On Saturday 8th August, the BBC’s director-general issued a formal apology for a broadcast last month in which a white reporter had used racist terminology.
Over 18,000 people had lodged a complaint after Fiona Lamdin, the social affairs correspondent, repeated the n-word that had allegedly been used in an attack in Bristol. DJ Sideman, the BBC Radio 1xtra presenter announced that the corporation’s response to complaints had “felt like a slap in the face to our community”. Sideman, whose real name is David Whitely, took to Instagram on Saturday stating that the broadcast was an error of judgment and he could not work with the BBC allowing “the n-word being said on national television by a white person”.
The BBC had originally defended the report, but Lord Hall of Birkenhead acknowledged that it was a mistake and said, “BBC now accepts that we should have taken a different approach at the time of broadcast and we are very sorry for that. Every organisation should be able to acknowledge when it has made a mistake. We made one here. It is important for us to listen — and also to learn. And that is what we will continue to do.”
The BBC originally defended the inclusion of the word — which was preceded by a warning to viewers — arguing that it had the support of the victim and his family. The broadcaster previously revealed that the decision to include the word in the report had been taken by a team of people that included senior editorial figures.
