A BBC reporter has been criticized for using her past experiences with bigotry to add context to Donald Trump's racist and sexist tweets.
According to a CNN report, BBC morning anchor Naga Munchetty broke the major news outlet's editorial policy when she seemingly ascribed a motive to Trump's tweets from July. The tweets in question were suggesting that four freshmen congresswomen — all of whom are women of color — return to their countries of origin if they hated the United States. All four women are United States citizens, leading many to suspect Trump used coded racist language to dismiss their legitimate criticisms.
"Every time I have been told, as a woman of color, to go back to where I came from, that was embedded in racism," Munchetty said in July. "Now, I'm not accusing anyone of anything here, but you know what certain phrases mean."
By adding in her personal dealings with racist behavior, she reportedly went too far for the network. Others living in the United Kingdom and elsewhere would be "absolutely furious … that a man in that position feels it's okay to skirt the lines with using language like that," she added.
The Guardian reports the original complaint that caused the controversy also mentioned co-anchor Dan Walker.
“Dan Walker, whilst interviewing a guest about President Trump’s recent tweets regarding four Democrat politicians in the USA, repeatedly expressed incredulity that anybody could defend Trump’s tweets," the viewer complaint stated. "Very unprofessionally, he then asked his fellow presenter Naga Munchetty for her personal opinions on this news story! She foolishly complied with his request and launched into an attack on Trump, including stating that she was personally ‘furious’ about his comments.”
The BBC will not punish the breakfast anchor. Instead, the corporation's executive complaints unit (ECU) issued a strong warning to the anchor. The ECU claimed she "went on to comment critically on the possible motive for, and potential consequences of, the president's words."
"Judgments of that kind are for the audience to make, and the exchange fell short of due impartiality in that respect," it concluded.
This is the right decision. Now the BBC must apologise and overhaul its complaints procedure.
When people of colour call out racism they should be listened to and supported.
Action should be taken against racists, not those that challenge them.https://t.co/fNT138SqD8
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 1, 2019
The partial punishment came after complaints from actors and activists who supported the anchor. Walker, for the most part, did not receive any of the backlash compared to Munchetty.
