Complaint
The programme included an interview with the historian Robert Lacey about the late Duke of Edinburgh in which he quoted a remark by the Duke to British students in China. A listener complained about the repetition of the remark, which referred to a physical feature of Chinese people, and about the presenter seeming to condone its use. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s Editorial Guidelines on harm and offence, which provide that material which may cause offence must be justified by the context.
Outcome
The remark in question has long been on the public record, and it was not out of place to allude to it in the context of illustrating the Duke’s sense of humour (which the presenter had already said “wasn’t to everyone’s tasteâ€) . However, the presenter acknowledged that she should have responded in a way which acknowledged the potential for offence in repeating the remark. The ECU agreed that the absence of such a response resulted in a breach of editorial standards but noted the presenter’s subsequent apology and considered that, taken together with the publication of this summary, it resolved the issue of complaint.
Resolved