BBC faces backlash for censuring anchor
LONDON: The BBC faced a backlash Friday after finding one of its presenters in breach of its editorial guidelines on impartiality for comments that were critical of US President Donald Trump.
Journalists and celebrities were demanding that the BBC overturn its decision and expressed support for BBC Breakfast anchor Naga Munchetty, who was discussing Trump’s remark that four female American lawmakers should return to the “broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Co-anchor, Dan Walker, asked Munchetty for her opinion on the July 17 programme, and she responded: “Every time I have been told, as a woman of colour, to go back to where I came from, that was embedded in racism .... I’m not accusing anyone of anything here, but you know what certain phrases mean.”
Questioned further by Walker, she said she was “absolutely furious a man in that position thinks it’s OK to skirt the lines by using language like that.”
The BBC found that Munchetty had gone too far.
“She understandably feels strongly on this issue, and there was nothing wrong with her talking about her own experiences of racism,” the BBC said in a statement. “However, our editorial guidelines do not allow for journalists to then give their opinions about the individual making the remarks or their motives for doing so — in this case President Trump — and it was for this reason that the complaint was partially upheld. Those judgments are for the audience to make.”
Across social media, there was disquiet over the decision.