Campaigners have called for the BBC’s TV licence fee to be axed after broadcaster Sally Nugent “inadvertently” described the Dambusters raid as “infamous”.
The BBC was forced to issue an apology for the Breakfast presenter’s “awful error”, with campaigners claiming that it should be been “corrected on air immediately”.
When announcing the RAF flypast to commemorate the raid in May, Ms Nugent said: “Eighty years after 19 Lancaster bombers took part in the infamous Dambusters Raid, tonight a special anniversary flypast will take place over Lincolnshire.”
The public broadcaster received complaints relating to the error, and has since issued a statement apologising. It said: “When highlighting what was coming up on the programme, we did inadvertently refer to the Dambusters Raid as ‘infamous’.
“Later, when the main item aired, we referred to the ‘famous’ raid. In live programmes, such as Breakfast, errors do occasionally slip through, and we’re sorry for this mistake, and any offence caused.”
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Campaign Director of Defund the BBC Rebecca Ryan thought told Express.co.uk: “The BBC is obliged by its Royal Charter to deliver journalistic excellence and to be impartial.
“If this awful error, which tarnished the memory of a heroic military operation that helped boost British morale during World War 2, was ‘a stumble’ it should have been immediately corrected on air.”
She continued: “As shown by poll after poll, the vast majority of Britons now want to scrap the licence fee that forces us to pay for the BBC if we watch any live broadcast TV.
“The BBC is failing. It is in breach of its contract with the British people. The broadcaster must be cut loose and made to stand on its own feet financially.”
The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit also reviewed Ms Nugent’s phrase, and a spokesperson said: “The ECU assessed the complaint against the standards for due accuracy and impartiality set out in the BBC editorial guidelines
“The ECU agreed the original broadcast was not duly accurate Though the raid is not without its critics, the use of the word ‘infamous’, with its strongly negative connotations, was not appropriate.
“But the ECU found no evidence the phrase was deliberately chosen for its adverse implications, rather than being used inadvertently, or that it reflected the presenter’s personal view. There was therefore no breach of the guidelines on impartiality.”
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