Gary Lineker has found himself at the centre of a BBC impartiality storm, with the public service broadcaster having stood down the ex-footballer from Match of the Day presenting duties.
It comes after Lineker tweeted about the use of language around the UK Government's controversial new Illegal Migration Bill. The BBC presenter compared the language used to launch the asylum policy with 1930s Germany, which the BBC claims goes against its impartiality guidelines.
As it stands, Match Of The Day will go ahead on Saturday night without a presenter or pundits, with commentators and reporters also staging walkouts from the programme and a number of other BBC football shows including Football Focus and Final Score.
Why isn't Gary Lineker presenting Match of the Day?
The BBC said it had decided that Lineker would be stepping back from hosting duties on MOTD until they had “an agreed and clear position on his use of social media".
With the absence of a replacement for Lineker, the BBC said Saturday's MOTD will "focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry". Commentators have pulled out of working on the show, while Lineker's close friends Alan Shearer and Ian Wright have declined to appear.
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What did Gary Lineker say on Twitter?
Lineker compared the language used to launch a new UK Government asylum policy, to stop migrants crossing the English Channel on small boats, with 1930s Germany.
He posted a response on Twitter, saying: “There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the ’30s.” Following the tweet, he was reprimanded by the BBC.
What has the BBC said and done about Lineker's tweet?
A spokesperson for the BBC said the broadcaster had been "in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in recent days" and see his social media activity as a "breach of our guidelines".
A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC has been in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in recent days. We have said that we consider his recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines. The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting Match Of The Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.
“When it comes to leading our football and sports coverage, Gary is second to none. We have never said that Gary should be an opinion-free zone, or that he can’t have a view on issues that matter to him, but we have said that he should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies.”
Current BBC guidelines state that staff need to follow editorial guidelines and editorial oversight on social media in the same way as when producing content for the organisation. However, there is some confusion over the guidelines as Lineker is a freelance broadcaster for the BBC, not a permanent member of staff. Therefore, he does not need to adhere to the same rules on impartiality.
Richard Sambrook, who was director of news at the BBC and director of BBC Global News and the BBC World Service, told the PA news agency "impartiality is crucial" for the BBC and staff in "everything they do". However, he said it is "not clear" whether rules on social media apply to him.
Mr Sambrook added: "For a sports presenter in their personal life to express views that aren't impartial, is not as serious as if it was a news journalist. I think there's quite a lot of confusion about the extent to which the impartiality guidelines extend outside of news and extend to freelancers rather than staff, and until that's cleared up we're going to go on having these kinds of [problems]."
The reaction to the Gary Lineker BBC row
Some believe the BBC has "undermined its own credibility" by taking Lineker off air. Greg Dyke, the BBC director-general between 2000 and 2004 and ex-FA chairman, said the broadcaster was "mistaken" in standing Lineker down. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the precedent at the corporation is that "news and current affairs employees are expected to be impartial and not the rest."
He said: "If you start applying the rules of news and current affairs to everybody who works for the BBC, where does it end? There is a long-established precedent in the BBC that is, if you're an entertainment presenter or you're a football presenter, then you are not bound by those same [impartiality] rules.
"The real problem of today is that the BBC has undermined its own credibility by doing this because it looks like - the perception out there - is that the BBC has bowed to government pressure. And once the BBC does that, then you're in real problems. The perception out there is going to be that Gary Lineker, a much-loved television presenter, was taken off air after government pressure on a particular issue."
Ex-footballers Micah Richards and Jermaine Jenas, who were both not due to appear on this weekend's MOTD, have backed fellow pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer's decision to boycott the BBC show on Saturday.
The BBC has also cancelled Saturday's Football Focus and Final Score programmes as hosts Alex Scott, Jason Mohammad and other pundits refused to work following the broadcaster's decision to remove Lineker from MOTD.
On Twitter, Jason Mohammad said: "Morning all. As you know, Final Score is a TV show very close to my heart. However - I have this morning informed the BBC that I will not be presenting the show this afternoon on BBC One."
Former Lioness Alex Scott tweeted: "I made a decision last night that even though I love doing football focus and we have had an incredible week winning an SJA award that it just doesn’t feel right going ahead with the show today. Hopefully I will be back in the chair next week…"
What are your thoughts on Gary Lineker being removed from Match Of The Day? Let us know in the comments section here.
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