Kiev will seek an apology from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) over a Panorama report broadcast just prior to the Euro 2012 football competition held in Poland and Ukraine, claiming widespread racism in Ukraine, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Voloshin said on Tuesday.
“I don’t know when we will get apologies from the BBC journalists but we will insist on them,” Voloshin said.
The BBC Panorama documentary, entitled "Stadiums of Hate," depicted racist chanting and violence in stadiums in Poland and Ukraine, and included comments from former England defender Sol Campbell that fans traveling to the tournament risked coming back “in a coffin."
The Euro 2012 competition enerally passed off peacefully, with the only reported racism-related incidents being chanting by some foreign fans in a few matches.
The BBC journalists concerned would be invited to a “round table” in Brussels in the first week of July, where they will be able to explain or apologize for the film in the presence of other journalists who traveled to Euro 2012, he said. Voloshin said the report focused on the actions of a small minority, and created an unwarranted impression about Ukraine for an international audience.
“Our position is that we do not say that there are no people who profess racist views in Ukraine. We say that the scale of the problem shown does not correspond to fact. That’s why there was an initiative to invite them to a ‘round table’,” Voloshin said, adding he hoped BBC journalists would convey accurate information about Ukraine in their future work.
In general Ukraine “received very good press” for its role in hosting Euro 2012, he said, adding this reflected the kindness and hospitality of ordinary Ukrainians who showed championship visitors that Ukraine is a European country.
In an article in The Guardian, the BBC rejected claims by the director of the Jewish community center in Krakow, Jonathan Ornstein, that it had been unfairly selective in quoting him and "used me and others to manipulate the serious subject of antisemitism for its own sensationalist agenda".
The corporation said it made clear the interview was being carried out in the context of football-related racism and antisemitism in Poland.
The documentary included footage of Polish fans chanting antisemitic slogans, and Ukrainians giving Nazi salutes at an end of season league match in Ukraine. The BBC was criticized for omitting other matches where there was no trouble.
The BBC told The Guardian: “We filmed two games at the stadium and featured both in the program. The second game was when the attack took place. At the first game we filmed several thousand people appearing to give a Nazi salute. This was shown in the program. We also interviewed the local police chief who claimed that this was actually the fans pointing at the opposing fans.”
