BBC News has been accused of sexism after referring to a female Oscar-nominated sound-editor as “sound-editor mum”.
Nina Hartstone, who previously won a Bafta at this year’s Bafta awards, is nominated for an Oscar for her work on Bohemian Rhapsody.
On Sunday, the news outlet published an article on Hartstone’s accomplishments, with the headline – ‘The sound-editor mum up for an Oscar’.
In the first paragraph, Harstone was introduced as: “At home Nina Hartstone runs the PTA and feeds the cat, at work she’s a Bafta-winning sound editor.”
On social media, the BBC faced immediate backlash for what many claimed was a sexist profile of Hartstone.
In addition to unnecessarily referencing her role as a mother and member of the PTA, as it does not pertain to her work, people also suggested that a male sound editor would never be referred to as a “sound-editor dad.”
“When would you ever see this headline about a sound-editor dad? Seriously, have some respect,” one person wrote.
Another said: “Hang on… she’s a sound-editor AND a mum?? A job AND a child?? Tell us more, BBC News…”
“This woman has been a professional for 25 years, has been nominated for an Oscar yet BBC still describes her as ‘mum-of-three’ and former ‘tea girl’. Now you know why we get so angry,” someone else tweeted.
Following the sexism allegations, BBC News has since changed the headline to read: “Bohemian Rhapsody: First Oscars night for sound editor” and has removed references to Hartstone’s work on the PTA.
However, the article still refers to Hartstone as a “mother-of-three”.
A spokesperson for BBC News told The Independent: “We had clearly misjudged this headline, so we changed it.”
