The BBC has reversed a decision to partially uphold a complaint against Naga Munchetty over her on-air comments about Donald Trump and racism.
BBC director general Tony Hall emailed all of the broadcaster’s staff on Monday to announce that after “personally” reviewing the decision of the complaints unit, he had decided that the Breakfast presenter’s remarks were not “sufficient to merit a partial uphold” of the complaint, The Guardian reports.
The U-turn follows widespread criticism of last week’s ruling that Munchetty had breached the BBC’s guidelines with her comments about a tweet posted by the US president in July.
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The US president wrote that Democrat congresswomen Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley should “go back to the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”.
When the tweet was discussed on BBC One’s morning news programme the following day, Munchetty 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. Now, I’m not accusing anyone of anything here, but you know what certain phrases mean.”
Co-presenter Dan Walker then said: “It feels like a thought-out strategy to strengthen his position.”
Munchetty replied: “It is not enough to do it just to get attention. He’s in a responsible position.
“Anyway I’m not here to give my opinion.”
Some viewers apparently agreed with that latter point. A complaint from a member of the public that Munchetty had breached the BBC’s strict guidelines around impartiality was subsequently investigated and upheld by the broadcaster’s complaints unit.
However, as The Guardian notes, BBC bosses faced “a staff uprising against the ruling and enormous political pressure”.
This week, BBC boss Hall told staff: “These are often finely balanced and difficult judgements. But, in this instance, I don’t think Naga’s words were sufficient to merit a partial uphold of the complaint around the comments she made.
“There was never any sanction against Naga and I hope this step makes that absolutely clear.”
On Friday, the BBC’s entire team of executives – including Hall - signed a public letter which backed the original decision. His reversal of the ruling did not include any form of apology to the presenter.
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