Lessons have been learned, says Munchetty after Trump flare-up
NAGA MUNCHETTY has said “lessons have been learned” after the controversy over on-air comments she made about US President Donald Trump.
The BBC Breakfast presenter said she had had “very robust” conversations with senior figures at the broadcaster over the incident.
Ms Munchetty was previously judged to have breached BBC editorial guidelines last year when she discussed comments made by Mr Trump after he told female Democrats to go back to their own countries.
In the July 17 broadcast, Ms Munchetty had said: “Every time I have been told, as a woman of colour, to go back to where I came from, that was embedded in racism.”
She added: “I’m not accusing anyone of anything here – but you know what certain phrases mean.”
The ruling was later reviewed and reversed by the corporation’s director-general, Lord Tony Hall.
In an interview with The Guardian, Ms Munchetty said she was not “a victim in any shape or form”.
She added: “I think there was a process that needed to be gone through. I think lessons have been learned and things are improving.
“We’re learning all the time – the BBC learns, I learn, move on.”
She added: “Tony Hall and I have had conversations since, very robust conversations, as I’ve had with other members of management.”
The presenter said that while “as journalists, you are taught to bring balance to everything we do” she also felt “a responsibility to show that certain things are not acceptable”.
Ms Munchetty added: “And some things are not nuanced. You have to have some faith in your journalists being smart, educated, curious, intelligent people.”
She added: “I’m not there to give an opinion but I’m equally not there to ignore a damaging opinion and to absorb that into our coverage.”
In a letter to staff by Lord Hall after he reversed the ruling that Ms Munchetty had breached guidelines, he said the BBC was not impartial on racism.