Conservatives' Baroness Warsi and Labour's Jim Murphy hit out over interviews in wake of soldier's murder in Woolwich

The faith and communities minister, Baroness Warsi, and the shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, have criticised the media for giving too much airtime to the radical cleric Anjem Choudary in the wake of the Woolwich attack.

Warsi, who is also a Foreign Office minister, said she felt "angry" about the airtime given to "one appalling man who represents nobody".

She told Sky News on Thursday: "We all have a responsibility, including the media, not to give airtime to extremist voices – idiots and nutters who speak for no one but themselves.

"The heartening thing in the midst of all this tragedy is that the British Muslim community has, with a unified, unreserved voice, condemned the killing and pledged support for our armed forces."

Her comments were made before Choudary's appearance on BBC2's Newsnight on Thursday, which also drew fire from Murphy, who criticised the decision to give airtime to the the cleric, who is banned from entering France by the nation's interior ministry.

"Banned from France but welcome on Newsnight," he wrote on Twitter. "A mistake of the BBC to invite Anjem Choudary onto the telly tonight."

On Newsnight the cleric refused to condemn the killing despite repeated requests by presenter Kirsty Wark.

He said he was "shocked" by the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby who was killed on Wednesday afternoon but pointedly refused to say he "abhorred" the attack.

Choudary, who has also appeared on a variety of news outlets since Wednesday's killing, also told the programme that he he encountered one of the suspects, Michael Adebolajo, at a number of Islamist demonstrations.

"When I saw what took place I was shocked ...but what he said in the clip, I think not many Muslims can disagree with," he added during the item, which also featured opposing views from Julie Siddiqi, executive director of the Islamic Society of Britain and Imam Shams Ad-Duha Muhammad, principal of Ebrahim College in east London.

Choudary has also appeared on the BBC News channel with clips airing on Radio 4's PM progra,mme and BBC1's Six o'Clock News. ITV News has featured him and Channel 4 News also carried an interview with him by presenter Cathy Newman last night.

The Channel 4 News interview also sparked a row on Twitter, with Warsi telling Newman that the interview should not have been broadcast because it "undermines the painstaking work community organisations do every day 2 create understanding". She also wrote on Twitter: "We know his vile extremist views. How many times do we have to hear them? He simply incites hatred and community tension."

Defending the interview Newman told Warsi that Choudary was "very relevant" because he "knew one of the suspects and helped radicalise him"later adding "you can't expose extremist views until you hear them".

Choudary, who was a leading figure in the now banned organisation al-Muhajiroun, is now the offical spokesman for Islam4UK.

He is alleged to have been involved in the planned protest march in 2010 through Royal Wootton Bassett, the town where dead British soldiers were repatriated and has been accused of radicalising Adebolajo in the mid-2000s.

The BBC defended Choudary's appearance on Newsnight, issuing a statement which said: "We have given great consideration to our reporting of the Woolwich murder and have a responsibility to both report on the story and try to shed light on why it happened. We believe it is important to reflect the fact that such opinions exist and feel that Choudary's comments may offer some insight into how this crimes came about. His views were robustly challenged by both the presenter, Kirsty Wark and the other participants in the discussion – Julie Siddiqi, the executive director of the Islamic Society of Britain and Shams Ad-Duha Muhammad, the director of Ebrahim College."

MediaGuardian understands that Newsnight's senior editorial team sought advice from the BBC's editorial policy unit about putting Choudary on air. The interview was also pre-recorded.

Channel 4 News declined to comment.

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