Review to rule on media work by freelance star presenters

GARY LINEKER may face a choice between BBC duties and his own production company, depending on the findings of an impartiality review, The Daily Telegraph understands.

The BBC announced the review to clear up “grey areas” in its guidelines.

It is understood it will probably clarify whether the corporation’s stars will have to give up other media work in order to continue working for the committedly non-partisan BBC.

Insiders said the review must decide if the output of ventures such as the former England captain’s Goalhanger production companies, which this week released a politics podcast on the Iraq War featuring Alastair Campbell, should be subject to impartiality rules.

If the rules do apply and stars breach guidelines, the review may then need to establish whether they will be allowed to keep up both their BBC duties and their partisan personal projects.

It is understood the review will provide clarity for presenters engaged in outside work, such as Michael Portillo, who presents Great British Railway Journeys for the BBC while also appearing on GB News.

Plans to set out the rules for famous freelancers have been welcomed by Prof Richard Sambrook, the journalism expert who was commissioned by the BBC to draw up its current impartiality guidelines.

He said: “The impartiality guidelines for news staff, which I reviewed in 2020, need to be strictly observed.

“But those have never applied to high-profile freelance presenters, where the guidance has always been looser and inconsistently applied.”

He added: “In my view, freelancers should be regarded and treated more as contractors – and therefore not bound by BBC rules beyond BBC output.”

Lineker’s Goalhanger Films’ sister company Goalhanger Podcasts has a series called The Rest is History and The Rest is Politics, featuring Mr Campbell and Rory Stewart, a former Tory MP.

A Labour peer was criticised yesterday after suggesting Gary Lineker and his co-hosts could be replaced with female presenters “for half the price”.

Lord Young of Norwood Green, a former BBC governor, said they would do “twice as good a job”. However, he was criticised as “talking rubbish” by a fellow Labour peer before the Lords.