BBC Breakfast's Naga Munchetty issues apology as guest cut off live on air
BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty was forced to issue an apology during Saturday's morning programme after a tech blunder caused an interview to be interrupted.
During an interview over video call with Clean Up Britain representative Ed Lennox, hosts Naga and Ben Thompson were forced to take over.
Lennox had been speaking about the NGO's campaign to find sustainable solutions to fly-tipping and litter across Britain.
However, he was cut off just minutes into the interview, and could be heard saying he couldn't hear the hosts in the studio.
"Apologies, we'll try again," Naga told viewers. Ben jokingly added: "We'll put some money in the metre."
"Any good?" Naga then asked producers, before clarifying: "No, apologies, we're not going to be able to carry on that interview with Ed Lennox from Clean Up Britain but that was shocking."
Before he was cut off, Ben had been introducing Lennox and speaking about the "astonishing" story and the "scale" of dumping in a woodlands in Kent which has now caused a £15,000,000 clean up project.
Thousands of tonnes of rubbish had been illegally dumped there by criminal gangs, with investigations ongoing to identify those responsible.
"We've got the biggest problem in Western Europe in the UK and it's not going to stop until there's some central coordination and incentives offered to use that to smash the criminal gangs," Lennox warned during the interview.
"But we've made it more and more difficult in the UK for people to do the right thing, which means people are tempted to do the wrong thing.
"When they do the wrong thing, the chances of getting caught, fined, or going to prison and being made to pay for their crimes is becoming increasingly rare unfortunately."
"Ed, can you still hear us? I'm hoping you can still hear us?" Ben said from the studio.
"I can only hear about every third word," Lennox replied, before he was cut off air.
Elsewhere on Saturday’s programme, Newswatch presenter Samira Ahmed addressed backlash to the BBC from viewers after President Donald Trump’s expletive airing.
Speaking of the ongoing war between Israel and Iran, Ahmed began: "However murky the truth is of the damage that's been done by both sides in that conflict, what was crystal clear on Tuesday was President Trump's reaction after both Iran and Israel appeared to have immediately broken the ceasefire that the United States had negotiated along with Qatar.
"In speaking with reporters he used an expletive which we won't be showing in this version which went out on some BBC outlets."
In a since viral interview, Trump had seethed: "We have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f**k they're doing. Do you understand that?"
Addressing the backlash from viewers over the BBC choosing when to air Trump’s expletive and when to censor it, Ahmed said: "We have been looking at advice on the subject and the BBC's editorial guidelines."
Daily Express
