Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis wades into BBC race row

Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis wades into BBC race row as she warns (very white) complaints executive that it is ‘massively out of touch’

Emily Maitlis has said the decision by the BBC to uphold a complaint against breakfast TV star Naga Munchetty for calling out Donald Trump over racism looks ‘massively out of touch’.

Newsnight presenter Maitlis yesterday gave her full support to Munchetty, who had condemned Trump’s call for four Democratic congresswomen to go back to their own countries.

The Corporation has been under fire since its Executive Complaints Unit found against Munchetty over her remarks in an on-air discussion with her BBC Breakfast colleague Dan Walker. 

Emily Maitlis has said the decision by the BBC to uphold a complaint against breakfast TV star Naga Munchetty (above) for calling out Donald Trump over racism looks ‘massively out of touch’

Ms Munchetty, who has Indian and Mauritian ancestry, 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.’

Newsnight presenter Maitlis yesterday gave her full support to Munchetty, who had condemned Trump’s call for four Democratic congresswomen to go back to their own countries. Maitlis is pictured above with Catherine Ostler

Newsnight presenter Maitlis yesterday gave her full support to Munchetty, who had condemned Trump’s call for four Democratic congresswomen to go back to their own countries. Maitlis is pictured above with Catherine Ostler

In passing judgment on the discussion with Walker, the complaints unit found that while Munchetty was entitled to describe comments as racist, the presenter had fallen foul of guidelines in impugning Trump’s motives for his remarks.

The decision has been widely condemned by a host of figures, including Sir Lenny Henry and Chancellor Sajid Javid.

A BBC source has told The Mail on Sunday that all six members of the complaints unit are white, while the wider Editorial Policy Unit of which it is a part has 27 staff, of whom just two are non-white.

Speaking at The Cliveden Literary Festival yesterday, Ms Maitlis said: ‘The BBC’s complaints body are trying to work their way through this semantic and linguistic conundrum but they end up looking as if they’ve got their heads in this Dickensian ledger of what’s for and against, good and bad.

‘My worry is that the complaints body looks as if it’s massively out of touch with what’s happening in the real world. If you have a woman of colour in a prominent position in a main news outlet, who is a presence but somehow not allowed to be a voice, that’s a very difficult place for her to be. I just think it shouldn’t be my colleagues, people of colour, having to come out and say this. It should be all of us.’

Other BBC figures rounded upon the Corporation’s bureaucrats.

One senior broadcaster who asked to remain anonymous told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The Executive Complaints Unit is unfit for purpose. I have worked for the BBC for years and I don’t have a clue who these people are. Why on earth are we investigating one single complaint? The BBC needs to get a grip. Could Naga have been a bit more artful? Absolutely. But this is taking a sledgehammer to crack I don’t know what.’

However, a respected journalist who asked not to be named backed the complaints unit, saying: ‘I don’t know why on earth two muppets on a sofa are discussing racism. They are breakfast TV presenters and they should just report the news.

In passing judgment on the discussion with Walker, the complaints unit found that while Munchetty was entitled to describe comments as racist, the presenter had fallen foul of guidelines in impugning Trump’s motives for his remarks

In passing judgment on the discussion with Walker, the complaints unit found that while Munchetty was entitled to describe comments as racist, the presenter had fallen foul of guidelines in impugning Trump’s motives for his remarks

‘The BBC has no problems with staff describing Trump’s comments as racist. The problem is when reporters get into a discussion about their feelings about it. Who cares?’

Business Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who was born in Iraq, drew on his own experience to defend Munchetty. 

Speaking on Friday night’s edition of Any Questions, he said: ‘Far too often, you get road rage or otherwise where people say go back to your country. And it’s the most hurtful thing anyone can say to me because I feel this is my country.

‘And I think Naga got hurt deeply and I think the BBC needs to understand the emotion behind that.’

A BBC spokesman said: ‘The statement from the executive team is clear, the BBC is not impartial on racism. Racism is not an opinion and it is not a matter for debate. Racism is racism.’

Additional reporting: Brendan Carlin

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