Sack Packham bid to oust BBC Springwatch presenter
COUNTRYSIDE campaigners are calling for the BBC to sack Springwatch presenter Chris Packham, claiming his outspoken attacks on hunters and shooters breach impartiality rules.
Country sports enthusiasts are angry about the presenter’s calls for a ban on grouse shooting ahead of the start of the grouse season on Friday – the ‘Glorious Twelfth’.
The TV star already faces a BBC probe following complaints about his description of hunters and shooters as ‘the nasty brigade’.
Sir Ian Botham has also complained about the presenter, suggesting the solution to the ‘Packham problem’ may be ‘to tell him to spend more time with the birds – away from the cameras’.
The cricket legend and countryman said last night: ‘This is the same Chris Packham who says we should be not be spending money on “chasing cures for cancer” but instead put it into the “health of the planet”.
‘Being on the extreme fringe of a debate does not sit well with being a balanced TV presenter. For all Chris’s charm and enthusiasm, he cannot be convincingly neutral. His stream of outbursts – a sort of eco-Tourette’s – drags down confidence in the Corporation among rural communities.
‘He ruffles more feathers than Jeremy Clarkson and is damaging the reputation of the BBC’s wildlife team for impartiality.’
Simon Hart, MP and Countryside Alliance chairman, has asked the BBC Trust to take action against the presenter. In a letter to the Trust, Mr Hart said: ‘We cannot stand by and continue to allow Mr Packham to use the status the BBC has given him to spread propaganda.’
Tim Bonner, Alliance chief executive, said: ‘He is in breach of BBC guidelines and it cannot continue to promote someone who is so willing to campaign on such a range of extreme and controversial issues.’
The Trust’s editorial standards committee met in July to discuss a 62-page report about complaints from the Alliance and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) against Mr Packham. A decision is expected next month.
BBC guidelines say the external activities of presenters should not undermine the public’s perception of the impartiality, integrity or independence of BBC output. In 2013 Mr Packham tweeted that farmers involved in the badger cull were ‘brutalist thugs, liars and frauds’ and was censured by the BBC for the ‘not politically neutral’ remarks.
Mr Packham’s views have made him a target on social media. Threats made on Twitter are currently being investigated by his local force, Hampshire Police. A BBC spokesman said last night: ‘If Chris Packham wishes to express personal views outside of his employment on BBC Natural History programmes, he is entitled to do so.’
Mr Packham, who is also RSPB vice-president, did not respond to requests for comment.