EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: BBC is forced to apologise after presenter Sally Nugent describes the daring WWII Dambusters Raid as ‘infamous’
Using bouncing bombs, the RAF 617 Squadron’s daring Dambusters Raid was credited with seriously damaging the Nazi war machine during World War II.
Yet BBC Breakfast presenter Sally Nugent described the celebrated military operation as ‘infamous’ earlier this year.
Now, I can disclose that the Corporation has been forced to apologise by its own complaints unit after viewers protested about Nugent’s use of the word.
She was on the red sofa in May, announcing a flypast by the World War II bombers who took part in the raid, when she triggered anger among viewers.
In its official report, the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit says the Dambusters operation, on May 16 and 17 1943, was an audacious bombing raid to destroy three dams in the Ruhr valley. The mission was codenamed Operation ‘Chastise’.
The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) said the corporation was issuing an apology following complaints ‘about the use of word ‘infamous’ to describe the Dambusters Raid.
‘The ECU assessed the complaint against the standards for due accuracy and impartiality set out in the BBC editorial guidelines,’ it says. ‘The ECU agreed the original broadcast was not duly accurate. Though the raid is not without its critics, the use of the word ‘infamous’, with its strongly negative connotations, was not appropriate.
‘But the ECU found no evidence the phrase was deliberately chosen for its adverse implications, rather than being used inadvertently, or that it reflected the presenter’s personal view. There was therefore no breach of the guidelines on impartiality.’
The BBC has posted a correction on the BBC Complaints website. It says: ‘When highlighting what was coming up on the programme, we did inadvertently refer to the Dambusters raid as ‘infamous’. Later, when the main item aired, we referred to the ‘famous’ raid. In live programmes, such as Breakfast, errors do occasionally slip through, and we’re sorry for this mistake, and any offence caused.’
The ECU says it believes the apology is ‘sufficient to resolve the issue without the need for further action by BBC management’.
BBC Breakfast presenter Sally Nugent described the RAF 617 Squadron’s daring Dambusters Raid military operation as ‘infamous’ earlier this year
According to the Imperial War Museum, 53 aircrew died in the mission, and 1,300 people died in the resulting flooding
The Dambusters Raid caused controversy because of the cost in civilian lives. It caused catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr Valley and of villages in the Eder Valley. According to the Imperial War Museum, 53 aircrew died in the mission, and 1,300 people died in the resulting flooding.
The Imperial War Museum said: ‘Although the impact on industrial production was limited, the raid gave a significant morale boost to the people of Britain.’
She’s one of our most distinguished actresses, but Brideshead Revisited star Diana Quick says her career would have been even more illustrious if she had not become a mum.
‘It’s no accident that in my generation the most prominent actresses were people who didn’t have children because they were free to go where the work was,’ says Quick, 76, perhaps thinking of Dame Helen Mirren, Anjelica Huston or Zoë Wanamaker.
Quick’s daughter with ex-boyfriend Bill Nighy is the highly rated director Mary Nighy.
The box office battle between Barbie and Oppenheimer appears to have a clear winner in the household of Zara and Mike Tindall.
King Charles’s niece was so impressed by the film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling that she and ex-England rugby captain Tindall have discovered what they would look like as plastic dolls of Barbie and Ken. ‘Feel we are getting younger,’ jokes Tindall, as he shares this image produced by an online generator.
Zara and Mike Tindall have discovered what they would look like as dolls of Barbie and Ken
King Charles’s niece was so impressed by the film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan that she shared an image produced by an online generator of her and her husband as dolls
The bald World Cup winner, 44, who celebrated his 12th wedding anniversary with Zara this week, was even given an impressive head of hair.
He was introduced to Princess Anne’s daughter, 42, by Prince Harry at the Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2003.
He was so skilful with a chopping knife that he won MasterChef — but Kenny Tutt, 41, is finding running restaurants a less palatable dish.
I hear he’s served his last customers at Pitch in Worthing, his hometown. It’s the second of his two restaurants in West Sussex that he’s shut in three months.
‘Sadly Pitch is now closed due to the current economic struggles,’ a spokesman says. Pitch opened in 2019, attracting famous customers including MasterChef judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode.
Source: Read Full Article