RANVIR Singh was missing from Good Morning Britain today following backlash over her report on the Holocaust.
The presenter, 47, was forced to apologise yesterday for failing to mention Jews as she listed the targeted groups of victims murdered at the hands of Nazi Germany.
The error was made during the ITV show’s coverage of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Monday.
Charlotte Hawkins, 49, was seen on-screen today instead as she read the news bulletins for breakfast show viewers.
The Sun has reached out to ITV for comment.
Good Morning Britain came under fire over the incident on Monday by the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
While listing the victims of the death camps, Ms Singh included a number of targeted groups, but not those of the Jewish faith.
She said live on air: “Six million people were killed in concentration camps during the Second World War, as well as millions of others because they were Polish, disabled, gay or belonged to another ethnic group.”
A Campaign Against Antisemitism spokesman said it “truly beggars belief”, adding it was “dire reporting”.
They went on to say: “If this is intended to pay respect to the victims of Holocaust Memorial Day, it has failed abysmally and ignores the true nature of this horrific event.
“Additionally, there is bafflingly no utterance of the word ‘antisemitism’ whatsoever.”
In an apology issued a day after the report was aired, Ms Singh said: “In yesterday’s news, when we reported on the memorial events in Auschwitz, we said six million people were killed in the Holocaust but crucially failed to say they were Jewish. That was our mistake, which we apologise for.”
In a statement, ITV added: “In our studio introduction to the report on the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz we failed to acknowledge the Jewish community which we have since apologised for live on air in today’s programme.
“This failure was done in error, however clear reference to Jewish people in the correspondent news report from Auschwitz immediately followed, as well as a further extended programme report referencing the six million Jewish victims.
“Yesterday’s programme also included a live studio interview with a survivor of Auschwitz, Rachel Levy alongside Olivia Marks-Woldman, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Memorial Trust, both of whom talked candidly about their own experiences as Jewish people.”
Holocaust Memorial Day celebrates the closing of the Nazis’ biggest death camp by Allied forces on January 27 1945.
Ms Singh failed to mention Jews as victims of the Holocaust[/caption]
Campaign Against Antisemitism full statement
Six million people were killed in concentration camps during the Second World War, as well as millions of others because they were Polish, disabled, gay, or belonged to another ethnic group.
Jews. The word you’re looking for is ‘Jews’, not ‘people’. This truly beggars belief.
This dire reporting is not only factually incorrect but erases Jews from a genocide in which six million Jewish men, women and children were slaughtered specifically because they were Jews.
How is it possible, therefore, that on Holocaust Memorial Day of all days, @GMB manages to acknowledge several other groups but not Jews?
To make matters worse, there is no reference to Jewish people at all for over two minutes into this segment, and when there finally is one, it is only done once and in regard to former history students taking a tour of the Jewish quarter of Kraków.
Additionally, there is bafflingly no utterance of the word “antisemitism” whatsoever. If this is intended to pay respect to the victims of Holocaust Memorial Day, it has failed abysmally and ignores the true nature of this horrific event.
How on earth was this allowed to happen, @ITV? We demand an explanation.
