The BBC has responded to criticism it has received from Emily Maitlis, for its response to her 2020 on-air comments about Dominic Cummings.
In May 2020, the former Newsnight host said Cummings, then Boris Johnson’s chief advisor, had “broken the [COVID lockdown] rules”, adding: “The country can see that and it’s shocked the government cannot.”
Maitlis’s remarks attracted over 20,000 complaints and the BBC later decided the presenter had breached impartiality rules.
In a speech at the Edinburgh International TV Festival on Wednesday (24th August), Maitlis said: “Why had the BBC immediately and publicly sought to confirm the government spokesman’s opinion, without any kind of due process?”
She continued: “It makes no sense for an organisation that is, admirably, famously rigorous about procedure – unless it was perhaps sending a message of reassurance directly to the government itself?”
In response to Maitlis’s criticism, a BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC places the highest value on due impartiality and accuracy and we apply these principles to our reporting on all issues.
“As we have made clear previously in relation to Newsnight we did not take action as a result of any pressure from Number 10 or Government and to suggest otherwise is wrong.
“The BBC found the programme breached its editorial standards and that decision still stands.”
In an apparent reference to Sir Robbie Gibb, who previously worked as Theresa May’s communications director, Maitlis also said: “Put this in the context of the BBC board, where another active agent of the Conservative party – former Downing Street spin doctor and former adviser to BBC rival GB News – now sits, acting as the arbiter of BBC impartiality.”
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In her speech, she claimed the programme initially “passed off with a few pleasant texts from BBC editors and frankly little else”.
She added: “It was only the next morning that the wheels fell off. A phone call of complaint was made from Downing Street to the BBC News management.”
Maitlis joined the BBC in 2001 and fronted Newsnight from 2006 until earlier this year when she announced her departure.
She then joined rival media group Global where she presents a new podcast, The News Agents, a radio show with former BBC journalist Jon Sopel.
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