Has the BBC become a Tory tool?

[Eds]

He's a freelancer for a very good reason, like quite a few BBC 'staff'.

Most have had to pay money back to HMRC for personal service companies, including Stephen Nolan and Fiona Bruce.

What are you suggesting?

 

[Debaser]

Is that the Jonathan Agnew who wasn’t punished when he posted a series of abusive tweets to a journalist including calling him a ****?

They'll be people here who will agree with Agnew given the journalist he was abusing

 

[dave_blue12]

Or you could have said many of your examples also apply to most other countries and governments at one time or another ;)

Yes they do. But that doesn’t remove their validity here.

Lineker was absolutely correct in his tweet and his suspension further backs up the assertion that we are living under an ever more repressive authoritarian regime.

It is critical that the Tories are removed at the next election for the sake of our democracy as much as anything else. Were they to somehow gain another term I truly fear for the future.

 

[simon23]

He had the right to speak his mind,but when you express such an extreme political opinion.....there are consequences,as he is rightly finding out.

People should be free to express political opinion.....he didnt use his platform as a presenter to do it (though they were fine when he hosted the opening ceremony of the world cup and used it to attack the Qatari human rights standards etc.....)

Double standards at play and its because he has attacked our own government and rightly so

 

[Eds]

Oh no people won't like that.

The same people on here who no doubt would be calling for him to be sacked for breaking impartiality guidance if his tweets were right leaning?

You mean this issue is all about who has the biggest cheerleaders, the left or right? If my contract said I had to work on a Sunday every so often and I refused to comply then I would probably be reprimanded and warned. Surely this is what has happened here. He has broken guidelines and been reprimanded

 

[Allnightlong]

People should be free to express political opinion.....he didnt use his platform as a presenter to do it (though they were fine when he hosted the opening ceremony of the world cup and used it to attack the Qatari human rights standards etc.....)

Double standards at play and its because he has attacked our own government and rightly so

did you read the first post?

 

[Axel Freed]

Jermaine Jenas has announced he won’t be appearing either. I can’t think of any tv show or indeed any situation which wouldn’t be immeasurably improved by his non attendance so the weekend’s off to a really good start for me.

I really hope this whole episode heralds the start of a sea change in sports broadcasting and a quick road back to what the public wants - more sport and less waffle. How did we ever get to a point where the pundits and presenter were the story. Who amongst us hasn’t shouted GET ON WITH IT at the telly during MOTD when these grinning smug morons are trotting out cliche after boring cliche while we’re impatiently waiting for our game to finally be shown.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

He should have referred to U.K. policy in the 30s when we turned away boatloads of refugees from Germany.
The Imperial War museum has original copies of the Daily Heil and Express on display where the editorial line is we are full, we can’t take any more etc.
The same bullshit this govt is peddling now.

Certainly plenty countries did likewise.

America, in particular, had a press saying they were full and turning away boats of Jews fleeing, government policy unless you had a family member and bribed someone for a visa?

I would never liken America and FDR to the Nazis, regardless.

Wrong, yes. Fascists, no.

 

[simon23]

did you read the first post?

Yes.

And Im saying it should never be ignored (what Linekar said) - football aint important by ANY standard when looking at something like what Linekar is talking about

 

[Gabriel]

Woke up to still see multiple reports about this issue. Am I right in saying that despite being employed as a freelancer Lineker still has to follow BBC guidelines about impartiality? Whether you agreed with his comments or not isn’t it the case that in the opinion of his bosses he has broken these guidelines or is the argument that he hasn’t?

In 2017, Lineker tweeted ‘Bin Corbyn’, an explicitly political opinion, yet there was no such brouhaha and the same BBC guidelines were not deemed to have been breached. These same guidelines have now been stretched to cover an implicit tweet that some have inferred as politically explicit. Irrespective of one’s opinions of the individual, the inconsistent application here should make any fair-minded person shift in their seat.