LONDON — BBC News published yesterday a tendentious report advocating government censorship of adult material by cherrypicking a variety of questionable sources.
Those sources include: a spokesperson for a notorious anti-porn crusading U.K. organization; a Munich-based author of a recent study who openly advocates state intervention in online content; a college student; and a man whose only stated qualification is being “a father,” but is, in fact, a clergyman.
Written by BBC’s Education Editor Branwen Jeffreys, the article — headlined “Father Calls for Pornography Sites to Require Proof of Age" — does not cite any person with a background on adult content, age verification or a particular expertise on the technical workings of the internet.
The BBC chose to foreground two people for their slanted reporting, one of them a man named Ioannis Dekas, only described as “a father of four sons” who allegedly “became concerned after he found one of his boys had accessed pornography.”
Jeffreys, however, completely neglected to mention the fact that Dekas is a clergyman, which seems material to his participation in her report. Dekas is listed online as “Campus Pastor” of Doxa Deo Community Church in London. His Twitter biography reads, “Passionate about God, my family, the local Church, worship, music and Chelsea FC.”
The other person foregrounded by the BBC article is a woman named Ava Vakil, only identified as “a 20-year-old University of Oxford student.”
A Pastor Confronts His Son About Porn
The article vaguely indicates Dekas and Vakil are “bringing the challenge jointly,” but does not clarify what their connection or mutual affiliation might be.
Dekas and Vakil are extensively quoted about their notions about pornography, including a story about Dekas confronting his son about “the potential danger... and the impact on them all as a family.”
Dekas claimed that in the two weeks leading up to shaming his son about porn, he had "noticed a drastic change in his behavior, withdrawal, a sense of anger towards his siblings, we could sense frustration in his life."
The clergyman told the BBC that “when he and his wife talked to their son, they found he was under peer pressure to be familiar with the language of porn.”
Three days ago, Dekas published an impassioned YouTube sermon against "the flesh" as part of his "Victorious! Living by the Power of the Holy Spirit" video series.
Concerned Christians
The BBC education editor followed Dekas' testimony with a claim that the U.K. government is being too slow in implementing age verification requirement and dramatically proclaimed, in her own voice, that “in the meantime, children are being exposed to pornography... when they could be protected using the Digital Economy Act's full powers.”
The BBC reporter also quoted another supposed authority who turns out to be the mouthpiece for a religiously-inspired nonprofit.
Vanessa Morse is only identified as “the head of the Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation.” The group is not further characterized by the BBC in any manner that would be relevant to their opinions on the subject.
CEASE UK is a religiously-inspired sex work abolitionist group with an avowed mission to eradicate all pornography.
CEASE UK’s Naomi Miles recently wrote a piece for the Christian Concern site arguing that “the fight against sex trafficking must address the underlying cultural and commercial forces that are driving it.”
“Pornography,” wrote Miles, voicing the CEASE UK line on all sexual content, “is just prostitution with a camera rolling. The dawn of the internet has led to an explosion in online pornography, thus bringing prostitution to the masses. In prostitution and sex trafficking, those selling sex are objectified, dehumanized and vulnerable. It’s no different in pornography, where women are exposed, stark naked for the sexual arousal and gratification of a potential global audience of millions of anonymous, voyeuristic onlookers who care nothing for their dignity, humanity or well-being.”
The ultimate goal of CEASE UK, Miles summarized, regarding adult content, is this: “Human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation is the fruit born of the commercial sex industry, which is deeply rooted within the fertile soil of sexual objectification. We cannot hope to end sex trafficking without uprooting the entire structure.”
Yesterday’s BBC article does not explain at any point that they are quoting an anti-porn crusading group.
Jeffreys allows CEASE UK’s Vanessa Morse to simply state that there is “a ‘wealth of evidence’ to show that viewing pornography led to harmful sexual attitudes and behaviors.”
"Pornography has made violent acts in sex completely normalized,” Morse told the BBC, which did not fact-check or clarify her obvious bias.
A Munich-Based Call for Government 'Pressure'
The article also refers to a recent paper by academic Neil Thurman which revealed the hardly shocking discovery that “many teenagers had seen porn.”
If this “discovery” is basically the definition of something that should not be newsworthy, many in the U.K. press and Thurman himself are not acknowledging it. In the context of relentless pressure on the British government to “do something” about porn, Thurman has been quoted and invited to television shows to spread anti-porn panic as a self-appointed proponent of government intervention into online content.
BBC News identified the paper as “City, University of London” research, although Thurman himself seems to be based in Germany at the University of Munich, where he is a Professor of Communication.
According to BBC News, Thurman came upon his discovery that teenagers watch porn by conducting “a survey of more than 1,000 16- and 17-year-olds in the U.K. using a panel from the specialist market research company Youthsite.”
Even though 46% of those respondents revealed to the market research focus group that they were aware of VPNs, Thurman told BBC News that “this was not a reason not to regulate access.”
"It doesn't mean we shouldn't bring in legislation," Thurman added. ”Firstly, I think it would reduce accidental exposure, particularly for younger children and teenagers, and it does send a signal, not present at the moment, that they are accessing something inappropriate for their age group."
Thurman’s excitement about state censorship, not only in the U.K. but worldwide, is in tune with his statement yesterday on Twitter, that “if [governments] really want to protect young from online porn they need to regulate social media [and] put pressure on global porn distributors.”
“Measures taken in individual jurisdictions, or that focus on only some media platforms, will have limited effect,” Thurman shared from his social media account.
Main Image: Pastor Ioannis Dekas on his YouTube sermon, and BBC News logo.
