Alex Armstrong vents fury at BBC apology after it omitted Jewish people from Holocaust Memorial Day coverage

In one instance, during a bulletin on Radio 4's Today programme, newsreader Caroline Nicholls informed listeners that buildings would be illuminated "to commemorate the six million people murdered by the Nazi regime more than 80 years ago."

The same formulation appeared on BBC Breakfast, where presenter Jon Kay introduced the segment as "a day for remembering the six million people who were murdered by the Nazi regime over 80 years ago."

Anchor Martine Croxall delivered an identical line on the BBC News channel.

According to the Daily Mail, at least four presenters used this phrasing throughout Tuesday's broadcasts.

The corporation acknowledged the error in a statement, saying: "In the news bulletins on Today and in the introduction to the story on BBC Breakfast, there were references to Holocaust Memorial Day which were incorrectly worded, and for which we apologise.

"Both should have referred to 'six million Jewish people', and we will be issuing a correction on our website."

The omission sparked immediate condemnation from Jewish organisations and prominent figures.

Alex was just one public figure who expressed their outrage via social media. "How on earth do you omit Jews from a holocaust report?" the GB News fan-favourite asked in disbelief.

Meanwhile, the Campaign for Media Standards watchdog accused the corporation of "having used the same script all day," questioning "why is the BBC so squeamish about the Jewish identity of the six million slaughtered in an antisemitic genocide?"

Danny Cohen, who previously served as BBC Director of Television, delivered a scathing assessment of the broadcaster's handling of the day.

"A failure like this on Holocaust Memorial Day marks a new low point for the national broadcaster," Cohen said. "It is surely the bare minimum to expect the BBC to correctly identify that it was six million Jews killed during the Holocaust.

"To say anything else is an insult to their memory and plays into the hands of extremists who have desperately sought to rewrite the historical truth of history's greatest crime."

Lord Pickles, co-chairman of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, went further in his criticism.

"This is an unambiguous example of Holocaust distortion, which is a form of denial," he stated. "This kind of obfuscation was common during the Soviet control of parts of Europe. For the BBC to use it today is shocking."

Lord Pickles concluded: "They should be fighting antisemitism, not aiding it."

Stephen Silverman, director of investigations at the Campaign Against Antisemitism, dismissed the BBC's response entirely.

Speaking to LBC, Mr Silverman branded the corporation's apology as "worthless" and pointed to deeper systemic issues.

"It's impossible to deny that there is an institutional problem with regard to Jewish matters at the BBC," he said. "We've seen it amplified over the last two years but it goes way back beyond that."

Mr Silverman described a longstanding pattern of minimising the Holocaust's specifically Jewish character.

"There is this attempt that has been going on for a very long time to universalise the Holocaust, to remove its Jewish specificity, and to make it a progressive cause that quite rightly acknowledges other genocides and atrocities, but completely diminishes and eradicates the Jewish nature of it," he explained.

Elsewhere, Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, expressed bewilderment at how the error occurred.

"I just don't understand how this 'mistake' was made?" she said, having appeared on the BBC Breakfast segment herself.

Is the BBC trying to sever all ties with their Jewish listeners?

“Buildings will be illuminated to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, which commemorates the six million people murdered by the Nazi regime.”

Jews. It was six million Jews specifically.

Even on Holocaust Memorial Day,… pic.twitter.com/Z5hdAPnk8g

— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) January 27, 2026

In a broader statement, Ms Pollock declared: "The Holocaust was the murder of six million Jewish men, women and children. "Ignoring that the victims were Jews, widening the figure to include all victims of the Second World War, or attempting to draw in contemporary conflicts, is an abuse of the memory of the Holocaust and an insult to victims and survivors."

The BBC noted that other elements of its Holocaust Memorial Day coverage did properly acknowledge the Jewish victims, including interviews with survivors' relatives, a report from the Religion Editor, and the Chief Rabbi recording Thought for the Day.