War of words breaks out after Emily Maitlis tears into her ex BBC bosses for reprimanding her over Newsnight monologue forcing broadcaster to insist No 10 has ‘no influence’ on its board
- Maitlis said BBC had ‘sought to pacify’ No 10 by issuing apology ‘within hours
- But corporation’s chief content officer said move wasn’t in response to pressure
- Added that viewers expected the BBC to uphold its commitment to impartiality
A war of words has broken out between Emily Maitlis and the BBC after she slammed her former employer for reprimanding her for a monologue about Dominic Cummings following a complaint from Number 10.
Maitlis, pictured, was at the centre of a row after BBC chiefs decided she had breached impartiality rules in her broadcast about Boris Johnson’s then chief adviser in 2020.
She had introduced Newsnight’s coverage by saying that the public ‘feel like fools’ for following lockdown rules only for Mr Cummings to ‘flout’ them by driving 260 miles from his home to County Durham.
Last night, Maitlis, 51, who left the BBC this year to join media group Global, told the Edinburgh TV Festival that the corporation had ‘sought to pacify’ No 10 by issuing an apology ‘within hours’.
She asked whether the BBC was ‘perhaps sending a message of reassurance directly to the Government.’
But in her own speech at the event today, the BBC’s Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore said: ‘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.’
Former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis (pictured) accused the BBC of caving in too quickly to Government complaints over her controversial monologue about Dominic Cummings
Maitlis has been involved in a series of impartiality scandals during her time at the BBC.
2020 – Maitlis introduced Newsnight’s coverage of the Cummings controversy with a highly-critical speech in which she said the public ‘feel like fools’ and accusing Boris Johnson of showing ‘blind loyalty’.
The BBC received more than 40,000 complaints in two days about the broadcast – both from those angry at her comments and those annoyed at the BBC’s decision to say it had broken rules.
2021 –Maitlis was reprimanded by the broadcaster after she shared a Twitter post by Piers Morgan about the pandemic which it described as ‘clearly controversial’.
The post said: ‘If failing to quarantine properly is punishable by 10yrs in prison, what is the punishment for failing to properly protect the country from a pandemic?’
2022 – Maitlis apologised for retweeting a message criticising the ‘sheer tawdry Trumpian shabbiness’ of the Government’s response to the Downing Street parties.
The Newsnight presenter, 51, retweeted a post by former Tory Cabinet minister Rory Stewart, in which he said ‘it is difficult to see how much more of this the party or our political system can survive’.
Ms Moore said impartiality is ‘particularly important for the BBC’, adding she feels viewers expect that from the broadcaster, especially when it comes to holding politicians to account.
Ms Moore also said she wishes all of the high-profile staff who have left the BBC in the past year well and said that the departures provide great opportunity for new talent to come up in their place.
She said she was ‘sorry to see them go’, but that is was the ‘natural course of things in a competitive landscape’ and that if other outlets did not want to poach BBC talent, then they would be ‘getting it wrong’.
The row erupted in 2020 after Maitlis introduced the programme’s coverage of the Cummings controversy with a highly-critical speech, in which she said the public ‘feel like fools’ and accusing Boris Johnson of showing ‘blind loyalty’.
The BBC received more than 40,000 complaints in two days about the broadcast – both from those angry at her comments and those annoyed at the BBC’s decision to say it had broken rules.
The presenter said the row had ‘got way more attention than in truth it ever deserved’ and was neither the best or worst opening she had ever done.
Focusing on the speed of the BBC’s response to Government, she said: ‘Why had the BBC immediately and publicly sought to confirm the Government spokesman’s opinion? Without any kind of due process?
‘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?’
But she said Cummings had actually contacted her directly the same evening it aired apparently to offer his ‘wry support’.
When Maitlis quit the BBC earlier this year insiders had said she had decided to leave because she was ‘frustrated’ at being repeatedly ‘ticked off’ by bosses.
She took a swipe at the BBC board and singled out member Sir Robbie Gibb – Theresa May’s former director of communications – describing him as ‘another active agent of the Conservative party’.
Last night, Maitlis, 51, who left the BBC this year to join media group Global, told the Edinburgh TV Festival that the BBC had ‘sought to pacify’ No 10 by issuing an apology ‘within hours’
A BBC spokesman 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.’
Maitlis introduced Newsnight’s coverage of the Cummings controversy with a highly-critical speech in which she said the public ‘feel like fools’ and accusing Boris Johnson of showing ‘blind loyalty’
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