BBC struggles to pronounce Irish politician’s name, makes him ‘Russian’ as on-air gaffes continue

BBC’s Newsnight has been ridiculed this week after an online clip of the program was shared on social media, showing the presenter struggling to say a politician’s real (and rather simple) name.

With its non-phonetic pronunciation, the English language can be an impenetrable tongue-twisting maze. But as tourists struggle to say the places Leicester Square and Edinburgh correctly, it seems the BBC has problems with simple names. According to BBC Newsnight’s policy editor, Lewis Goodall, the next taoiseach (prime minister of Ireland) could be a man called ‘Mikhail’ Martin. It’s obviously not an easy denomination to say; “Mee-hawl, Meek-hill, Mich-hail”… or maybe the slip-up was on purpose, as a mysterious connection to some sneaky Russian interference? Another gremlin from the Kremlin caught red handed!

One Twitter user said: “So the BBC @BBCNewsnight are scrutinising Irish/Russian link in politics more than they did with GB’s Tory party or should that be English/Welsh\ Russian Tory party” while another joked: “The poor old Beep. They just don’t get this foreign stuff.”

BBC Newsnight has not commented on the issue so far.

Newsnight’s policy editor obviously missed that Micheál (or Comrade Mikhail) Martin wasn’t born in Tomsk, Siberia but Cork in southern Ireland, and as leader as the Fianna Fáil opposition party he might, er, not be connected to the KGB at all. In a week when the BBC captioned the wrong MPs due to their (lazy?) the pigeonholing of every black female MP (and apologized for it later), perhaps this new mispronunciation is a secret love affair with the USSR? Either way, after the ridicule and memes on social media this week, it’s almost certain that Newsnight now knows Micheál Martin isn’t ‘From Russia with Love’ but rather the less exotic Cork South-Central constituency.

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