The BBC has been found to have violated its editorial standards by airing a racial slur during the Bafta film awards ceremony held in February, according to a report from the corporation’s executive complaints unit (ECU).
During the event at London’s Royal Festival Hall, John Davidson, a campaigner for Tourette syndrome, was heard shouting the slur while actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for special visual effects.
The ECU determined that there was an unintentional breach of editorial standards, which occurred not only by airing the offensive language but also by failing to remove it from the delayed broadcast. Additionally, a third violation was identified when the slur remained in the on-demand version on iPlayer until the following morning.
The ECU’s findings indicated that there was confusion among the production team regarding the audibility of the slur in the broadcast. This uncertainty contributed to a delay in the decision to take down the recording from iPlayer, which was only made around 9:30 the next morning.
The report stated, “This delay was a significant error, as there was no assurance that the offensive term would be inaudible to all viewers, especially for those accessing the iPlayer with prior knowledge that it had been spoken.”
Furthermore, the ECU noted that the prolonged availability of the unedited recording exacerbated the offense caused by the accidental inclusion of the racial slur.
The report emphasized that the initial airing of the slur was “extremely offensive and lacked any editorial justification,” although it acknowledged that the production team members monitoring the live feed did not recognize the term at the time.
Two key reasons were provided for accepting the team’s account: the indistinct nature of the slur made it difficult to discern, and a similar instance occurred about ten minutes later, which the team did identify and promptly edited out following established protocols for offensive language.
Additionally, the BBC faced criticism for editing out the phrase “free Palestine” from the acceptance speech of Akinola Davies Jr., the winner of the outstanding debut prize. While the ECU affirmed that Davies had the right to communicate his views, it stated that the decision to remove those words was not based on impartiality concerns.
The report clarified that the primary reason for the edits was due to the need to condense approximately three hours of recorded material into a two-hour broadcast. The editing process focused on emphasizing the main elements of the event, leading to cuts in some longer acceptance speeches, including that of Mr. Davies.
The ECU concluded that the content removed from Mr. Davies’ speech did not influence the editing decision, aside from its relevance to the event’s main focus and audience interest.
More information will be provided shortly.
