BBC Takes Off The Documentary: Meat, A Threat To Our Planet

On 25th November, 2019, BBC aired a climate change document titled “Meat: A Threat to Our Planet” presented by animal biologist Liz Bonnin. The documentary was recently removed, after 10 months.

The move from BBC came in direct response to a complaint from the National Farmers’ Union, which claimed the BBC documentary failed to make a clear distinction between “grass-fed regenerative beef farming” and “cattle ranching”.

In response to the controversy, BBC unaired the documentary and the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit released a poorly founded justification claiming” The documentary did not meet its standards of impartiality in relation to controversial subjects. They further clarified their action that the livestock farming exclusively focused on only intensive methods of farming. 

However, the argument still remains “Did the documentary only violate BBC’s standards when the controversy was raised or did BBC find the document violating from the beginning yet decided to keep it on air for 10 months?” 

By taking down the documentary, BBC has overlooked the alarming issue of Climate Change and Factory Farming being its biggest contributor. When BBC claims that the documentary only focussed on intensive farming, the statistics clearly indicate that 73% of farmed animals in the U.K are kept in factory farms (a highly intensive method of animal farming) over 90% of Chicken Production in India comes from Factory Farms and egg industry is 100% commercialized due to standardization.

While some may argue that most people have already seen the documentary then, why raise the issue now? The issue with taking down the documentary rests primarily in the dynamics of media and politics. We all know how the National Farmers’ Union have been actively involved in lobbying to raise their subsidies, allowing rampant use of antibiotics and setting the narrative through media lobbies.

The documentary was extremely insightful and highlighted the consequences of exploitative industrial farming around the world which is a threatens our existence on this planet. A petition has been made for the documentary to be reinstated. 

You can sign the petition here.

Watch the Full Documentary: https://vimeo.com/377129672