Mobeen Azhar on the BBC's coverage of Palestine, why identity politics gives him the 'ick', and 20 years of stories nobody else would touch. Episode Overview Mobeen Azhar grew up in Huddersfield, the son of a bus driver whose appointment television was Newsnight and The Cook Report. He has spent 20 years at the BBC making documentaries nobody else would commission: Taliban drug raids in Karachi, British ISIS recruits, Johnny Kitagawa’s pop empire, heroin in his own hometown. The last one got him death threats and a BBC studio evacuation at 11pm.He has won a BAFTA, an RTS Award, and a Grierson. In this conversation he says things about the BBC he admits he would not have said 18 months ago: that it bends over backwards for the Daily Mail; that its Palestine coverage has propagated a distorted view of impartiality; and that for the whole of 2024, when a Palestinian appeared on screen, the first question was always the same. He also explains why he sees everything through class rather than identity, and what it means that a documentary he made in Japan changed the country’s laws. Chapters 00:00 Cold open: Taliban alarm system, metal bars on a Karachi rooftop 01:00 Intro: BAFTA, Grierson, 20 years of stories nobody else would touch02:00 Tell me a story: police raid, arrests, the sound that meant run 04:00 Not danger for its own sake: stories that are truly revealing 07:00 Huddersfield, a bus driver father, Newsnight at 10:30, Roger Cook 10:00 Law degree, no direction, and the penny dropping at university 11:00 The school shut down two years after he left: 30 GCSEs in a year group of hundreds12:00 Hometown: heroin, class A importation, death threats 13:00 BBC studio evacuated at 11pm after a threat called in14:00 Pakistani, Muslim, gay, Yorkshireman: identity versus class 15:00 Everything through the lens of class: one group with power, one without 16:00 America, Obama, Trump, and the mask finally slipping17:00 The ICC, Israel, and what America’s anger is really about 18:00 Why identity politics misses the point: inequality over representation 19:00 The BBC: vision and leadership and what the new DG needs to do21:00 The BBC bending over backwards for the Daily Mail and The Telegraph 22:00 Palestine: factual accuracy versus a weird illusion of balance 23:00 20,000 children. Intent and result. And still the BBC hesitates. 24:00 YouTube’s MacTaggart speech: a monopoly, and you might earn some ad money 26:00 GB News algorithms and content that radicalizes researchers27:00 Regulation: Wild West versus public service 30:00 What has gone wrong for young men 32:00 Baroness Kidron and tech legislation in the Lords 34:00 How he finds stories: access, trust, being the person in the room 36:00 Japan: Johnny Kitagawa, the open secret, and laws that changed39:00 Four Emmys and a son who shifted a country’s news cycle 41:00 What drives him: people who would otherwise run the other way About StoryCo StoryCo is a podcast about the business of story and storytelling, hosted by James Kirkham. New episodes every week from TellTale Industries.About the GuestMobeen Azhar is a BAFTA, RTS, and Grierson Award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist at the BBC. His films include Hometown, which investigated heroin importation in Huddersfield, and a documentary on Johnny Kitagawa’s pop empire that prompted changes to Japanese law. He has reported for PBS Frontline and Panorama from conflict zones across Asia. Listen Elsewhere LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/storycopod YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryCoPodcast APPLE : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storyco/id1886770413 Credits StoryCo is a TellTale Industries production. Host: James Kirkham. Guest: Mobeen Azhar. Producer: Nelly Batt. Editor: Nelly Batt. Executive Producer: Jago Lee. Recorded at TYX Studios, King’s Cross. Theme: Doubt Point. Special thanks: Craig Heptinstall, Jack Freegard.
