- David Silito
- Media and arts reporter
When the BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, took office in 2020, he declared “impartiality” as his overriding principle.
Three years later, the dispute over this principle and how to apply it in the organization led to a crisis that clearly surprised the managers.
The familiar fixtures of the weekly TV schedule are dropping in unexpectedly and in quick succession, evidence that the crisis has become something much bigger than a feud over a few tweets.
The Gary Lineker case is more than just a debate about the opinions of a highly paid sports presenter. It is a test of the BBC’s core values, and the current Director-General’s core mission.
Emotions aroused by Lineker’s political tweets and the decision to take him off the air until he could resolve the issue with the BBC added fuel to the already smoldering fire. And talking here about the controversy over the BBC’s role in British politics and perceptions of bias both left and right.
But first let’s look at the current issue.
BBC Director General Tim Davie
BBC rules yesterday and today
Complaints about Lineker’s politically charged tweets were nothing new.
In 2016 and 2018, the BBC defended comments the Match of the Day presenter made about migrant children and Brexit by saying he was an independent broadcaster and not an employee, that the tweets were from a private Twitter account, and the strict rules applied to journalists. It does not apply in the same way to sports broadcasters.
The guidelines at the time said that the risk of the BBC’s impartiality being compromised “is lower when an individual expresses their views publicly in an unrelated field, such as a sports or science presenter, for example, expressing views on politics or the arts”. .
But those rules screw up ¬dt after that. The new social media guidelines demanded “additional responsibility” for “high-profile” presenters. Some have described the new rule as the “Linker Clauses”.
The question is whether these rules will be applied fairly. On Twitter, there are many examples of what some people believe to be an excess of presenters who have crossed the line in recent years.
Among the names frequently brought up are Alan Sugar, Chris Packham and Andrew Neil.
In response, Davey said on Saturday night he was “listening” and suggested a way out was through a re-examination of the BBC’s guidelines.
There is a desire on Davy’s part to end this case. It is true that the issue of neutrality is very important, but providing a service that people pay for through television viewing fees is also very important.
The “Match of the Day” program was presented on time on BBC One on Saturday night – but in a short form, as it lasted only 20 minutes, and was devoid of any presenter, critics or commentators – and coverage of other football events was canceled.
image copyright Getty Images
Gary Lineker
Difficult choice: viewer’s right and impartiality
Canceling a show is a source of grievance from TV licensee payers who may not care what Lineker says on Twitter, but who care deeply about their favorite shows that take up much of the air on Saturday night.
There is another, broader aspect of a British government that has in recent years criticized the BBC for its liberal bias from its point of view.
Greg Dyke, the former director-general, who left the BBC over a clash with the Labor government in 2004, says the decision to pull Gary Lineker from Match of the Day looked like an institution yielding to political pressure from the Tory government.
It all leads to another issue that still raises questions about the BBC’s impartiality, namely the appointment of the chairman, Richard Sharpe, a former Tory donor whose appointment is now being investigated, what he did or did not say, and his role in arranging the £800 loan. £1,000 for former prime minister, Boris Johnson. But Sharp denied any involvement in arranging that loan.
Lineker has become a starting point for a much larger debate, and the BBC would like to resolve the issue as quickly as possible to stop the row from becoming a massive crisis. But how will it solve the problem when the company has asked Lineker, who has 8.7 million Twitter followers, to stop his political tweets, and there is no sign of him agreeing to shut up.
For the BBC it is about impartiality, but for many others it is about freedom of expression.
Outside the BBC headquarters in London is a statue of George Orwell, the author of 1984, who once worked for the BBC. Inscribed on the wall behind the statue were these words: “If there is any meaning to freedom, it is having the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
Eighty years after Orwell left the BBC, the institution finds itself mired in a deep crisis. Orwell’s idea of liberty, and the questions you ask the BBC, all revolve around the Gary Lineker controversy.
