ORGANISERS of an Edinburgh event featuring controversial political strategist Steve Bannon have insisted that it will go ahead, despite plans for a large-scale protest.
The former adviser to Donald Trump is due to be interviewed at the BBC-hosted News Xchange conference by the corporation’s Scotland Editor, Sarah Smith, on the morning of November 14.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was due to speak at the opening reception the night before, but on Saturday she pulled out, citing fears that the inclusion of Bannon risked “normalising” his “far-right, racist views”.
She tweeted: “I believe passionately in free speech but as @ScotGovFM I have to make balanced judgments – and I will not be part of any process that risks legitimising or normalising far right, racist views.
“I regret that the BBC has put me and others in this position.”
Campaigners Stand Up To Racism have announced plans to protest at Bannon’s event.
The organisation said: “We agree with the First Minister and call on all those opposed to the growth of the far right to protest the conference.“
The two-day conference bills itself as “the news industry’s most provocative and most insightful experience”, focusing on “bright ideas, opportunities and challenges for the international news industry”.
More than 600 “executives, journalists, presenters, bloggers and start-up entrepreneurs from all around the world” are expected to attend, and “share, learn and cross-pollinate ideas with an array of experts, scientists, artists and thought leaders”.
Michaela Kufner, chief political editor of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, is due to take part in a question time debate during the conference. She told The National that as a journalist it was her “duty to listen to voices I may not agree with as well as challenge and call out those who use populism to undermine our democratic structures.”
She added: “Excluding voices like Steve Bannon who have become key voices to the populist right is ducking away from that challenge.
“It is now up to the BBC’s interviewer Sarah Smith and all of us attending to live up to standards of impartiality and critical analysis. Good impartial journalism is needed more than ever in times where pushing a political agenda masked as journalistic reporting threatens to become so commonplace.”
Huffington Post’s editor-in-chief Lydia Polgreen, has also pulled out, although she said her cancellation was due to a conflicting event.
In a statement, the BBC said Bannon’s invite was not an endorsement of his politics: “Good journalism in a world of fake news and disinformation is more vital that ever,” it said. “Journalism is about asking tough questions and understanding what is happening in the world and why.”
Earlier this year the political strategist was uninvited as a headliner at this year’s New Yorker Festival, after high-profile criticism and a number of high-profile dropouts from stars including writer/producer Judd Apatow and actor Jim Carrey. When his appearance was cancelled, Bannon said the editor of the New Yorker was “gutless when confronted by the howling online mob”.
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