NEWSNIGHT presenter Emily Maitlis has hit out at the BBC after the broadcaster accused her of perceived breaches of impartiality rules twice in the last year.

The journalist was told off by her employer in May 2020 when she presented a monologue on Dominic Cummings’s lockdown trip from London to Durham and Barnard Castle.

She told viewers that the Prime Minister’s former chief adviser “broke the rules”, adding that the country was “shocked” the Government could not see that.

The BBC said the comments during the political programme “did not meet our standards of due impartiality”.

READ MORE: Newsnight's Emily Maitlis told off by BBC for sharing post criticising UK Government

Speaking to Press Gazette, Maitlis said she did not regret her monologue. “It hasn’t ever been explained to me what was journalistically inaccurate about that,” she told the website.

She also claims that the BBC apologised for the incident following a call from Downing Street. The BBC said it is “false” to suggest that its apology was made due to pressure from Number 10, commenting: “Decisions about the BBC’s editorial standards at made by the BBC.”

The corporation said they would be speaking to Maitlis about the interview.

Maitlis called on news outlets to consider who is benefiting from criticising their content. “I think it pays to be particularly curious and particularly dispassionate about these things. Because otherwise we lose something really important. Which is editorial independence.”

Maitlis was told off by the BBC again this year when she retweeted a post from Piers Morgan which read: “If failing to quarantine properly is punishable by 10yrs in prison, what is the punishment for failing to properly protect the country from a pandemic?”

The retweet was removed from her Twitter account within minutes, because Maitlis “didn’t want to be on the received end of a load of @PiersMorgan tweets”.

But the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit still found the material was “clearly controversial, implying sharp criticism of the Government”.

Like the Cummings’s incident, Maitlis said she didn’t regret that retweet either.

The National:

“The tweet said nothing I haven’t actually asked on air,” she pointed out.

Maitlis also took aim at how quickly the BBC investigated the complaints, given that it took 25 years for the corporation to apologise for deception involved in Martin Bashir’s interview with Princess Diana.

“It’s funny to see something like [the Cummings apology statement] happen so quickly when a corporation can take up to three decades to investigate serious journalistic malfeasance and critical management failings in the Bashir investigation,” she commented. “So I think it’s all a question of priority, really, isn’t it?”

Following the interview with Press Gazette, a spokesperson for the BBC said: “Nothing is more important than our impartiality. All BBC journalists must abide by the BBC’s editorial guidelines and social media rules. There are no exceptions. We will be taking this up with Emily.”