BBC Broke Editorial Rules After Reporting That Nigel Farage Had “Excused” Russia’s Ukraine Invasion
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: The BBC has admitted that it was wrong to report that Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage had excused Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a BBC News channel report noting a backlash against Farage’s comments in an earlier Panorama interview, a presenter said: “There’s been criticism of Nigel Farage here in the UK for making remarks excusing President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.” A viewer complained that this misrepresented Farage’s position.
They argued that Farage, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, had simply used the Panorama interview to restate his view that Russia had used the eastward expansion of NATO as an excuse for military action in Ukraine.
The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) agreed: “This was not the same as ‘excusing’ President Putin’s decision, and that the phrasing of the introduction gave the misleading impression that Mr Farage considered the invasion of Ukraine to be justifiable.” The ECU upheld the viewer’s complaint and said the phrasing broke editorial rules.
Read more on deadline.com
