The ECU’s findings said: “The ECU found that the inclusion of the n-word in the broadcast (which was also streamed live on iPlayer) was highly offensive, had no editorial justification and represented a breach of the BBC’s editorial standards, but that the breach was unintentional.”
Phillips explained that “the production team did not hear the n-word at the time it was said and therefore no decision was taken to leave the word within the broadcast”.
She added: “The ECU accepted this was a genuine mistake, especially as the team did correctly identify and edit out a subsequent use of the same word, in line with the protocols that were agreed in advance of the event regarding offensive and unacceptable language.”
The ECU said leaving the coverage on iPlayer until the Monday morning was also a “serious mistake” and breached guidelines.
“The fact that the unedited recording remained available for so long aggravated the offence caused by the inadvertent inclusion of the n-word in the broadcast,” its report said.
Phillips said: “There was a lack of clarity among the team present at the event as to whether the word was audible on the recording. This resulted in there being a delay before the decision was taken to remove the recording from iPlayer.
“The ECU has been clear that this was a serious mistake and commented that the fact the unedited version stayed up overnight made the severe impact of the inadvertent inclusion of the n-word worse.”
Phillips said the BBC “must learn from our mistakes and ensure our processes are as robust as they can be”, and set out measures to improve pre-event planning, production at live events, and the iPlayer takedown processes.