The lead presenter of Britain's Channel 4 News was on Thursday taken off air for a week after swearing at a Conservative minister following an interview.
The incident involving presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy came after a feisty interview with Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker in off-air comments picked up by microphones.
"Channel 4 has a strict code of conduct for all its employees, including its programming teams and on-air presenters, and takes any breaches seriously," the public broadcaster said in a statement.
"Following an off-air incident, Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy has been taken off air for a week."
Krishnan Guru-Murthy has made an apology "unreservedly" to Baker over calling the latter a "c***" in what he described an "unguarded moment". The minister accepted the apology but also said on another occasion that he hoped that Guru-Murthy was sacked by his channel.
According to the journalist, the remark came after "a robust interview" with Baker but it was "beneath the standards I set myself", the Independent reported.
Guru-Murthy was heard on a livestream saying "what a c***" during an off-air moment following the interview with the minister.
“After a robust interview with Steve Baker MP I used a very offensive word in an unguarded moment off air," he later said in a tweet.
“While it was not broadcast that word in any context is beneath the standards I set myself and I apologise unreservedly."
Baker later replied to the tweet saying, “I appreciate you apologising. Thank You."
But, he told John Pienaar on Times Radio later that he hoped Channel 4 sacked Guru-Murthy, the report added.
“I had an interview earlier with a journalist I don’t have a great deal of regard for, who I felt always misrepresenting the situation through the construction of his question, which I called out, I think live on air, or I thought it was a pre-record," the minister said.
“And he clearly didn’t like that, quite right, too. But I’d be quite honest, I spent a long time live on air, calling him out on his contact as a journalist and glad to do so any time.
“But it’s most unfortunate that he has sworn on air like that. If it’s in breach of his code of conduct, I do hope they sack him – it would be a service to the public.”
(With inputs from AFP)
Bags of rubbish and bins overflow on the pavement in the Sparkbrook area on June 02, 2025 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
