A BBC News reporter’s use of the n-word during a segment about a racist attack on a black man in Bristol has caused outrage.

Fiona Lamdin issued a warning before she said the racial slur as part of a quote attributed to one of the men who carried out the attack.

“Just to warn you, you’re about to hear highly offensive language because as the men ran away they hurled racial abuse, calling him a n*****,” Lamdin said during the broadcast.

Her report on the attack against an unnamed 21-year-old NHS worker, in which two men drove a car into him before running off and hurling racist abuse, aired shortly after 10.30 am on Wednesday.

Many viewers were outraged by the decision to say the word in full on air.

Complaints

Some of those offended by the language used in the report shared footage of the segment on social media and urged others to submit complaints.

“So a BBC news reported said ‘n*****’ bold as brass on live television. Ah ah, I thought they were not allowed. She could have said ‘he was called the n-word’ or just ‘racially offensive language’ and stopped there,” one person tweeted.

“There is no excuse and no acceptable reasoning for the utterance of this abhorrent word during your broadcast. Both the reporter and the people who gave the green light should be disciplined. This is a slippery slope to normalising its use. Please issue an apology. Now,” actress Amy Rockson tweeted.

Some defended the use of the word, which is understood to have been used in agreement with the family of the victim of the attack.

“I disagree, it needs to be said to let people know what’s going on in this so called tolerant society. Individuals are already out there questioning whether it was a racist attack. “N word” has 0 impact,” one Twitter user wrote.

Guidelines

BBC editorial guidelines direct employees to ensure that strong language is “subject to careful consideration and appropriate referral, to ensure it is editorially justified, before it is included in our output”.

It also states that strong language “can be acceptable when authentic or used for clear purpose or effect within a programme”.

The guidelines also instruct BBC employees not to include the strongest language before the watershed.

Following the complaints, the BBC has made the decision to no longer run with the version of the report which features the n-word uncensored.

A BBC spokesperson told The Voice: “This was a story about a shocking unprovoked attack on a young black man.

“His family told the BBC about the racist language used by the attackers and wanted to see the full facts made public. A warning was given before this was reported. We are no longer running this version of the report but are continuing to pursue the story.”