Ofcom’s has clarified its decision not to uphold complaints against BBC reporter Tim Willcox over remarks he made to a Jewish woman.
Mr Willcox told the woman that “Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well” during an interview following the terrorist attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris in which four Jews were murdered.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the broadcasting watchdog ruled that Mr Willcox comments were “justified by the context in which they were presented.”
But in a new statement issued a day later, Ofcom said it had “carefully assessed complaints about alleged antisemitic comments” and “decided not to take the issue forward for further investigation.”
It explained: "While the comments clearly had the potential to cause offence, Ofcom considered a range of factors, including the live nature of this coverage and the need for an appropriate degree of freedom of expression, especially in news coverage of such a significant event."
