The BBC has set up review into whether its coverage of migration and small boats crossing in English Channel is impartial enough.
The public broadcaster’s board announced the review on Friday and says the exercise will “consider whether due impartiality is being delivered”.
Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory based at Oxford University, and Samir Shah, chief executive of the independent television and radio production company Juniper, will jointly chair the investigation.
The decision comes not long after a political row over a tweet by Match of the Day host Gary Lineker in which he compared the language used by the government about asylum seekers to that of Nazi Germany.
The corporation has also previously been criticised by MPs for intensive coverage of small boats crossing the channel, with MPs variously describing broadcast coverage as a “grotesque reality TV show” and “voyeurism capitalising on misery”.
Announcing the review, outgoing BBC chairman Richard Sharp said: “Madeleine Sumption and Samir Shah are well-known for their expert understanding of the issues involved in delivering impartial coverage of migration, which is an important and often intensely contested subject.
“Their combination of evidence-based academic research and working knowledge of impartiality in broadcasting make them highly qualified to lead the thematic review into BBC migration output.
“Their findings will ensure the BBC continues to have the correct approach to producing coverage that audiences can trust.”
The exercise will consider all UK public service radio, television and online content, as well as social media use. The corporation says it will specifically assess news and factual content but will not be limited to these areas.
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Show all 50Along with the broadcaster’s content, Ms Sumption and Mr Shah will also examine expert opinion and audience research, as well as input from major stakeholders, relevant complaints and BBC staff.
The corporation added that it will consider whether “due impartiality is being delivered across BBC content and that a breadth of voices and viewpoints are being reflected”.
The review’s work will begin “in the coming days”, the broadcaster said, and it committed to publishing the findings.
