Suppressing Hanif Kureishi
Sensitivity or political squeamishness? BBC Radio has decided not to air a reading of a Hanif Kureishi short story . The story is in the running for the National Short Story prize, and the BBC was planning to air readings of all five nominees this week. But Kureishi’s, “Weddings and Beheadings,” is about about a cameraman who films executions in Iraq, and according to The Guardian, the broadcaster has decided that “the timing ‘would not be right’ following unconfirmed reports that kidnapped BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston had been killed by a jihadist group.” But Kureishi takes exception, telling the newspaper, “There are journalists and newspapers in peril all the time around the world. We support them by supporting freedom of speech rather than by censoring ourselves.”
