The BBC faced criticism last night for alleged inconsistency, following its reprimand of a newsreader who changed the term ‘pregnant people’ to ‘women’ during a broadcast.
Martine Croxall gained widespread attention earlier this year after she visibly reacted to an autocue script during a live segment, earning her a substantial fanbase.
However, on the day the broadcaster was accused of stifling stories that challenge the trans narrative, Croxall was reprimanded for her on-air expression.
The BBC stated that complaints from just 20 viewers were upheld, arguing she had voiced a ‘controversial view about trans people’.
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Tory Party, criticized the BBC for ‘losing the plot’ and urged director-general Tim Davie to step in or step down. Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, decried what he saw as ‘complete double standards,’ suggesting that Croxall deserved praise instead of reproach, and questioned the justification for the licence fee.
The broadcaster is also under pressure to launch an inquiry after accusations that Panorama edited a Donald Trump speech to imply he incited the January 2021 Capitol riot. Boris Johnson has called for Davie to either provide clarification or resign over this impartiality dispute.
‘The BBC has been caught red-handed in multiple acts of Left-wing bias,’ the former prime minister said. ‘They have grotesquely doctored a speech by President Trump. They have taken the words of Hamas as gospel. They have suppressed debate about the trans issue.
‘Anyone who owns a TV is compelled to fund this organisation. Tim Davie must either explain or resign.’
Martine Croxall (pictured as she was made to say ‘pregnant people’) is one of the main presenters of BBC News, having started work for the broadcaster more than 30 years ago, in 1991, and for its news programme in 2001
Panorama’s programme Trump: A Second Chance? spliced together two parts of a speech to make it appear as though the President was inciting an insurrection
Ms Croxall, 56, who joined the corporation in 1991, received the complaints after she introduced a short news item on vulnerable people in a heatwave.
As she read the phrase ‘pregnant people’ on the autocue, she quickly added ‘women’ and made a facial expression which the corporation said ‘has been variously interpreted by complainants as showing disgust, ridicule, contempt or exasperation’.
Her word change went viral online and earned her praise from gender-critical campaigners such as Martina Navratilova and JK Rowling, who dubbed her ‘my new favourite BBC presenter’, adding: ‘You’d better not be in any trouble.’
At the time it was understood bosses had been relaxed about the situation.
But the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) upheld the objections yesterday, saying the newsreader had breached its rules on impartiality.
In a widely derided statement, it said: ‘The ECU considered the facial expression… laid it open to the interpretation that it indicated a particular viewpoint in the controversies currently surrounding trans identity, and the congratulatory messages Croxall later received on social media, together with the critical views expressed in the complaints to the BBC, tended to confirm that the impression of her having expressed a personal view was widely shared across the spectrum of opinion on the issue.
‘As giving the strong impression of expressing a personal view on a controversial matter, even if inadvertently, falls short of the BBC’s expectations of its presenters and journalists in relation to impartiality, the ECU upheld the complaints.’
The decision sparked fury in political quarters, with Mrs Badenoch arguing that Ms Croxall deserved an apology.
She told the Mail: ‘Whoever reprimanded Martine Croxall has lost the plot. This is the latest in an endless series of complaints that shows the BBC is no longer acting as a public service broadcaster.
‘Licence fee payers want the truth, not force-fed ideological rubbish from a cabal of agenda-driven activists. It is time to end this madness.
Martine Croxall, arriving at the Central London Employment Tribunal, before the case over pay was settled by the BBC
‘The director-general should get involved and if he cannot protect his staff then he should go and the board should recruit someone who will impose common sense. Croxall deserves an apology not a rebuke.’
Fiona McAnena, of the Sex Matters charity, described the verdict as ‘chilling’.
She added: ‘The activist term “pregnant people” should never have been in the news bulletin to begin with, so it is outrageous that BBC is penalising Martine Croxall for her understandable frustration. Only women can be pregnant. BBC audiences know this fact of life, and BBC bosses do too, so their punishment of Croxall looks like more chilling proof of their apparent willingness to put ideology before independent reporting.’
Ms Croxall, alongside others, brought a sex and age discrimination case against the BBC earlier this year, which it settled. She has not commented on the furore, but when she gained 50,000 social media followers almost overnight following the Saturday afternoon broadcast, she said: ‘A huge thank you to everyone who has chosen to follow me today for whatever reason. It’s been quite a ride.’
Her censuring came as BBC bosses stood accused of ignoring a damning internal report into impartiality.
The 19-page document, which was sent to the BBC board – including Mr Davie and chairman Samir Shah – in September, said there was ‘effective censorship’ by LGBT staff in the news division. Report author Michael Prescott, a former independent adviser to the BBC editorial watchdog, said he had spoken with corporation staff who had concerns about trans coverage.
Mr Prescott’s report said the BBC had been ‘captured by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view’ of the trans debate.
A corporation spokesman said: ‘When the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.’
Mr Prescott will give evidence to the Commons culture, media and sport committee next Wednesday.
