Maitlis thanks viewers for support after BBC reminder on impartiality
NEWSNIGHT HOST Emily Maitlis said she has been “overwhelmed” by support from viewers after the BBC ruled that the presenter’s comments on Dominic Cummings breached impartiality rules.
And she revealed that she was not taken off Newsnight the night after she made the comments, as it was her decision not to appear on the show.
The Newsnight coverage centred on the trip made by Mr Cummings from London to Durham during the lockdown. The Downing Street aide insists he acted “reasonably and legally”.
In her introduction to Tuesday’s show, Ms Maitlis, who grew up in Sheffield, said Mr Cummings had “broken the rules” and “the country can see that, and it’s shocked the Government cannot”.
She said: “The longer Ministers and the Prime Minister tell
The presenter said she had been ‘overwhelmed by all the kindness and support’.
us he worked within (the rules), the more angry the response to this scandal is likely to be.” The “public mood” is “one of fury, contempt and anguish”, she said.
Following controversy over the monologue, the BBC said staff had been “reminded of the guidelines” around impartiality, adding that the corporation must “uphold the highest standards”.
Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan branded the statement “utterly disgraceful”, saying the BBC was “chucking one of its best journalists under the bus for telling the truth”.
Ms Maitlis, 49, later tweeted: “Been overwhelmed by all the kindness, messages – and support on here – and I’ve probably missed much of it. A big thank you from us all at Newsnight.”
Her absence the night after the monologue sparked suggestions that she had been replaced on the flagship BBC Two show, but she said she had asked for the evening off.
Meanwhile, the broadcasting watchdog, Ofcom, said it received 247 complaints following the remarks on the programme.
Katie Razzall, who stepped in to host Wednesday’s show, tweeted: “Just for the record, Emily Maitlis has not been asked by the BBC to take tonight off – and if I thought she had been, I certainly wouldn’t have agreed to present the show.”