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December 17, 2009

BBC apologises for its ‘Should homosexuals face execution?’ headline

By Press Gazette

Peter Horrocks, director of the BBC World Service, has apologised for the offence caused by the corporation running a post in its The Have Your Say forum with the headline ‘Should homosexuals face execution?”

Horrocks wrote on the BBC Editors blog this afternoon the ‘original headline on our website was, in hindsight, too stark”.

“We apologise for any offence it caused. But it’s important that this does not detract from what is a crucial debate for Africans and the international community.

“The programme was a legitimate and responsible attempt to support a challenging discussion about proposed legislation that advocates the death penalty for those who undertake certain homosexual activities in Uganda – an important issue where the BBC can provide a platform for debate that otherwise would not exist across the continent and beyond.”

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