The BBC today backed a star presenter forced to correct the phrase ‘pregnant people’ to ‘women’ on her autocue while broadcasting live – and ruled out the need for any investigation, MailOnline can reveal.
There were concerns amongst colleagues that Martine Croxall could be disciplined after Justin Webb was told he partially breached BBC guidelines for describing trans women as ‘males’ during a Radio 4 debate.
But Martine’s bosses are said to have been ‘intensely relaxed’ after her intervention and have also decided there is no need for a probe into how the phrase ‘pregnant people’ ended up in her script.
They have already concluded it was an innocent mistake – rather than act of defiance on behalf of the trans community following the Supreme Court’s ruling in April.
MailOnline can reveal that Ms Croxall couldn’t hide her ‘shock and frustration’ when she was forced to change an autocue line from ‘pregnant people’ to ‘women’ live on air.
‘Most people didn’t need a Supreme Court ruling to tell them what a woman is – but based on what happened to Martine Croxall, it seems someone at the BBC might’, a senior figure at the corporation has claimed.
BBC newsreader Martine Croxall has the backing of her bosses after she overruled the autocue to replace ‘pregnant people’ with ‘women’ live on air
Martine Croxall’s message for supporters after after she was praised for rejecting woke gender-neutral language live on air
The BBC is blaming a press release on heat waves from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine for the blunder.
It quoted an academic who used the phrase ‘pregnant people’ instead of women and this was pasted into Martine’s autocue script by another BBC journalist – but Ms Croxall spotted it mid-broadcast.
The presenter has the full support of her bosses for her on-air heroics.
‘Martine is not in any trouble. She has the full backing of the BBC because she got it right’, MailOnline’s insider said.
Justin Webb, presenter of BBC Radio4’s Today programme, broke imparitiality rules by saying ‘trans women, in other words males’ on air, the BBC ruled last year
‘She was stating a fact and correcting a mistake’.
The source said that Ms Croxall, 56, and other presenters will often change words on the autocue without viewers noticing.
‘But this time I think she couldn’t hide she was shocked and frustrated by the mistake’.
Martine has won a legion of new fans, including JK Rowling. The broadcaster’s Twitter followers have jumped from 56,000 to 127,000 – and doubled in the first 24 hours after she changed her BBC script.
JK Rowling had been in direct contact with Martine to ask is she was ‘in trouble’ over the incident.
‘She has not had a single negative comment from her colleagues and the overwhelming response from the public has been positive’, the BBC source said.
In February last year Today programme presenter Justin Webb was found to have broken BBC impartiality rules after he said ‘trans women, in other words males’ on air.
Mr Webb’s comment was found to have fallen foul of guidelines because he ‘gave the impression of endorsing one viewpoint in a highly controversial area’, the corporation said.
He made the remark during a discussion about new International Chess Federation (FIDE) guidelines, which had looked at whether being biologically male held an advantage in the game.
But a listener complained that during the interview in August 2023, with Dominic Lawson, the Today presenter had given ‘his personal view’ on a ‘controversial matter’.
But following the Supreme Court’s ruling this year – it appears that the BBC has shifted its position.
Martine has supported women on TV before – and behind the scenes also stood up with female colleagues in their fight for equal pay at the corporation.
Famously she also got tough with a transgender wannabe politician who said she felt attacked when Ms Croxall questioned her claim that the Supreme Court’s April ruling that trans women are legally male and trans men are legally female might need further ‘clarification’.
There have also been lighter moments, including when she winked and joked that she was a ‘beautiful creature’ and also the times she was wasn’t in her seat as cameras began rolling.
She also appeared tearful when she announced the death of Prince Philip in 2021.
Martine with colleagues Kasia Madera, Annita McVeigh and Karin Giannone. The BBC agreed a settlement with four of its female broadcast news presenters over employment claims including age and sex discrimination in March this year
Heather Herbert, a trans campaigner and former Labour MSP candidate, provoked a furious response from Croxall after declaring: ‘I feel like I’m under attack’ when they discussed the Supreme Court’s ruling on gender
In April the broadcaster was praised when she challenged a transgender activist who claimed the Supreme Court‘s ruling that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex may still need ‘clarification’.
The BBC veteran firmly told ex-Labour MSP candidate Heather Herbert that the landmark ruling made it clear ‘sex is binary and immutable’.
Leicestershire-born Ms Croxall repeatedly challenged Herbert after she called for further ‘clarification’ on single sex spaces, at one point reminding her: ‘The ruling is that woman means biological sex.’
She spearheaded a legal case against the BBC over pay, with the corporation settling the case in March.
Martine, Karin Giannone, Kasia Madera and Annita McVeigh launched an employment tribunal against the BBC in a bombshell case, which included the claim they had not been paid equally compared with their male counterparts.
All four claimed they lost their roles on the BBC News Channel following a ‘rigged’ recruitment exercise when it was merged with BBC World. The case was settled by the BBC in the spring of this year.
The row meant the women were all off for 12 months, which Martine chronicled on social media. Instead of being in the studio she enjoyed trips to Mexico, Bulgaria and Thailand.
During her time off, she went swimming with whale sharks and sea lions in the Gulf of California, zipwired over a canyon in Mexico and fed elephants at a sanctuary in Phuket.
That’s on top of taking a hot balloon over the pyramids in Mexico and venturing on two ski trips, including one where she was seen relaxing in a massive hot tub after spending a day on the slopes.
Croxall joined the corporation in 1991 following work experience with her local station, BBC Radio Leicester.
She grew up in the countryside, attending an independent school before graduating from the University of Leeds.
In 2022, she was briefly taken off air after breaking the corporation’s impartiality rules.
Martine Croxall, arriving at the Central London Employment Tribunal, before the case was settled by the BBC
Martine has made viewers smile on a number of occasions when she rushed on camera
She also winked on an occasion and joked she was a ‘beautiful creature’ on a feature about sealife
In 2022, she was briefly taken off air after breaking the corporation’s impartiality rules when reporting that Boris Johnson was stepping down from the Tory leadership race with a smile
The blunder happened on October 23 after Boris Johnson ran out of the leadership contest that Rishi Sunak went on to win.
During the Sunday night edition of The Papers, where press members discuss the main stories of the day, she said in the wake of Johnson’s departure: ‘Well this is all very exciting, isn’t it? Am I allowed to be this gleeful? Well I am.’
Later in the show she also admitted that she was ‘probably breaking’ some of the BBC’s impartiality rules when she laughed at Tony Grew’s mocking of Johnson.
The corporation later ruled that Croxall had made ‘several remarks and reactions’ that caused ‘significant risk’ that the audience could believe ‘opinions were being expressed’ on the Conservative leadership race. She returned to air after 11 days off.
Following the death of Prince Philip, Ms Croxall was close to tears as she interrupted the broadcast to break the news to the country.
Ms Rowling reposted the clip on X, captioning it: ‘I have a new favourite BBC presenter’
During her year out from the BBC, Martine Croxall spent time travelling around the world. Pictured: On a hot air balloon in Mexico
The presenter beams from a balcony of a villa in Morestel in France in July 2023
Another photo from her social media showed her skiing in Bulgaria in February that year
Now she is in the headlines again after standing up for women.
The clip from a recent BBC News episode saw Ms Croxall introduce new research on the number of heat-related deaths expected amid Britain’s current heatwave.
But as the autocue prompted her to warn ‘pregnant people’ to take care in the heat, she first read the term out before overriding it, with a smirk and eyebrow raise.
She said: ‘Malcolm Mistry, who was involved in the research, said the aged, pregnant people – women! – and those with pre-existing health conditions need to take precautions.’
Ms Rowling reposted the clip on X, captioning it: ‘I have a new favourite BBC presenter.’
It is understood the phrase ‘pregnant people’ was the term used in the research the presenter was reporting on, rather than the BBC having written it.
Ms Croxall herself soon responded to a commenter who had praised her move as ‘brilliant’ by saying: ‘I hope you don’t get hauled before the BBC News beak.’
The broadcaster simply replied: ‘Braced x.’
The original clip was first reposted to X by campaign group SEEN In Journalism, which says it ‘seeks to restore accuracy and impartiality to media coverage of sex and gender’.
They captioned their post, ‘Good to see accuracy on BBC News’, followed by an emoji of a pregnant woman.
