Would it be correct to describe Nick Robinson as an 'insufficiently honest journalist'? Archived Message Posted by johnlilburne on January 10, 2020, 12:22 am Tweet by Nick Robinson, 26 February 2019 Complaint In response to the claim of Chris Williamson MP (in an interview with him earlier that day) never to have seen anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, Nick Robinson tweeted “Did you forget you’d agreed to screen a film in Parliament by a woman suspended from Labour for saying the Jews controlled the slave trade?”. A reader complained that this was inaccurate, in that the woman in question (Jackie Walker) had been the subject, not the maker, of the film, and that the phrase “the Jews controlled the slave trade” misrepresented what she had in fact said. Outcome Ms Walker was the subject, not the maker of the film, but this element of inaccuracy was immaterial to an understanding of the issue raised by the tweet. But her original words (in response to a friend who had raised the question of “the debt” owed to the Jews because of the Holocaust) were “Oh yes – and I hope you feel the same towards the African holocaust? My ancestors were involved in both – on all sides as I'm sure you know, millions more Africans were killed in the African holocaust and their oppression continues today on a global scale in a way it doesn't for Jews... and many Jews (my ancestors too) were the chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade which is of course why there were so many early synagogues in the Caribbean. So who are victims and what does it mean? We are victims and perpetrators to some extent through choice. And having been a victim does not give you a right to be a perpetrator”. Even allowing for the element of compression often seen in tweets, Nick Robinson’s paraphrase gave an insufficiently accurate impression of Ms Walker’s actual words. Partly upheld Further action Nick Robinson tweeted that he accepted the BBC Complaints process finding that his paraphrase gave “an insufficiently accurate impression”. Message Thread: Would it be correct to describe Nick Robinson as an 'insufficiently honest journalist'? - johnlilburne January 10, 2020, 12:22 am More like "sufficiently dishonest". Wouldn't have the job otherwise. nm - Der January 10, 2020, 7:57 am It doesn't matter as he and the tweet did their jobs. nm - Jamie January 10, 2020, 9:11 am   Searching