, not just to be lose the b. B. C. , but if we lose what it still capable of doing for those of us who kind of how this love, hate relationship with it. I mean, i love the father exists. I hate some of the things it does. We must all be concerned about that. But weve already lost a lot because weve lost a lot of independence and a lot of desire to pursue truth above. Above the goal of impartiality. I think the battle to the independent is constant ongoing and depends on the, characters of the chairman of the b. B. C. The director general of the b. B. C. , the heads of news. And if ever they get sucked into a lovely relationship with government. And there are moments when that may happen. Were finished. Hello, im Maryam Namazie in london, just a quick look at the main story. Now, i still is saying that it was behind rocket attacks in afghanistans capital, kabul that killed at least 8 people and injured dozens more. The attack happened just hours before the u. S. Secretary of state might impale, was due, told talks with the Afghan Government and taliban negotiators in cata, United States this week said it would pull about 2000 troops out of afghanistan. Contra for you reports now from the Afghan Capital kabul schoolgirls running for their lives after a rocket lands in the interest