A BBC News journalist has received “offensive, defamatory and highly personal attacks” after a “selectively edited” clip of him reporting on a far-right protest in Bolton was shared online.
Phillip Norton told viewers that the event on Sunday 4 August was “billed as a pro-British march, a peaceful pro-British march at 1 o’clock.
“And for around half an hour, it was quite peaceful. There was a small counter-protest: the pro-British march on one side of the town hall here and the counter-protest on the other side of the town hall.
“It was around about half past one, about half-an-hour into this protest, when there was a bit of a flashpoint.”
However an X user shared a clip that missed the initial context of how the march was billed, starting the video at “and for around half an hour…”
The person wrote: “BBC reporter has just described rioters as ‘a pro-British march’. The clip has received three million views.
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Norton has now said: “On Sunday, while covering unrest in Bolton, a selectively edited clip from one of my live reports, without vital context, was widely shared. It resulted in days of offensive, defamatory and highly personal attacks on myself and my family.”
He added: “I’ve always been proud of honest, accurate, impartial journalism. It has been disappointing to see national newspapers and prolific online figures basing stories and criticism wholly on a selectively edited clip by a member of the public.”
Without wanting to add to this users three million views, I’ve attached the edited 12 second clip in question.
Compare this framing to the uncut version from my live report on the News Channel, with the all important context leading up to it. https://t.co/c1yETr1jzK pic.twitter.com/RPnTshkUSQ
— Phillip Norton (@phillipnorton) August 8, 2024
The BBC issued its own response having received complaints about Norton’s words, which aired during the early evening news and 10pm bulletin.
The BBC said Norton “clearly attributed” the “pro-British” phrase, “making it plain this is how the protest in Bolton had been advertised by the organisers.
“We acknowledge there was one instance in live BBC News coverage where this attribution was not included, but our reporter had already made it clear – just moments before – that this was the description of the organisers of the march.
“This important context has been omitted from some selective edits on social media.”
The BBC also responded to other complaints about its coverage of the violence that unfolded around the country.
Some of the complaints concerned the use of the word “protests” but the BBC said its coverage had “made clear the violence and nature of unrest in different areas”.
“We have given careful consideration to all aspects of our coverage, including the language we have used, to ensure that we have accurately reflected to our audience the context of this situation as it has developed,” it said.
Some complaints were about references to the unrest taking place “across the UK”. But the BBC said that since riots had taken place in both England and Northern Ireland, it did not believe this was inaccurate.
And in relation to the use of the term “far-right” in relation to the protests, the BBC said: “Our use of language is evidence-based and with careful attention to detail, checking sources on the ground and reflecting a wide range of official statements addressing the influence of ‘far right’ groups on these events.”
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