The BBC has reversed its decision to sanction BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty for breaking impartiality guidelines, following a staff uprising and political pressure. Director General Tony Hall emailed staff on Monday to say he had overturned the ruling by the BBC's complaints unit, which had found Munchetty in breach of guidelines for her comments about US President Donald Trump.
In July, Munchetty said on BBC Breakfast: 'Every time I have been told, as a woman of colour, to go back to where I came from, that was embedded in racism.' The comments were in response to Trump's statement that four American congresswomen of colour should 'go home'. The BBC's editorial standards director, David Jordan, had previously said the single viewer complaint that led to the ruling did not mention co-presenter Dan Walker, who took part in the same discussion.
However, leaked correspondence obtained by the Guardian showed that the original complaint was explicitly about both Munchetty and Walker. The complaint, titled 'Blatant political bias from both presenters', described Walker as 'very unprofessional' and said he led Munchetty into making the comments. The BBC insisted Jordan had not lied, saying he was referring to a revised version of the complaint that was solely about Munchetty.
The U-turn has reignited concerns about on-screen diversity at the BBC and how the corporation treats women and minority ethnic staff compared to white, male journalists. One senior journalist said: 'People don't care if it's a conspiracy or not; it just exposes the hypocrisy at the BBC.'
