Complaint
Ms Kuenssberg introduced an interview with the Home Secretary Suella Braverman by saying she had 鈥quit as Home Secretary for inadvertently leaking information about the job first time round鈥. 聽A viewer complained this gave an inaccurate impression of the circumstances of her earlier resignation, challenging the use of 鈥渜耻颈迟鈥 on the basis that Ms Braverman had in fact been forced to resign, and 鈥渋苍补诲惫别谤迟别苍迟濒测鈥 on the basis that she had acted deliberately.聽 The effect of Ms Kuenssberg鈥檚 choice of words was to show partiality towards Ms Braverman by minimising the fault attaching to her conduct.聽 The ECU assessed the complaint against the standards for due accuracy and impartiality set out in the 大象传媒 Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
In relation to 鈥渜耻颈迟鈥, the ECU noted that the circumstances of Ms Braverman鈥檚 resignation were not at issue in the interview which followed, so there was no requirement for Ms Kuenssberg to go beyond the fact of her resignation and into the question of whether she had any choice in the matter. 聽In relation to 鈥渋苍补诲惫别谤迟别苍迟濒测鈥, the ECU noted that the breach of the Ministerial Code which occasioned Ms Braverman鈥檚 resignation consisted of sending an official document from a personal email account, and that it could be inferred from her resignation statement that she had not been aware that this constituted a breach at the time of sending. 聽It therefore could not be said with certainty that she had not acted inadvertently in relation to the issue which warranted her resignation.聽 This might have fallen short of justifying Ms Kuenssberg鈥檚 choice of words if the inadvertency or otherwise of Ms Braverman鈥檚 actions had been a matter of dispute following her resignation, but the ECU found no evidence that it had been (the main argument at the time having been about the gravity or otherwise of the breach).聽 In those circumstances, the ECU judged that, even if 鈥渋苍补诲惫别谤迟别苍迟濒测鈥 were not accurate, the inaccuracy would not have been material to the audience鈥檚 understanding of the matters under discussion in the interview which followed Ms Kuenssberg鈥檚 introduction.聽 There being no material inaccuracy in Ms Kuenssberg鈥檚 wording, the ECU did not find that any breach of impartiality arose from them.
Not Upheld