To the Beeb, which is once again making the news rather than breaking it. BBC presenter Martine Croxall caught the attention of viewers on Sunday as she read out a news report about a heart health study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Reading the autocue, the presenter hesitated as she got to a sentence about protecting vulnerable people from extreme weather. It transpires that her script had described those at risk as those with pre-existing health conditions, the elderly and, er, ‘pregnant people’. Rolling her eyes, Croxall corrected the description on air – ‘women’ – before continuing on. Good to see some accuracy on BBC News, eh?
It wasn’t long before the clip became widely circulated on Twitter and caught the eye of renowned author and women’s rights campaigner, JK Rowling, who reposted the footage with the caption: ‘I have a new favourite BBC presenter.’ As reported by the Times, it is understood that the rather baffling wording of ‘pregnant people’ came from the authors of the study rather than the BBC. Indeed the Corporation does not have specific guidance on the use of gender-neutral terms like these, which have become more commonly used as trans rights activists urge people to move away from using ‘gendered language’ when discussing pregnancy and childbirth. It’s a kind of doublethink that not even Orwell would have recognised…
After the Supreme Court backed the biological definition of a woman in April, the Beeb insisted it was assessing how best to implement the judgment. It is not clear quite yet how the ruling will affect the public service broadcaster’s editorial guidelines and style guide – but perhaps Croxall’s correction is a sign the BBC is moving, at long last, in the right direction.
Watch the clip here:
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