Social Affairs correspondent Fiona Lamdin used the N-word in a segment on an apparent racial attack in the city of Bristol, which left more than 18,600 complaints from viewers.
“The BBC now accepts that we should have taken a different approach at the time of the broadcast and we are very sorry for that,” Hall wrote in the email, which the BBC shared with CNN. “We will now strengthen our offensive language guidance on our output.”
The broadcaster had intended to mark a marked racist attack, wrote Hall, adding that the BBC would continue to report on these stories.
“Every organization needs to be able to recognize when a mistake has been made. We have made one here,” he wrote. “It’s important for us to listen – and also to learn. And that’s what we will continue to do.”
The apology came after a popular BBC radio host, DJ Sideman, resigned over the use of the slur.
“The use of the N-word and the subsequent defense of it felt like a slap in the face to our community,” DJ Sideman – real name David Whitely – said in a video statement posted on Instagram on Saturday.
“The BBC’s sanctioning the N-word spoken by a white person on national television is something I can not rock with. This is a judgment error where I just can not smile with you through the process and if anything. occurs, “he added.
On Sunday, a Black correspondent for BBC World, Larry Madowo, told his 1.9 million Twitter followers that the BBC “did not allow” him to use the N-world in an article quoting an African-American.
“But a white person was allowed to say it on TV because it was ‘editorially fair,'” Madowo tweeted.
Lamdin’s report was released on July 29. It described an attack on a health worker and musician, known as K, as K-Dogg.
He was hit by a car on July 22, in what police described as a ‘racially assaulted attack’ because of the racist language used by the occupants of the car.
Four men between the ages of 18 and 23 have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
CNN’s Hilary McGann contributed to this report.
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