BBC criticised for calling Harvard professor ‘casualty of campus culture wars’
THE BBC has been criticised for calling Harvard’s president a “casualty of campus culture wars” after her resignation.
Claudine Gay resigned following criticism of her response to anti-semitism on campus, and allegations that she plagiarised parts of her academic work.
An article the BBC posted on Twitter was headlined “Harvard’s Claudine Gay a casualty of campus culture wars”.
Andrew Neil, the former BBC presenter, and Jon Sopel, the broadcaster’s former North American editor, criticised their former employer for its distillation of the reasons Ms Gay resigned.
Critics pointed out that the headline omitted any reference to Ms Gay’s controversial testimony before a congressional committee on education, in which she remarked that activists on campus calling for the genocide of Jews might only violate harassment rules depending on the “context”.
Following her comments, for which she later apologised, it was alleged that Ms Gay had plagiarised part of her doctoral thesis, an accusation that was followed by further claims of other instances of plagiarism. Ms Gay has denied she plagiarised anyone’s work.
Mr Neil, the former Daily Politics presenter, criticised the BBC on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating that Ms Gay was not a casualty of the culture wars but “a casualty of being unable to condemn outright calls for the genocide of Jews – and of increasing evidence of widespread plagiarism in her limited academic output”. He added: “Your headline does not meet your regulatory requirement to be accurate and impartial.” Mr Sopel, the BBC’S former man in the US, joined the criticism, posting on X: “You sure you’ve got this headline right? Calling it ‘culture wars’ is lazy and misleading methinks.”
The BBC deleted its original post on X after the backlash and stated: “This post has been removed because the article’s original headline has been amended.” The amended article’s headline stated: “Departure of Harvard’s Claudine Gay plays into campus culture wars.”
The BBC has been contacted to confirm whether its original headline fell short of its duty to be accurate and impartial. It comes as the corporation’s new chairman, Samir Shah, has insisted the BBC’S impartiality must be “beyond reproach” in any general election coverage. Writing to MPS on the culture, media and sport committee, Mr Shah said: “Next year is likely to be election year. It is BBC journalism’s World Cup.
“We need to be match fit. BBC coverage must be beyond reproach.”