- Matt Murphy & Sean Seddon
- BBC reporter
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England football star Gary Lineker (Gary Lineker; Lin Nega).
British football star Gary Lineker (Linnega) was suspended by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) after criticizing the British Conservative government’s refugee policy, causing a huge storm.
Many football players and program hosts supported Lineker and collectively boycotted BBC programs, resulting in the emergency suspension of many sports programs.
BBC chief executive Tim Davie (Tim Davie) apologized to viewers for the failure of the program, but said he would not resign and denied government pressure.
Lineker’s football program “Match of the Day” (Match of the Day) was broadcast on BBC One on Saturday night, March 11. The program was cut to 20 minutes, and football critic Alan Shearer ( Alan Shearer; Shulia), Ian Wright (Ian Huli) did not appear, nor did they or any replacements appear on the show.
The show didn’t even play the signature theme song or prologue, it just started with the ‘Best of the Premier League’ graphic and then went straight to the Bournemouth v Liverpool clip.
BBC chief denies political crackdown
BBC chief David David was asked in an interview with BBC News whether he had lost control of the BBC.
Speaking to BBC News, BBC chief David David admitted it was a “difficult day” for the company and that it was working hard to fix the problem.
He said he was working to bring Lineker back to the front and said he would review impartiality rules for freelancers, including Lineker.
David stated that he would “absolutely not” resign. He refuted the opposition party’s criticism that the BBC’s top management had bowed to Downing Street’s pressure, and said that it had not “catering” to any political party.
He said Lineker was asked to “step back” after “getting involved in party politics.”
The British Conservative Party government recently proposed a new refugee policy bill that would allow authorities to detain illegal immigrants who arrive in the local area by boat, repatriate them to their home country or a third country within a few weeks, and ban them from entering the UK for life.
Lineker tweeted last Tuesday that he criticized the bill as “a policy of immeasurable cruelty against the most vulnerable in the same language that Germany used in the 1930s.”
The remarks drew criticism from many members of the Conservative Party, and he was suspended by the BBC on Friday.
This immediately sparked a number of controversies, including about the impartiality of the BBC, the British government’s refugee policy, and the position of BBC chairman Richard Sharp (Richard Sharp).
multiple sports off the air
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Lineker (right) tweeted last Tuesday that he criticized the bill as “a policy of immeasurable cruelty against the most vulnerable in the same language that Germany used in the 1930s”.
It was originally scheduled to have a football program from morning to night on Saturday, but well-known program hosts and related staff boycotted the program one after another, causing the BBC sports department to fall into unprecedented chaos.
“Football Focus” (Football Focus), which was supposed to air at noon, host Alex Scott (Alex Scott) tweeted an hour and a half before the show started, saying that “it doesn’t feel right to continue doing the show today” , the show was later taken down.
“Final Score,” which was scheduled to air at 4 p.m., was also canceled after host Jason Mohammad (Jason Mohammad) refused to appear on the show.
BBC Radio 5 Live’s Saturday morning regular program “Fighting Talk” was taken off the air after staff boycotted it, with presenter Colin Murray saying it was “the work of the whole team and myself”. Decide”.
In order to fill the programming gap, the BBC will rerun stock programs such as “Bargain Hunt” and “The Repair Shop” on TV, and Channel 5 will also broadcast pre-recorded old programs.
Voices from all walks of life in politics
British Prime Minister Sunak (Rishi Sunak, also translated as Xin Weicheng) issued a statement on Saturday night saying that Lineker is “a great player and a talented host” and hopes that Lineker and the BBC will resolve the dispute as soon as possible, but Describe the dispute as “a problem between the two parties” rather than the government’s business.
He also defended his refugee policy, saying: “As prime minister I have to do what I think is right and I understand that not everyone will agree. That’s why I’ve addressed the issue of boat people in a clear way.”
A spokesman for the UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport also said that “individual cases are a matter for the BBC”.
However, Downing Street and a number of senior officials have been loudly criticizing the incident in recent days. For example, the Home Secretary Suella Braverman (Pefferman) said that Lineker’s analogy with Nazi Germany to British government policy was “lazy and unreasonable.” Unhelpful.”
Members of the opposition party have expressed solidarity with Lineker. Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer (Sir Keir Starmer; Shi Jixian) said that the government should focus on repairing the refugee asylum system instead of “blaming” Lineker. Accused the top BBC of bowing to pressure from government officials.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for the resignation of BBC chairman Sharp, saying the controversy exposed a “failure at the top” of the BBC.
He said: “We need a leadership at the BBC that upholds our proud British values and stands up to today’s ongoing political turmoil and the bullying tactics of the Conservative Party.”
“Damaged its own reputation”
Earlier on Saturday, Greg Dyke, who was the BBC’s chief executive from 2000 to 2004, said the BBC had “damaged its credibility” in its handling of the incident.
He said the move to suspend Lineker would give the impression that “the BBC is bowing to government pressure” amid the ongoing controversy surrounding Sharpe.
It was revealed earlier that Sharp had arranged to provide an 800,000-pound loan guarantee to former Prime Minister Johnson, and was later appointed as the chairman of the BBC, sparking a conflict of interest controversy. Sharp has denied arranging loans for Johnson and the BBC is launching an internal investigation.
Former BBC editor-in-chief and sporting director Roger Mosey also called on Mr Sharp to step down, saying he had “damaged the BBC’s credibility”.
However, in response to the Lineker incident, some people also expressed their support for the BBC’s actions. Former BBC editorial director Richard Ayre said on Friday that the BBC had no choice but to take action against Lineker.
The scope of application of the “Code of Impartiality” is controversial
He said that BBC chief David David had “clearly tried” to reach a deal with Lineker but failed. Take action at the behest.”
The 62-year-old Lineker has hosted “Today’s Match” since 1999. He is employed by the BBC as a freelancer and earns about 1.35 million pounds in 2020-21, making him the BBC’s highest paid program host.
The BBC requires staff to be impartial in political matters and must follow a strict social media code, but there has been major controversy over how the code should apply to staff outside of news.
BBC News has been told that the production team on Match of the Day had not been informed of Lineker’s suspension in advance.
Lineker appeared in the Leicester City (Leicester City) game against Chelsea (Chelsea) earlier on Saturday, but did not publicly respond to the incident.