The BBC has accusedNaga Munchetty‘sBBC Breakfastco- starDan Walkerof being partly to blame for the presenter’s decision to comment on President Donald Trump and racism.
As the corporation continues to fight to rein in the ongoing crisis, Walker was accused by David Jordan, the BBC’s director of editorial policy and standards, of not being ‘helpful’ with his own comments.
‘It could be said that Dan Walker kind of led Naga Munchetty to the conclusion that she eventually made,’ Jordan said on Friday.
It comes as Munchetty, the 44 – year-old BBC Breakfast host, was reprimanded aftershe called the US President out live on air, for posting a series of tweets calling for four Democratic congresswomen to ‘go back’to the ‘places from which They came ‘.
She criticized the posts, recalling her own experiences of racism in the process.
‘Every time I’ve been told as a woman of color to “go home”, to “go back to where I’ve come from,” that was embedded in racism,’ she said.
‘Now I’m not accusing anyone of anything here but you know what certain phrases mean.’
While she received praise for highlighting her own experiences with racism,the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) confirmed they would be upholding an official complaintabout the incident for breaking impartiality guidelines.
‘The ECU ruled that while Ms Munchetty was entitled to give a personal response to the phrase “go back to your own country” as it was rooted in her own experience, overall her comments went beyond what the guidelines allow for, ‘a spokesperson said.
However, the move has been widely condemned, with #IStandWithNaga trending on Twitter while figures from across the media lent their support to the broadcaster.
Now Jordan has added that ‘Dan Walker’s contribution was not, as it were, helpful in the context’.
‘It could be said that Dan Walker kind of led Naga Munchetty to the conclusion that she eventually made,’ he added.
‘I don’t think we’ve singled anyone out. I’m afraid the Executive Complaints Unit deals with the complaints it gets, so some people say why isn’t Dan Walker being singled out in the same way, ’he continued.
‘The simple fact is we haven’t had a complaint.
‘They are obliged to deal with the complaints they have, not the complaints they might like to have.’
Following the decision by the ECU,a group of more than 40 broadcasters, presenters and actors have penned a letterto the BBC in support of presenter Munchetty.
Titled ‘You can’t be “impartial” about racism – an open letter to the BBC on the Naga Munchetty ruling,’ the post is co-signed by stars including actors Lenny Henry and Adrian Lester, journalists Afua Hirsch, Krishnan Guru-Murphy and Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff and comedian Gina Yashere.
In a set of demands laid out at the end of the letter, the group wrote that they wanted the decision to be overturned, for the BBC to tell their journalists they don’t expect them to be ‘impartial’ in the face of racism and for the ECU and Ofcom to ‘address their own levels of diversity and increase transparency as to how they reach their decisions.’
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