Fiona Armstrong's Darcus Howe riots interview 'not ideal', says BBC

The BBC has responded to viewer complaints about BBC News presenter Fiona Armstrong's interview with Darcus Howe following the UK riots.

Broadcaster and columnist Howe was twice introduced as Marcus Dowe by Armstrong before beginning a short interview about the ongoing violence in London and other parts of the UK.

During the interview, the presenter said: "You are not a stranger to riots yourself, I understand, are you? You have taken part in them yourself."

Howe responded: "I have never taken part in a single riot. I've been part of demonstrations that ended up in a conflict. Stop accusing me of being a rioter and have some respect for an old West Indian negro, because you wanted for me to get abusive. You just sound idiotic - have some respect."

Watch Fiona Armstrong's interview with Darcus Howe below:



The BBC responded to complaints from viewers who felt that "Fiona Armstrong was rude towards Darcus Howe and accused him of taking part in riots".

A BBC statement read: "We forwarded concerns on this issue to BBC News Channel Editors and while they accept that this interview was not ideal, they stressed that the presenter did not intend to show Mr Howe any disrespect and the questions were simply intended to gauge his reaction to the events in Croydon the night before.

"In particular they acknowledge that the interview included a poorly phrased question about rioting. This can and does happen on occasions during live interviews and was compounded by a number of technical issues during the interview which led to the presenter and Mr Howe talking over each other.

"Therefore while Fiona Armstrong was trying to make a general point about protests, we'd like to apologise for any offence that this interview has caused."

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