BBC sports coverage has been affected again this Sunday for the second consecutive day after dozens of workers refused to work in solidarity with the presenter Gary Lineker, who was fired by the chain after criticizing the government’s new immigration reform British.
The BBC is coming under fire and under fire after suspending Lineker, one of England’s most recognizable soccer players and the corporation’s highest-paid presenter, after he compared the language of the Conservative government to that used on the BBC. Nazi Germany.
The former footballer criticized on his personal Twitter account the government’s plans to prevent migrants from arriving on small boats on UK shores by introducing stricter new laws that would detain asylum seekers, deport them and bar them from returning. to enter the country.
Meanwhile, pressure on the BBC continues to mount for top officials to resign, accused of political bias and suppression of free speech. The controversy has impacted gridiron sports shows, with dozens of anchors and reporters walking out of their jobs on Saturday and Sunday in support of Lineker.
The BBC said the presenter breached one of the contract clauses by sharing his views on the reform on social media and announced his dismissal as a presenter on ‘Match of the Day’. “He should stay away from taking sides on political party issues or political controversies,” the company said. While BBC news staff are prohibited from expressing political opinions, Lineker is a freelancer who does not work in current news.
The government called Lineker’s Nazi comparison offensive and unacceptable, and some lawmakers said he should be fired. In an interview with the BBC, the station’s director general, Tim Davie, flatly rejected the suggestion that Lineker was suspended due to pressure from the ruling Conservative Party. Many of Lineker’s supporters said that he had a right to express his opinion online.
“I don’t see why you would ask someone to back down for saying that,” said Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who is known for being outspoken on current affairs. “If I understand it correctly, it is a message, an opinion on human rights and that should be able to be said.” Others say the corporation’s impartiality rules seem confusing, pointing out that Lineker failed to discipline himself when he criticized the Qatari government’s rights record during the World Cup last year. “It seems that they want to choose when they want to be biased, criticize others or criticize other countries or other political parties or other religions seem fine,” former English footballer John Barnes told Sky News.
The century-old BBC is under particular scrutiny because it is a public corporation – it is financed mainly by a license fee paid by all television households – and is expected to be independent.
The station’s neutrality came under recent scrutiny over revelations that its chairman, Richard Sharp, a Conservative Party donor, helped arrange a loan for then-prime minister Boris Johnson in 2021, weeks before he was appointed to the BBC post on the government’s recommendation.
The decision to suspend Lineker has sparked a massive strike by the network’s sportscasters and reporters in solidarity with his partner.
