- Sun Mar 12, 2023 5:34 pm
#40902
Perhaps I’m being naive here, but isn’t the way out for the BBC rather obvious?
1. Immediately and unconditionally reinstate Gary Lineker.
2. Issue a revised and improved version of their impartialty guidelines that makes it absolutely, and unambiguously, clear that all freelance sports, nature, and other non-current affairs and non-political presenters are free to comment via their own personal social media channels on any political matter on which they may have an opinion. The corporation needs to issue a public statements that all such comments issued on social media are the presenters’ own responsibility, and expressly do not represent the position of the BBC as a corporate entity. This is essentially the position adopted by the Beeb in the recent past in respect of Chris Packham, Mary Berry, Nadiya Hussein, Matthew Syed, and yes, even Andrew Neil. Anyone employed on the same basis as Neil in future, however(Kuenssberg?) as a politics presenter would need to be bound strictly by the impartiality guidelines.
With a degree of hindsight, but quite objectively, attempting to bind a freelance sports presenter like Lineker to rules of impartiality more appropriately intended for and applied to permanent, and in particular political, staff was a quite ridiculous thing to to. The (unintended?) consequences of it have been to expose the extent to which the upper echelons of the BBC have been infiltrated by Conservative Party stooges and placemen, and to cause damage to the BBC as an organisation by giving it the appearance of being controlled by a reactionary right-wing government.
"The opportunity to serve our country: that is all we ask.” John Smith, May 11, 1994.