Say that Trans Women are Men, and Pay the Price By Richard Miller (London)
Justin Webb, then of the BBC, used the phrase "trans women, in other words, males," in a breach of the BBC's editorial guidelines. In August 2023, the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) upheld the impartiality complaint against Webb. Recently Conservative MP Damian Green put it to the BBC director-general that this signalled to people that "this is a clear sign of institutional bias at the BBC." The response was, "I don't think we suffer institutional bias in this area." "We don't have no go areas in the BBC. To do that, we do demand of our journalists to keep within editorial guidelines. The editorial guidelines are clear in this area," he said.
The BBC's style guide states, "Using appropriate language is an important part of how we portray people in our stories."
Regarding gender, journalists should describe "a person born male who lives as a female" as a "transgender woman," using the pronoun "she" and vice-versa.
If this is not institutional bias, it is hard to see what it could be. It is the same story for your ABC in Australia.
"The director-general of the BBC has defended the corporation's decision to uphold an impartiality complaint against a Radio 4 presenter for saying "trans women" are male.
Tim Davie made the remarks during a meeting of the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee in the House of Commons on Wednesday, where he said that Justin Webb using the phrase "trans women, in other words, males," was a breach of the BBC's editorial guidelines.
In August 2023, the corporation upheld the impartiality complaint against Mr. Webb, who had made the comment during a discussion of the new guidelines by the International Chess Federation on the "Today" programme. The federation had introduced a ban on men who identify as women competing in women-only events.
Conservative MP Damian Green put it to the BBC director-general that the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) upholding the complaint had signalled to people that "this is a clear sign of institutional bias at the BBC."
Mr. Davie replied, "I don't think we suffer institutional bias in this area."
The BBC chief said that while the topic of gender identity was "an area of controversy," there are no "no-go areas" at the corporation.
"We don't have no go areas in the BBC. To do that, we do demand of our journalists to keep within editorial guidelines. The editorial guidelines are clear in this area," he said.
The BBC's style guide states, "Using appropriate language is an important part of how we portray people in our stories."
On the matter of gender, journalists should describe "a person born male who lives as a female" as a "transgender woman," using the pronoun "she" and vice-versa
"We generally use the term and pronoun preferred by the person in question, unless there are editorial reasons not to do so," it says.
'Be Kind and Caring'Mr. Davie said that Mr. Webb's comment "was a breach."
"It's quite a small thing. But it registered. It was just a sentence that wasn't quite right. [...] I think that's what it was, no more, no less. And to act on that quickly is the right thing," he said in support of the ECU's decision.
"The other thing is, we have to be kind and caring in this, and listen to people. And be nice," he said.
Also present at the committee was David Jordan, the director of editorial policy and standards at the BBC, who said, "In the case of Justin Webb, it's unfortunate that he didn't define his terms a bit more."
Mr. Jordan said that had the BBC Radio 4 presenter said "biological male" or "born male," then "it wouldn't have been a problem."
"It's a very sensitive subject for trans women to be called male, rather than female. And that's part of the debate. And we need to steer very carefully through that difficult debate, make sure that we are not offending either side of it or not using terms that are clearly offensive to outsiders or seem to them to be taking sides in it," Mr. Jordan said."
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