The BBC’s Madrid correspondent, Tom Burridge, has revealed in an interview that he was asked by the Government of Gibraltar to change the wording used to refer to British Gibraltar Territorial Waters in his reports on the Gibraltar conflict over the summer.

The reporter said the request came after he had described the waters surrounding the Rock as “disputed”. He says the choice of words had also attracted fierce online criticism.

Critics argued that the waters were British by law and were only disputed by Spain. Mr Burridge said he changed his subsequent reports to reflect this by referring to the waters as “disputed by Spain.” It was then, he said, that he realized the importance of using accurate language although he “didn’t give in to what they were asking for.”

Mr Burridge filed several reports during August this year including one where he was aboard a La Linea fishing boat. He frequently Tweeted from the frontier about the heightened tensions following the laying of the artificial reef.

Mr Burridge was speaking to Pérfida TV from vertele.com. The full interview can be accessed here: http://lui.gi/AETou