A complaint over comments made about trans people by Today Programme presenter Justin Webb has been upheld.
Webb made the comments during a discussion about new International Chess Federation (FIDE) guidelines released last year regarding whether being born male can give players an advantage in the game.
During the programme, he referred to trans women as “in other words males”, leading to a viewer complaint that he had given his personal view on the matter in a breach of BBC guidelines.
In a ruling published on Thursday, the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) adjudged that he had broken impartiality rules but said it was not in a position to determine Webb’s personal opinion on the issue.
It said in a statement: “The ECU understood Mr Webb’s intention in using the phrase ‘trans women, in other words males’ was to underline the question arising from the FIDE guidelines but noted a press line issued at the time included an acknowledgement that his phrasing did not convey an entirely accurate impression.
“In relation to impartiality, however, the ECU considered it could only be understood by listeners as meaning that trans women remain male, without qualification as to gender or biological sex, and that, even if unintentional, it gave the impression of endorsing one viewpoint in a highly controversial area. It therefore upheld this aspect of the complaint.”
In February 2022, Webb had a similar ruling partly upheld against him after alluding to his personal view on transphobia accusations against university professor Kathleen Stock.
During an introduction to Radio 4’s newspaper review back in October 2024, he said: “And quite a lot of coverage still of Kathleen Stock, the academic from Sussex University who’s been abused by students who accuse her, falsely, of transphobia.”
In the same month, Webb controversially asked Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey if there should “not be spaces where biological males cannot go” while referring to trans women.
