Snow’s ‘white’ Brexit march caused highest complaints
CHANNEL 4 presenter Jon Snow commenting on “white people” is one of the most divisive broadcast moments of the decade.
The experienced anchor said he had “never seen so many white people in one place” when observing a pro-brexit march in London.
His broadcast for Channel 4 News rapidly prompted more than 2,700 complaints to the media watchdog Ofcom, and is the most provocative TV moment of 2019.
Ofcom released its figures on the number of complaints received regarding Snow’s reportage from March 29, when he closed his show on College Green by saying: “It has been the most extraordinary day.
“A day which has seen – I’ve never seen so many white people in one place. It’s an extraordinary story.
“There are people everywhere, there are crowds everywhere.”
Ofcom received complaints that Mr Snow’s comments were racist and offensive, framed Brexit as a racial issue, that its supporters were linked to the far Right, and that racial commentary was not applied to pro-remain marches.
Viewers lodged 2,717 complaints with Ofcom, around three times more than the next most complained about broadcast, a Good Morning Britain segment about gender identity.
This accumulation of complaints makes Snow’s comments the sixth most provocative broadcast of the past 10 years. It comes behind false punching claims on Celebrity Big Brother, an angry Loose Women interview, a Channel 4 documentary named Ukip: The First 100 Days, which was accused of being “misleading”, Sky news coverage of Tommy Robinson, and “explicit” performances by Rihanna and Christina Aguilera on The X Factor.
Channel 4 said at the time that Snow’s comments “were justified in the circumstances”, adding: “This was a spontaneous comment reflecting his observation that in a London demonstration of that size, ethnic minorities seemed to be significantly under-represented.”
Ofcom found that Snow’s comments were not in breach of its code.
Channel 4 did not reply to comment on the Ofcom figures.