Tim Davie, director general of the BBC, in London, April 28, 2022. HANNAH MCKAY / POOL / AFP
Star presenter Gary Lineker was suspended on Friday after accusing the UK government of using Nazi-era rhetoric to crack down on illegal immigration.
BBC director-general Tim Davie said on Saturday March 11 that he will not step down despite the storm sparked by the suspension of star presenter Gary Lineker, sanctioned for a tweet criticizing the government, and disruptions to the British audiovisual group’s sports broadcasts . “Everyone wants to resolve the situation calmly“said Tim Davie in an interview with the BBC.
Gary Lineker, a former footballer and presenter of the hugely popular Match Of The Day, was suspended on Friday after accusing the UK government of using Nazi-era rhetoric to crack down on illegal immigration. This suspension led to the disruption of BBC sports programming on television and radio. Several football broadcast consultants, such as former England internationals Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, have decided to withdraw from their programs by “solidarity“.
Match Of The Day, a veritable institution in the United Kingdom where the program has been broadcast since 1964, aired for the first time on Saturday without a presenter, consultant or even commentary, as part of a shortened 20-minute program on the highlights from six matches in the English Premier League. The Football Focus weekend preview show and Final Score results show were taken off the schedule and Radio 5Live coverage disrupted. Asked about his possible resignation, Tim Davie replied: “Absolutely not», claiming «look forward to us resolving this situation“.
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“Sorry»
“To be clear, success in my eyes would be for Gary to return to the air and together we provide the public with international sports coverage.“, he added, claiming to be”sorry we were unable to provide it today“. The words of ex-footballer Gary Lineker, who regularly shares his progressive opinions with his 8.8 million subscribers, sparked a lively controversy in a very tense context around immigration issues but also recurring criticism of impartiality aimed at public broadcasting on the part of the British right. The BBC had initially claimed that it would “to conversewith the presenter.
On Friday, the audiovisual group finally “decided that (Gary Lineker) was going to withdraw from the presentation of Match Of The Day until we have a clear agreement with him on his use of social networks“. An online petition of support exceeds 190,000 signatures on Saturday morning and the hashtag #BoycottBBC is trending on Twitter.
On the political side, the audiovisual group’s decision was denounced by many personalities, from the Labor opposition to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who described it as “indefensiblethe BBC position. She puts, according to her,endangering freedom of expression in the face of political pressure“. According to The Daily Express newspaper on Saturday, a group of 36 British Conservative MPs wrote a letter to the group’s chief executive, Tim Davie, asking for an apology.without reservationfrom the presenter.
Impartiality
“The BBC has damaged its own credibility by appearing to bend to government pressure“, Estimated the former director general of the BBC, Greg Dyke. According to him, the duty of impartiality required of employees working on political news should not apply to presenters of entertainment programs. The BBC is regularly attacked by Tories who accuse it of reporting on Brexit in a biased way and of being focused on the concerns of urban elites.
The group has since established impartiality as “priorityand, on the advice of the government, Richard Sharp was appointed in 2021 to the presidency of the BBC. But this appointment is the subject of criticism because this former banker, donor known to the Conservative party, would have played the matchmaker shortly before his appointment to help former Prime Minister Boris Johnson obtain a loan of 800,000 pounds (900,000 euros).
Gary Lineker, 48 goals in England until his retirement in 1994, did not react publicly to his suspension but repeated this week that he fully assumed his words. Nicknamed “Mr Nicefor his irreproachable behavior throughout his career – he has never received a single yellow card – he is used to expressing his political positions on social networks, in particular against Brexit and pro-migrants . The new bill, which according to the government aims to put an end to the illegal arrival of migrants through the English Channel, has been criticized by human rights associations and by the UN, which has accused London of wanting to “put an end to the right of asylum“.