BBC will not silence Lineker
Outspoken stars assured that new director-general’s social media clampdown will not apply to them
Sam Wallace and Hayley Dixon THE BBC has told Gary Lineker and other outspoken stars they will not be bound by Tim Davie’s new impartiality rules, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Within hours of the new directorgeneral warning of a crackdown on outspoken statements and campaigning on social media, the celebrities were given assurances that they would be exempt from new rules.
The Match of the Day that he was unfazed by Mr Davie’s drive to eliminate bias when he replied “nah” to suggestions that he should be “terrified” of the clampdown.
It was one of a number of immediate challenges to Mr Davie’s authority, in which he warned that if stars wanted to be “opinionated” or “a partisan campaigner on social media” then they “should not be working at the BBC”.
After Mr Davie vowed that impartiality is “the very essence of who we are”, the BBC aired Frankie Boyle’s New World Order containing jokes about Donald Trump, Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson dying of coronavirus.
Springwatch presenter Chris Packham also appeared to ignore the diktat when he called on his social media followers to sign a petition about the importation of shark fins and criticised a stag hunt.
New rules on the use of Twitter and other social media will be introduced within days and will have a direct impact on BBC journalists. But sources at the corporation have confirmed that there has been no such instruction given to those who work outside of news and current affairs.
The Daily Telegraph understands that Lineker is among those to have been assured that they would not be governed by the same rules.
Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, warned that if some of the highest-profile figures at the BBC are exempt then “it will undermine the reform agenda that Tim Davie has laid out before it has even started”.
He added: “The commitment that the new director-general has given is utterly worthless if it only applies to some presenters.
“If this is about the reputation of the BBC and BBC impartiality it has to cover all of those figures who represent the BBC in public, whatever they are talking about and whether they are employed on a contract or not.”
Many of the corporation’s names, including Lineker and Packham, are not members of the BBC staff and are employed on a freelance basis.
Lineker has previously said he can “tweet what he likes” and has clashed with colleagues and MPS for airing their views on Brexit and the pandemic.
A 2016 complaint by the Countryside Alliance about Packham’s impartiality was dismissed by the BBC Trust as he “was a freelancer and did not count as staff or a regular BBC presenter or reporter, nor was he working in news or current affairs”.
Sources at the BBC told The Daily Telegraph that despite Mr Davie’s apparent hardline, the rules have not changed. The old rule, active under Lord Hall, his predecessor, that non-current affairs and news reporters are exempt, will continue. Mr Davie’s words are to be clarified at some point.
Despite being some of the biggest names at the corporation, the presenters “sat outside” the rules governing the BBC’S high-profile news reporters, such as political editor Laura Kuenssberg, a source confirmed.
A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC is reviewing how social media works across the entire organisation, but clearly there always has been a higher bar for staff within journalism and that is the particular focus of the Sambrook review. We will set out further steps in due course.”
The internal communication at the BBC is that Mr Davie’s speech was widely misunderstood, inside and outside the corporation.