A BBC interview with the French far-right presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, has been cleared by the media regulator over complaints that it was inappropriate and disrespectful to air it on Remembrance Sunday.
The interview, shown on BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show on 13 November, prompted a small protest by an anti-racism group outside Broadcasting House in central London during the programme. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, briefly addressed the demonstration.
It also led to criticism on social media and 11 members of the public lodging complaints with the regulator, Ofcom, that showing an interview with the Front National leader on Remembrance Sunday was disrespectful to those killed fighting against fascism.
Marr was forced to defend the interview, saying in the light of Trump’s US presidential election victory and with Le Pen “under some circumstances” the potential next French president, it was the right time to look at the rise of radical rightwing politics.
“What does that mean?” he said. “In the end, we are a news programme and I don’t think that the best way to honour the fallen is to fail to report on the next big challenge to western security.”
.@AndrewMarr9: Why I interviewed Marine Le Pen #marr https://t.co/cplBTZCHa8
— The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) November 13, 2016
On Monday, Ofcom said it had assessed the complaints against the broadcasting code (pdf) to see if a full investigation into a potential breach of rules relating to harm and offence was warranted.
However, the regulator decided that given the context of world events and the BBC challenging Le Pen’s views, there were no grounds to pursue a full investigation.
“We assessed 11 complaints that an interview with Marine Le Pen should not have featured in this programme on Remembrance Sunday,” an Ofcom spokesman said. “In our view, the interview included appropriate challenges to Marine Le Pen’s views and was justified by the context.”
