News reporter under fire for using the N-word in daytime news report
A white BBC reporter came under fire Wednesday for using the N-word uncensored in a report describing a racist attack — giving just a few seconds’ warning it was coming.
Fiona Lamdin used the slur in a 10.30 a.m. report in the UK to describe the hateful words shouted at a black National Health Service worker who was hit by a car in a suspected racially aggravated assault in Bristol.
“Just to warn you, you’re about to hear highly offensive language,” Lamdin told viewers in the pre-recorded segment for a regional news show.
“Because as the men ran away they hurled racial abuse, calling him a ‘n—er,’ ” she said, with the offending word aired completely uncensored.
Her warning — just seconds before the word was used — was not enough to stop a swift backlash.
“The use of the n-word is violent towards Black individuals so why did you reinforce that violence by repeating the word?” a designer named tëa tweeted her.
“You could have used all manner of language to express the fact it was racial abuse. Your gratuitous use of the n-word is shameful.”
Another insisted that “nothing will ever justify” using the word, calling it “absolutely disgusting behavior.”
“Doesn’t matter which way you cut it, Fiona Lamdin should not have said the n-word on TV. What was she thinking?” tweeted documentary maker Matthew Teller, who has worked for the BBC.
“There was no need for her to say it, bleeped or not,” he said, insisting the reporter and management “must take responsibility.”
Freelance multimedia journalist Zab Mustefa tweeted at Lamdin: “Didn’t you get the memo? Non-Black people can never say that word, even when describing a racist incident.”
Others, however, were dismayed that repeating the language used in an attack was sparking more outrage than the initial assault itself, with many of the comments coming in a tweet the reporter sent of the victim’s gruesome injuries.
“Context is everything and I think people need to get their priorities straight,” one follower wrote.
The BBC justified its reporting to the UK’s Radio Times, while acknowledging it would no longer air the report uncensored.
“This was a story about a shocking unprovoked attack on a young black man. His family told the BBC about the racist language used by the attackers and wanted to see the full facts made public,” a spokesperson said, noting a “warning was given before this was reported.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/29/bbc-under-fire-for-using-the-n-word-in-daytime-news-report/
Photo Credit: @fionalamdin