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To: maceng2 who wrote (775)	5/16/2005 7:20:19 PM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1417

BBC Defends Paxman's Galloway Grilling By Sherna Noah, PA Media Correspondent news.scotsman.com The BBC has defended Jeremy Paxman’s election night interview with George Galloway after the corporation received more than 100 complaints. Viewers complained that the interview, which followed Mr Galloway’s victory over Labour’s Oona King, was too aggressive. Paxman asked Mr Galloway about his win in the Bethnal Green and Bow Constituency: “Mr Galloway, are you proud of having got rid of one of the very few black women in Parliament?” Mr Galloway replied, “what a preposterous question,” and soon walked out of the interview. But BBC head of political programmes Sue Inglish has defended the Newsnight presenter. She said Paxman began the interview with a question about Ms King’s race because a studio guest, former Labour MP Tony Banks, had just raised the issue. She said: “Some people found Jeremy Paxman’s line of questioning insensitive but, having reviewed the interview in the cold light of day, I do not agree. “It was Mr Banks who brought up questions of ethnicity and gender. “When Jeremy Paxman very shortly afterwards had a chance to interview George Galloway, the question he asked was one that many in the audience must at that point have had at the front of their minds: did Mr Galloway feel uncomfortable about unseating one of the few black women MPs? “Jeremy Paxman is renowned for his vigorous questioning and so the directness of the question can hardly have come as a surprise to Mr Galloway. “That Mr Galloway chose not to take the opportunity he was being offered to say that neither race nor religion nor sex was the issue is a matter for him, but it was a pertinent question to ask. “The interview only became bogged down on this issue because George Galloway preferred not to answer the question and move on to other matters.” During the interview, Mr Galloway, of the anti-war Respect party, refused to answer Paxman’s opening question and challenged the Newsnight presenter to congratulate him on his victory.