A BBC News presenter has been taken off air after viewers complained that she may have breached the broadcaster's impartiality rules. Comments made by Martine Croxall during last night's (October 23) episode of The Papers are being reviewed by the BBC.
During her introduction to the programme, which started at 10.30pm on Sunday around 90 minutes after Boris Johnson pulled out of the Tory leadership race, Croxall said: “Well this is all very exciting isn’t it?” adding: “Am I allowed to be this gleeful? Well, I am.”
In her first question to her guests she also remarked: “Can we even show you the front pages just yet, have they arrived? No they haven’t arrived. It’s all a little bit, you know, lastminute.com isn’t it? Because all the front pages were probably out of date by the time we received them.”
But her comments did not go down well with viewers. Some, including several Tory MPs, complained about her alleged bias reporting on social media.
In a statement, the BBC said:: “BBC News is urgently reviewing last night’s edition of The Papers on the News Channel for a potential breach of impartiality. It is imperative that we maintain the highest editorial standards. We have processes in place to uphold our standards, and these processes have been activated.”
