BBCMurdertrans

There were no doubt sighs of relief at Broadcasting House today, as BBC News demonstrated its gift for impartiality and sensitive reporting in its coverage of the conviction of Scarlet Blake, who was found to have murdered a man in Oxford three years ago. Blake, a transgender woman, was described in a BBC News segment as “a woman who livestreamed herself killing, dissecting and blending the body of a cat before fatally attacking a man”.

The channel used female pronouns for Blake throughout the item, including the on-site court reporting, calling to mind the coverage of Isla Bryson, a trans woman who last year was convicted of two rapes in Scotland committed when he was a man. Though the BBC denied complaints from multiple viewers that it had referred to Bryson as a woman, other media reports were more accepting of the criminal’s transgender status. Good to know that our public broadcaster still has some standards…