Channel 4 News viewers have been celebrating the long-awaited return of Krishnan Guru-Murthy who was back at the helm on Monday night after being taken off air for.
The presenter, who was due to the reprimand and planned leave, made no reference to the incident as he resumed his position on the programme and kicked off with all the biggest stories of the day.
Nevertheless, fans were delighted to see Guru-Murthy back in action and rejoiced at seeing him on their television screens.
‘Great to see @krishgm back, one of the best in the business,’ praised one, while another exclaimed: ‘Huge relief watching @Channel4News @krishgm is back on air!! Brilliant journalists are few and far between right now. Thank you Channel 4!!’
Guru-Murthy was suspended for a week following the incident on October 19, following the interview with the Tory MP after a tumultuous day in Westminster which saw Suella Braverman resign as home secretary before being replaced by Grant Shapps.
During an off-air moment after his exchange with Baker, Guru-Murthy was heard to say: ‘What a c*nt’.
Channel 4 said his outburst had breached its code of conduct.
A statement from the broadcaster at the time, said: ‘Channel 4 has a strict code of conduct for all its employees, including its programming teams and on-air presenters, and takes any breaches seriously.
‘Following an off-air incident, Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy has been taken off air for a week.’
Following the incident Guru-Murthy tweeted: ‘After a robust interview with Steve Baker MP I used a very offensive word in an unguarded moment off air.
‘While it was not broadcast that word in any context is beneath the standards I set myself and I apologise unreservedly.
‘I have reached out to Steve Baker to say sorry.’
Baker later replied to Guru-Murthy’s tweet, accepting the apology and saying he ‘appreciated’ the gesture.
However, in an interview with Times Radio, Baker said that sacking Guru-Murthy would be a ‘service to the public’ if he was found to be in breach of his code of conduct.
‘I had an interview earlier with a journalist I don’t have a great deal of regard for who I felt was misrepresenting the situation through the construction of his question, which I called out, I think live on air, or I thought it was a pre-record,’ he said.
‘And he clearly didn’t like that, quite right, too. But I’d be quite honest, I spent a long time live on air, calling him out on his conduct as a journalist and glad to do so any time.
‘But it’s most unfortunate that he’s sworn on air like that. If it’s in breach of his code of conduct, I do hope they sack him – it would be a service to the public.’
