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The BBC recently confirmed that one of its top radio hosts broke its "impartiality rules" late last year for referring to a trans woman as a "male."
U.K. outlet The Sun reported on Saturday that the BBC affirmed the judgment against "Today" host Justin Webb after viewers complained that he said, "trans women, in other words, males," on the network’s "Radio 4" program last August.
According to the outlet, a listener complained to the network that Mr. Webb was giving his "personal view" on gender identity instead of being impartial on the subject.
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The BBC recently disciplined radio host Justin Webb after he referred to trans women as "male" during a broadcast last August. (Getty Images)
After reviewing it, the network’s editorial complaints department agreed with the complaint, concluding that the host "gave the impression of endorsing one viewpoint in a highly controversial area".
Webb made the comments during a discussion on whether trans women chess players have an advantage or biological female chess players because the former are biologically male.
A BBC spokesperson confirmed that Webb violated the network’s style guide, stating, "The BBC’s style guide states we should generally use the term and pronoun preferred by the person in question, unless there are editorial reasons not to do so."
The spokesperson also noted that Webb regretted the phrasing, saying, "In this case Justin accepts it would have been more accurate to use the term biological male."
The Sun noted how some political activists defended Webb’s word choice.
Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at "Sex Matters" – a women’s rights group – pointed out that Webb was "simply doing his job" by being "clear that ‘trans women’ are male."
McAnena also slammed the network for rebuking the radio host, saying, "By disciplining a presenter who states biological reality and seeks to inform his audience, the BBC has lost all credibility."
Reportedly, the BBC's editorial complaints department said Webb "gave the impression of endorsing one viewpoint in a highly controversial area." (Alexander Pohl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The network also recently revealed it received 287 complaints about a recent story covering some British health officials’ statements that breast milk produced by trans women is as good for babies as milk from a biological female.
The network publicly apologized in February 2023 after BBC Radio guest Stacey Henley accused "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling of pushing "transphobia," while denouncing the "Hogwarts Legacy" video game that had recently come out.
At the time, Henley said on-air, "The reason we're not [supporting the game] is really the fact that Harry Potter and the world that Harry Potter exhibits is just entirely connected to J.K. Rowling, but she has a platform that she uses to push transphobia, that she uses to build up this campaign against trans people, especially in Britain."
Shortly after, the BBC apologized in a statement that its hosts did not push back on Henley’s claims about the global superstar author.
That statement read, "We do accept that there wasn't sufficient challenge to the claims that were made and that we fell short here. This is a difficult and contentious area which we do try very hard to cover fairly. However, we should have challenged the claims more directly and we apologize that we did not."
The BBC did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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