Complaint
This bulletin included a report that the World’s Strongest Woman competition had been won by a British athlete “after it emerged the original winner was not eligible because she was transgender”. A listener complained that the report was inaccurate in describing the original winner as “transgender” (and elsewhere “biologically male”) when it should simply have said “male”, and that its use of feminine pronouns in connection with the original winner indicated pro-trans bias. Another listener complained that the term “transgender” was misleading because it excluded trans men who, because they were biologically female, would have been eligible to take part in the contest. The ECU considered the complaints in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy and impartiality.
Outcome
The BBC acknowledges that gender identity is a controversial topic, and that no choice of terminology is likely to satisfy all viewpoints. The policy of BBC News is therefore to use language which is helpful to the audience’s understanding in the context of the facts of the particular story. In this instance the choice of terminology made clear to listeners that the previous winner, though now identifying as female, was recorded as male at birth, and was duly accurate in the context. The use of female pronouns simply reflected the previous winner’s self-identification and did not indicate pro-trans bias. The ECU accepted the point that a trans man would have been eligible to compete, but saw no prospect of listeners being misled by the use of the term “transgender” in a context where it was entirely clear that it applied to someone recorded as male at birth but now identifying as female.
Not upheld