The head of the BBC has declared that Gary Linker’s Tweets are “a work in progress” while while endorsing the football analyst wholeheartedly.
Due to BBC impartiality regulations, the Match of the Day presenter and former England striker has come under fire for posting his political opinions online.
The volume of sewage that is permitted to be deposited by the government, which pollutes Britain’s waterways and beaches, has lately drawn criticism from Gary Lineker, 61.
Tim Davie, the 55-year-old director general of the BBC, said before a parliamentary committee on technology, culture, media, and sport that he supported Mr. Lineker and maintained that he operated within BBC policies.
I spoke with Gary, Mr. Davie said. He has sent hundreds of tweets, and generally, his behaviour is much better considering where he is. The discussion continues.
I give Gary a lot of support. Although I believe he’s an excellent presenter, his ability to establish boundaries is still developing.
But we had a decent chat, and I believe he is aware of the rules.
When Mr. Lineker tweeted about the amount of filth in Britain’s rivers and criticised politicians, he gained attention.
In a tweet, he questioned how a politician could possibly have the will to support dumping waste into our oceans. Unfathomable!’
Neil Henderson, a BBC journalist, responded to the Tweet angrily and accused Mr. Lineker of breaking the impartiality standards.
Later on, Mr. Henderson apologised to the football star and erased his response.
Conservative Steve Brine said that Mr. Lineker’s role as a BBC broadcaster did not include political commentary when MPs questioned Mr. Davie about the event.
We pay Gary Lineker £1.35 million year, which is a decrease of $10,000 from last year, but Mr. Brine assured that when his energy bill arrives, he will be able to make ends meet.
I don’t care what he says about water quality, despite the fact that he is a fantastic football analyst.
Mr. Davie, a commentator for Match of the Day, argued In recent years, Mr. Lineker has modified his stance on party politics on Twitter.
According to him, there has been a significant improvement since he first entered party politics a few years ago.
“It’s probably not the best stance to entirely forbid individuals from engaging in any issue-based tweeting,” said the author.
The director general was also questioned by the committee over the uproar caused by comedian Joe Lycett’s presence on Laura Kuenssberg’s brand-new Sunday political programme.
The comedian was accused of prejudice and bad judgement when he humorously cheered Liz Truss when she appeared on the show and sarcastically expressed his support for her.
You may dispute the merits of the booking, Mr. Davie said of Joe Lycett’s satirical performance on the programme, adding that it was “somewhat bemusing.” He may not be our upcoming reservation.
At the Edinburgh TV Festival, Emily Maitlis, a former Newsnight anchor, made a contentious monologue about Dominic Cummings’ lockdown visit to Barnard Castle. She claimed that the BBC bowed to government concerns too fast.
‘Conducted herself… in an exceptional manner in a little challenging circumstance,’ he added of anchor Laura Kuenssberg. We carry on.
The director general vehemently denied Emily Maitlis’s assertions that the BBC capitulated when Downing Street protested over her contentious Dominic Cummings monologue in 2020.
Despite claiming that Ms. Maitlis was a “excellent journalist,” Mr. Davie claimed that the regulations had been broken.
Ms. Maitlis had been “absolutely incorrect,” according to BBC chairman Richard Sharp, to infer that “due procedure wasn’t followed.”
Mr. Sharp also disputed Ms. Maitlis’s previous assertion that former No. 10 communications director Robbie Gibb, a member of the BBC board of governors and a former Theresa May appointee, was a “active agent” of the Conservative Party.
He said, “That is completely false.” I’m upset that Emily Maitlis made that specific point since it was one of the mistakes she made throughout her speech.
Mr. Davie responded to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry about the impartiality of the BBC’s content as a whole by saying, “We do have hundreds of thousands of hours of output… and overall, I think we are delivering well, I do think that, and it’s important that we’re proportional about this.”