The Gary Lineker row of the weekend has seemingly cooled down. The Match of the Day pundit has been reinstated after his tweet criticising the government’s – potentially illegal- policy on immigration. The BBC has taken shelter behind the promise of an inquiry into what rules for social media usage will look like for their employees in the future. So, all back to normal and business as usual? Unfortunately, not. The chairman, Richard Sharp, is now under increasing pressure to resign from his role, having been left deeply compromised over the saga and the row has exposed the sheer levels of hypocrisy and the double standard at play when it comes to the issue of impartiality at the BBC.
Tim Davie, the director general at BBC, has previously staked a lot of importance on the independence of the corporation, however so far it seems that this impartiality is working just one way; that is to say, in favour of a populist Tory government. The idea that a freelancer like Gary Lineker should be removed from Match of the Day for a tweet which voiced opposition to the government, but the chairman Richard Sharp is able to retain his position even after it is revealed that he facilitated an £800k loan to Boris Johnson makes a mockery of the idea of impartiality at the BBC. If the broadcaster is truly committed to being independent, it might start by not having a Tory donor as its chair and then maybe look at how its freelancers use social media as more of an afterthought. Then again perhaps not, if the accepted definition of impartiality these days is anything not anti-government.
Regardless of what you think about the tweet Lineker put out, the issue has exposed the worrying amount of influence that the government seems to exercise over the BBC, the UK’s ‘independent’ broadcaster. It seems the Conservatives have foisted their own definition of impartiality onto the BBC. One which works just one way and is intolerant of any criticism of their policies. How we can expect the BBC to remain the independent outlet which it is lauded for being when it is being ordered to be independent by the government of the day is not clear. If the BBC wants to gain back its credibility and be able to make any genuine claims to impartiality a good first step would be for Richard Sharp to step down; it is incompatible for the chairman of a politically neutral organisation to have facilitated a huge loan to a former Tory Prime Minister and then be coming down on contributors for voicing an opinion which is critical of the government. That is not impartiality, that is a clear capitulation to government pressure.
“BBC building / logo” by TechnicalFault (formerly Coffee Lover) is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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The Gary Lineker row and how it highlighted impartiality at the BBC
The Gary Lineker row of the weekend has seemingly cooled down. The Match of the Day pundit has been reinstated after his tweet criticising the government’s – potentially illegal- policy on immigration. The BBC has taken shelter behind the promise of an inquiry into what rules for social media usage will look like for their employees in the future. So, all back to normal and business as usual? Unfortunately, not. The chairman, Richard Sharp, is now under increasing pressure to resign from his role, having been left deeply compromised over the saga and the row has exposed the sheer levels of hypocrisy and the double standard at play when it comes to the issue of impartiality at the BBC.
Tim Davie, the director general at BBC, has previously staked a lot of importance on the independence of the corporation, however so far it seems that this impartiality is working just one way; that is to say, in favour of a populist Tory government. The idea that a freelancer like Gary Lineker should be removed from Match of the Day for a tweet which voiced opposition to the government, but the chairman Richard Sharp is able to retain his position even after it is revealed that he facilitated an £800k loan to Boris Johnson makes a mockery of the idea of impartiality at the BBC. If the broadcaster is truly committed to being independent, it might start by not having a Tory donor as its chair and then maybe look at how its freelancers use social media as more of an afterthought. Then again perhaps not, if the accepted definition of impartiality these days is anything not anti-government.
Regardless of what you think about the tweet Lineker put out, the issue has exposed the worrying amount of influence that the government seems to exercise over the BBC, the UK’s ‘independent’ broadcaster. It seems the Conservatives have foisted their own definition of impartiality onto the BBC. One which works just one way and is intolerant of any criticism of their policies. How we can expect the BBC to remain the independent outlet which it is lauded for being when it is being ordered to be independent by the government of the day is not clear. If the BBC wants to gain back its credibility and be able to make any genuine claims to impartiality a good first step would be for Richard Sharp to step down; it is incompatible for the chairman of a politically neutral organisation to have facilitated a huge loan to a former Tory Prime Minister and then be coming down on contributors for voicing an opinion which is critical of the government. That is not impartiality, that is a clear capitulation to government pressure.
“BBC building / logo” by TechnicalFault (formerly Coffee Lover) is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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