A BBC presenter who has brought a tribunal claim against the broadcaster has returned to the screen. Martine Croxall sued the corporation after being off air for more than a year following the merger of the BBC’s News and World News channels.
Croxall, 55, and three other senior female BBC journalists, Kasia Madera, Annita McVeigh and Karin Giannone, said they were taken off air after being snubbed for chief presenter roles.
Announcing her return, Croxall wrote on X, formerly Twitter, saying: “Y’all ready for this? Back on @BBCNews at 1100 BST.”
The presenter, who has worked for the BBC since 1991 and been a chief presenter with the BBC News Channel and BBC World News since 2001, shared the message along with a video of her in the studio saying: “Now, where were we?”
Croxall was congratulated online by Madera, who returned earlier this month, Giannone, and McVeigh, who went back to work on 18 March.
Earlier this month, the journalists were seen together as they attended preliminary hearings for their discrimination claims at the central London employment tribunal.
The journalists were told they would not be able to bring a claim for equal pay on the grounds that they had previously reached a pay settlement with the corporation. A BBC spokesperson said: “We are pleased with the result and that the tribunal has accepted our position. We will not be commenting further at this stage.”
Croxall, McVeigh and Madera allege discrimination on the grounds of age, sex, being a union member, and wages. Giannone alleges discrimination based on age, sex and wages.
The women claim they have been left to suffer victimisation, harassment and reputational damage. They were granted approval to have their cases heard jointly.
The judge said the women could still make claims based on age and sex discrimination, and the hearing is set to reconvene in March. Croxall was told that she could also make a claim on being a union member as well as on wages.
It is believed the BBC’s position is that it had complied with equal pay legislation, and applied a rigorous and fair recruitment process, and that all managers conducted that process properly.
Croxall, who has also appeared on BBC One network news bulletins, previously spent nearly two weeks off air in 2022 over claims that she had showed bias when Boris Johnson pulled out of the Conservative leadership contest.
She had said she was “gleeful” while presenting an edition of the former The Papers programme, and while responding to a guest’s joke aimed at the former prime minister, she said: “I shouldn’t probably [laugh]. I’m probably breaking some terrible due impartiality rule by giggling.”
