To think it grossly unfair that Emily Maitlis won't be on Newsnight tonight and DC and BJ are still in their jobs?

[theduchessstill]

It just sums up this shit country and the state it's in imo.

Watching Johnson stuttering and blustering his way through the select committee this afternoon showing that he doesn't have a grip on the crisis at all and then finding that Maitlis, who is excellent at her job, has been chastised and suspended feels like yet another blow to decency in the UK. It comes after the government refusing to appear on the show for weeks as well - too scared.

How much longer will this shit go on?

I don't have a clue what L Kuenssberg you lot are watching, but it isn't the same as mine!

I assume that she did write it but no way did she come out with it out of the blue, so, yes, it's also unfair because she has carried the can for something she wasn't solely responsible for.

Charlotte are you happy paying the salaries of the government and who have a very important job to do and by any measure are doing it incredibly badly?

@venustiger

Extremely well said! Someone’s opinion isn’t news!

This is the reason why the license fee should be scrapped immediately.

Absolute bollocks.
EM does my head in the way she often interrupts the guests, but there’s no way she should be suspended for saying what over half of the country (according to a recent poll) apparently think, as well as now over 40 Tory MPs. I’ll be using that complaints link to say so.

I've written to the BBC to complain about her removal.

The government had spent 3 days talking absolute shit about the Cummings affair with a massive platfor, hours of press conferences and interviews. Cummings himself had over an hour of BBC time to spout his ridiculous lies . It is TRUE that he did not follow the guidance. Anyone who can read can see that. We have been lied to, misled and gaslit (gaslighted?) by senior government ministers for days about this. They have undermined their own, crucially important public health message.

She did a public service, and her job, by speaking truth to power after days of this crap. She should not have to balance truth with lies, that's not how it works. Newsnight asks the government every day to send someone on the show, they always refuse. They can go on, and put forward their own case.

I think the punishment fits the crime.

Assuming she wrote her intro, she was wrong to not meet the impartiality standards.

I thought Laura Kuenssberg looked visibly apoplectic when she was questioning DC on Monday.

Charlotteare you happy paying the salaries of the government and who have a very important job to do and by any measure are doing it incredibly badly?

These are two separate issues. I pay for the wages of the government we collectively vote for because I understand and hold high the idea of democracy whether the results serve my own ends or not.

I am happy to see Maitlis' rant removed because I understand and respect the idea of impartiality whether the results serve my own ends or not.

I think it would be either stupid or morally base to dispense with either because it went along with my desires or targeted someone I disliked. Certainly incredibly short sighted at any rate.

Seems there's a lot of it about, though.

Lurker I don't think impartiality means bland and toothless does it? And it can be achieved across a programme or indeed across several for the BBC to achieve its remit of being impartial. It certainly doesn't mean every word a presenter says has to be 'balanced' and 'bland.' That misunderstanding leads to the kind of shit where they do a report on climate change and then get a non-entity to say it's not true, just in the name of balance or impartiality.

EM had me shouting at the telly last week when she gave a really hard time to someone from a teaching union; that's how i know she's impartial, because she holds everyone to account, no need for her to become vapid and dull.

She should not have to balance truth with lies,

Exactly! Wish I'd just put that.

I have complained tonight about her reprimand and removal from tonight's show.

Truth is not impartial.

@Quotetheduchessstill Thanks for putting it so eloquently. My thoughts exactly.

That should say truth is impartial

Such rubbish from the Tory apologists on this thread! If you believe in democracy you should have a massive problem with an unelected Rasputinesque psycho weirdo telling your Prime Minister what to do...
And there's been nothing impartial about Laura K, can't get her head far enough up Johnson's hole and was caught lying about Jeremy Corbyn yet never censured.

CahrlottesPleb well I'm far from delighted at paying the wages of Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson who in the last week have lied to and misguided the public at a time when the country is fighting its way through a global health pandemic. Neither of which have been formally reprimanded for their actions yet.

I applaud what Maitlis said but understand because of the platform she is on she must be answerable for her actions. I'm quite sure she understands the importance of accountability.

Sometimes there doesn't seem any justice in the world.

Emily Maitlis may be tapping into the zeitgeist and saying what a lot of people are thinking ... but she is a newsreader, and, as such, what she did was so counter to her job that I view it as a sackable offence.

Because, imagine if she gave her opinion about something you disagreed with vehemently. Would you be quite so supportive?

@Arseit

Absolute bollocks.
EM does my head in the way she often interrupts the guests, but there’s no way she should be suspended for saying what over half of the country (according to a recent poll))

Why TF should we give a tiny crap what ANYONE thinks, that IS NOT TELLING US THE NEWS!! FFS!!
And what poll are you referring to - did you vote in it, I didn't, anyone here?? I can make a poll right now...... okay, 'Cats prefer milk to water' - there you go, only needed to ask my two cats.
Polls are a big pile of shite.
Newsnight is supposed to allow people to discuss as we would at home, not for the impartial presenter to do it for us.

If you resort to "whataboutery" then you have no argument

but she is a newsreader

Newsnight isn't like the 6 o Clock news- they are not newsreaders but journalists. It is very different and always has been.

@BertiesLanding - absolutely!! What if she said she "doesn't agree to abortion and think they should be illegal, as does the rest of the country according to MY poll" before then introducting a doctor and a mother onto the show to discuss abortions. SAME THING. Stop being hypocrites! No-one going to wonder why the 'others' aren't being asked all these questions who broke the rules??

I've just read what she said and it is clear that she is presenting opinion as fact. That's fine if she was asked to produce an opinion piece but not fine otherwise.

I have no idea whether removing her from tonight's show is a suitable punishment or not.

Venus, you seem very angry - why? If you're annoyed about her speech you got what you wanted, so why the shouting? And no, newsnight isn't supposed to replicate the average household discussing events at home .

Totally unfair, as someone above said, a woman being punished for a mans crime.

She verbalised what everyone else is saying.

She is a fab journalist and I hope the BBC review how they have treated her and backtrack pronto.

The BBC are shits for how they treat women and older women in particular..

She had been treated outrageously unfairly.

She did a public service, and her job, by speaking truth to power after days of this crap.

Another person who doesn't understand the word impartiality.

She didn't put the story across in an impartial way as an introduction to the program, it's that simple. The BBC can't and should not accuse the government of lying. They can host a discussion of people that do say that but they must remain impartial.