Cancel culture at the BBC
 

What's happened to free speech? Seems you can be a politician with your own news TV show but a natural history boffin can't talk about the decline of the countryside for fear of upsetting snowflakes.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainm...fa69da8cc&ei=9

Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

Indeed what has happened to free speech as they are now trying to muzzle Gary Lineker.

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Free speech has no place in the new Brexit Britain. Think like us or be silenced..... Gary might be right about us going back to 1930s Germany.

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The Radio Times(page 17) says it's 5 episodes only, with a sixth AVAILABLE on iPlayer. It's stated because of "BBC editorial policy constraints". I suppose because it's opinion only.

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The BBC have a even bigger crisis on their hands tonight with Alan Shearer and Ian Wright deciding to not appear on MOTD tomorrow.

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The Attenborough headline is misleading. The series was commissioned by the BBC as a 5-part series and all of those will be shown. Two charities then commissioned another episode from the same production company based around the series and the BBC later picked that up as well. There might be a debate on if that one-off special should be on broadcast television but it's not as simple as the BBC 'pulling' an episode.

But the Gary Linker thing is completely pathetic. He isn't BBC News, he stated his opinion on his personal Twitter feed. Complete overaction and pandering to a few outraged idiots. I don't think his Tweet was very smart - comparing things to the Nazis is often silly - but it's not a reason to force him to step down from presenting a sports program.

Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

Are you trying to imply this is the fault of Brexit, or just generally being an ass again ?

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Many companies have rules about what you can and cannot say on social media if its likely to damage the company reputation, and Im pretty sure the BBC recently said it was cracking down on this, so they had to take action.

Personally I just class him with many gobby "stars" who think just becasue they are famous they can post about politics. He should have stuck to football.

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It's not simply about what he was talking about, it's the language used.

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Alan Sugar can spout carp without any comeback.

The BBC top guy is a big Tory donor . No bias there...

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And what extreme language did he use?
Labour donor.
Eg 2010

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Not very impartial…

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...5&d=1678487588

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...6&d=1678487588

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...7&d=1678487588

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Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

Lord S, like so many with money, will back whoever brings in more for him at the time. Murdoch is another one who changes tune depending on how the wind is blowing.

As for the BBC, massive own goal in lots of ways. Might aswell make it another Govt dept.

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Nonsense. He supported Labour until Corbyn took over.

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free speech is only allowed if you saying right wing things Andrew sadly BBC right wing bias is beyond a joke now

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Exactly. Fiona Bruce writing off wife beater Stanley Johnson.... Only a broken nose. Yeah right.

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:redcard: There's acres of space between those ears Gary. Get off my son you're talking 110% tosh.

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MOTD will air with no presenters at all.

That'll make a nice change, more action, less hot air.

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Indeed, speaking of no bias the chairman donated £400k to the tories and facilitated an £800k loan to bozo but there's no bias there and didn't I read something earlier about an Attenborough documentary not being shown on bbc for fear of a right wing backlash wtf

Which one was he closer to?

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Shame it can't be permanent and for that reason, might actually start watching it again

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He can post what he wants within reason. You don't have to listen, I don't follow him on Twitter. Politics is everywhere so I don't see why talking about it should only be limited to the self-appointed gobby political commentators, at least people like Linker have done something with their lives beyond talking about politics.

It's not as if he mouthed off on Match of the Day either.

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I’m not sure it’ll have more action it might just be shorter. Agree on the hot air.

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The state broadcaster is worthy of its counterparts in Iran, Russia or North Korea.

As Alan Sugar demonstrates so successfully, its impartiality rules clearly depend on who you are and what issue of the day you feel like mouthing off about.

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The BBC currently has tight restrictions on what its news team can say on social media but not its other presenters. If it wants to review its rules that's one thing, but it can't operate in an ad hoc manner as it's done with Linneker and expect it to work.

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Remember when Andrew Neil, who presented the political programmes Sunday Politics and This Week on BBC One, Daily Politics & Politics Live on BBC2, sometimes hosted Newsnight on BBC2, The Andrew Neil Interviews on BBC1, all whilst posting outspoken political opinions in the Spectator, various newspapers, and Twitter, was pulled up for breaching the BBC Impartiality Rules?

No, me neither…

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Football Focus replaced with Bargain Hunt as they've no presenter. :D

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Yet more nonsense. It was a political appointment, so you are going to choose somebody you know.
No episode has been banned. They only made 5. The "sixth" was NOT made by the BBC and is going to be made available on iPlayer anyway.
Plenty of examples of where nature programmes have highlighted damage caused by "invasive alien species".

Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

Journalists have been leaving the BBC in their droves for this reason, the BBC simply do not want their staff criticising the sitting government, I guess because they have to keep relying on the government to get their funding renewed.

Looks like it has gone up a level since they employed this new dodgy chairman though.

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All six were made by Silverback Films, not the BBC. There are different statements on why the extra episode is not being shown on a linear channel. From The Guardian "Senior sources at the BBC told the Guardian that the decision not to show the sixth episode was made to fend off potential critique from the political right." The BBC denies this.

Not sure why the Chairman of the BBC needs to hold the same political views as the Prime Minister. Surely you pick the best person for the job, not ask your mates down the pub who's up for it?

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Thanks Gary:D.

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The "sixth" episode was NOT commissioned by the BBC. Sounds like the "episode" it's purely opinion.


Not necessarily to do with political views, but somebody you know. There's no job advert with interviews etc. They still have to be approved by Parliament and the Privy Council.

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Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

Wild Isles is a five part series commissioned by the BBC and made by Silverback Films.

Saving our Wild Isles is a one-episode film commissioned by the RSPB and WWF and made by Silverback Films.

RSPB/WWF commissioned their film because they knew Silverback were making a series for the BBC and wanted a piece that would pick up on the issues raised in the series and become the basis for their campaigning.

The BBC later purchased the rights to show Saving Our Wild Isles. It has opted to put it on the iPlayer and not broadcast it a week after Wild Isles concludes.

Thus far are the facts. Why they have done this … well, discuss …

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Well you'd know about nonsense considering I never said it was banned

And what a banal explanation in attempting to dismiss the worst sort of cronyism to boot

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The people that say because of his omissions they couldn't scrutinise his appointment properly...

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In fact, when someone complained about his posts on Twitter to the BBC, this was the reply (just over two years ago).

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...8&d=1678540127

Here’s another one about when someone complained about Chris Packham’s tweets (Countryfile & SpringWatch presenter on the BBC) just under two years ago.

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...9&d=1678540504

I wonder what has changed since then…

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...0&d=1678540504

Really opens your eyes, doesn’t it?

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Have I woken up in Russia?
A freelance sports presenter taken off air for criticising the government on an entirely different platform? Sounds more like RT than the BBC.

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The BBC website posted a video in 2018 "Gary is not involved in any news or political output for the BBC, and as such, any expression of his personal political views, does not affect the BBC's impartiality."
https://twitter.com/implausibleblog/...89134692663296

Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

Maybe the beeb has cottoned on to him being a bore? His pundit mates will be “taking the knee” next to show solidarity with the great Gary and his fall from grace. Time for a re-think on all of the tiresome footy shows and their endless cliche-spouting non-celebrities.

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Call me old fashioned but I prefer a bore to a director of news that's guilty of materially misleading the audience, the beeb should cotton on to the fact that their audience is literally dying off year by year and maybe not go out of their way to find ways to alienate large swathes of what's left, maybe that's the plan destroy it by stealth, just like they've done with the nhs

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Totally agree.

Maybe this whole thing has been orchestrated so as to get him to resign or dismiss him?

The BBC cuts are now really starting to bite and they may feel that they can no longer afford his obscene salary, but want to make it look like he left of his own accord or that they had no choice but to dismiss him??

If he does go it will help the BBC's finances. He won't starve and will probably be picked up by Sky or elsewhere.

MOTD will be shown tonight without comment or punditry which, from what i've heard, will suit most football fans and save a fortune.

If he does go, you can bet that all those supporting him will be fighting like rats in a sack for his job.

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A proposed format so successful that it’s not used for domestic leagues anywhere in the world.

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That was 4+ years ago.
As has already been pointed out, things changed under the latest chairman, and all the staff knew this, as Im quite sure did Lineker.
He [Lineker] now seems to thing hes bigger and more important then the BBC or the programme(s) he presents/presented.
I hope they stick to their guns, and he finds out hes not.

Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

The BBC will back down. They've completely screwed this up, if anything whoever made this decision might have to go.

The weird thing is the noise around this had started to die down. A few Tory MPs did the rounds saying he should go and the Daily Mail did a few front pages but after Lineker refused to apologise and it seemed the BBC had decided the matter was closed the attention died down.

Then the BBC went and tried to appease them and ended up alienating everyone else including most of their staff. They've had to pull TV shows and radio programs. There are now rumours the rebellion will extend past the sports on-air talent as well. The BBC might have a full-scale mutiny on their hands for an act of cowardice.

If this goes on much longer I think a lot of the BBC staff might just strike until Richard Sharp goes. The other thing about the suspension was it brought attention to him.

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Have the rules changed, or is it simply a more vindictive application of them depending on which side of the political fence you sit.

If the text hasn’t changed, and there’s nowhere else the BBC can point to for a similar application yet Lineker can point to Alan Sugar and Government acolytes posting as they wish, it could be a very costly error at the expense of the public purse.

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Alan Sugar was tweeting against the unions just before Christmas. The Apprentice is still airing. Karren Brady is a Tory Peer and she is on the show with him.

The difference is the Government didn't complain about him.

BBC News Presenters should be impartial on Twitter. Everyone else should be judged on how relevant their politicisation is to their role at the BBC. Otherwise, does it extend to presenters of Strictly Come Dancing? What about documentaries? Does Brian Cox need to be politically neutral on Twitter lest his science shows are brought into disruption?

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Rules may have changed in the last few years or they may have stayed the same. What's clear is that they only seem to be enforced if a presenter does not follow the government's agreed line. That's worrying.

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So .... one person asks a question, another answers it ... twitter (?).

Was there a reason for your post ?

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Looks like a sideswipe at Seph; the leftie remoaners don't like his opinions (which reflect the views of the silent majority) so they're trying to cancel him.

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Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

I agree with most of what you say but Lineker was comparing the language used by the government, not its actions.

I'm not arguing if he's right or wrong on the point he makes, but I feel there's an important distinction between criticising language and criticising actions.

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Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

Jolly japers, clearly.

Not sure where Redwood is coming from on this tweet - someone who helped devise some big privatisations knows more about how markets work than most people so playing naive with this question fools no one. But that's another debate!

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I don’t think Seph was arguing that point either. Seph disagrees, but respects Lineker’s right to say it. Language is ultimately an action.

That’s the interesting thing about the Redwood tweet above - a complete deflection from the issue at hand. I do disagree with what the state broadcaster pays for the presenters of English football highlights compared to the pittance it pays for actual live football in Scotland.

However it’s irrelevant to the issue at hand.

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I was highlighting the irony of an avid free-marketer questioning how the free market worked…

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Love it. Below the belt.

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Ooooh, I wanted to say that!

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He should have gone into business after Thatcher resigned and then retired gracefully. He's tarnished his reputation since then and needs to step aside at the the next election and let someone else have a chance.

Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

In what way?

Remember, this is from the man who posted this just under three months ago...

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...3&d=1678623076

Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

Maybe not by Ministers directly but by the Board appointments and by Conservative MPs writing to the BBC about Lineker.

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MOTD would be far better just showing the highlights, just think of the money they'd save.

Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

This whole clown show is a direct result of the Government directing their Tory stooges in the BBC to get Lineker to apologise for speaking the truth to power. In essence, they wished to suppress free speech. Some points to consider:

- as is shown above, Lineker had no case to answer re: abiding by the BBC rules on impartiality. See examples for Sugar, etc.

- impartiality works both ways. BBC Chairman installed by government-appointed panel that included a Conservative party donor and prospective MP, as well as the wife of the former chair of the Spectator who worked with Boris Johnson when he edited that political magazine. BBC Board member Robbie Gibb, brother of Tory MP and former minister Nick Gibb, a clear Tory party agent.

- if he was a right-wing Football Presenter and had expressed his views on turning back boats, sending families fleeing war and seeking asylum away with no chance of return, etc. nothing would have happened

- he did not, as had been claimed, compare the Government to Nazis. What he did was compare the rhetoric & language used with that of the democratically elected German National Socialist Workers' Party as they rose to power. This is an important distinction where the lessons of history should be discussed and seen to be discussed. The poetic irony is that one of the National Socialists' most effective tools was to suppress & silence voices of opposition heard in the mass media of the time (newspapers & radio)

- hilariously, if the roles were reversed, the right-wing press plus the useful idiots would all be screaming "wokerati, snowflakes, etc." for supressing free speech.

- lastly here's someone else who is saying *exactly* what Lineker said:



* again, Ms Salter did not use the word Nazi in her address to Braverman. She was citing the language used that ultimately led to the dehumanising and murder of the Jews.

Maybe they'll go after the 81-year old Holocaust survivor next, for consistency?

This is all about control .. nothing more

Re: Cancel culture at the BBC
 

I saw a bit of MOTD without the commentary, now I don't really follow football but it was like watching 'Unwind with ITV' it was really weird, not something I'd want to watch again.

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What i actually meant was it would be better without the studio panel commentating on the games, not the actual match commentary.

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If it means less sport on the BBC I'm happy.However my other half will be peeved.
Also I've given up expecting the BBC to stand up to outside interference from all and any political entities that really should leave the BBC alone.The politicians don't pay for it,we the public do.They need to butt out whatever their political leanings and those responsible for running the BBC should say so.

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I'm not 100% sure but I don't think there's a lot of sport on the BBC.

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The viewing figures apparently show almost 1/2 million more viewers than last week, and its highest total since the start of November last year.

For anyone wondering, No, I didnt see it, I never watch it, I view match highlights on the Sky Sports site.

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First of all you're assuming we all know hes an "avid free-marketer".
Secondly, I really dont see him questioning how it works, just asking a question, to which he got an answer [which may or may not be the correct answer].

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Oh, the irony :D

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I hope they try it next on Question Time, without Fiona Bruce

I saw John Deadwood tweeting earlier how good it was, so much more action, yes just a shame it was only on a fraction of the time it usually is, who'd have thought Deadwood was a fan

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JR is a massive soccer ball fan. Wokingham and Emmbrook FC are massive ( in Wokingham). They are always on MOTD.

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Whoosh. Leftie Remoaner :D

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Well done. Took a while but you got there, good job.

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Aww, thank you. I wanted you to know that someone does still read your posts even though it seems only to be me ;)

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I always thought the BBC was leftist leaning out to get the more conservative at every opportunity.


Personally I think that as the BBC is paid for by the public they should put public interest first and while remaining balanced not be afraid to challenge anyone of any particular leaning. In one sense they don't need to be popular as they don't rely on advertising and the worry of loss of revenue from that source but that also means they need to reflect a wide range of views and maybe even challenge views that are popular if they aren't "right".

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I see part of the climbdown has Lineker thanking Tim Davie. Clearly wanting to make sure he isn’t the fall guy.

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Will there be a fall guy?

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Hopefully.

Such an egregious assault on freedom of speech demands it in a public sector institution that’s supposedly impartial.

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Doubt it will happen. The amount of Government influence within senior BBC management will protect them on this issue. What is more likely is that the corrupt appointment of the Chairman will means he has to go but this will take its time to play out, if at all.

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I think what we have learned here, along with the incidents surrounding Marcus Rashford and Tyrone Mings is that you take on footballers at your peril!

Being very wealthy with a strong public image but not coming from a privileged background is an unusual combination even today. Couple that with the very strong self belief you need to reach the top of the game gives a powerful force

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Especially Gary Lineker of all people - Mr Nice Guy himself. He carries an immense amount of moral authority and publicly climbing in the ring with him on an issue like this was never going to end well for any BBC manager or politician.

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Oh I get it now...Gary had learnt a new long word at the footy school of punditry and he wanted to use it before anyone else nabs it. Or was he being a sneaky clever clogs again? :monkey:

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Well he couldn't even keep Gazza in order so he's well qualified.

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The BBC caved in, what a surprise.

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Agreed! Take on a national treasure with whom many viewers have grown up with at your peril!

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They had no ability to fight it. They completely screwed this up. Lineker had the public on his side, he had a mass walkout of BBC Sport on his side, their argument was not watertight and even the Government whose Ministers had spent the week whining about him backed off and didn't give any support for the BBC's decision.

Worse, it brought more focus on Richard Sharp with it becoming more widely known about his connections to Johnson. Whilst they are different roles it looks so bad to suspend Lineker for making a political comment on his personal Tweeter feed whilst your Chairman is a Tory Donor and helped arrange a loan to the Prime Minister who appointed him!

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Immeasurably is not a particularly complicated or advanced word? I wouldn't think anyone using it is trying to be clever. It's not like Russell Brand who liked to vomit a thesaurus onto every article he wrote. It's a perfectly cromulent word.

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Even some Tory MPs now coming out saying they wont vote for it. Complete own goal by the BBC.

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Interesting albeit hardly unexpected.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...ry-lineker-row

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I think the Telegraph is playing catch-up, these names have been discussed over the last few days.

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I'm surprised no-one has posted Gary is now coming back to MOTD, not that I give a toss about football.

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Post #78 at 11:33 today.

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/show...9&postcount=78

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Obviously missed it due to lack of interest.

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I have no interest in football either, but 'it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. There's more to it & at stake than first appears.

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Corbyn is defiantly not an Anti-Semitic, also he doesn't sympathise with terrorists when it comes to Israel.. the issue is he supports the Palestinians who are the victims of almost daily genocide by Israel so the media and the backstabber in Labour labelling him as one. on the Subject of Sugar he's was afraid of Corbyn as he would have been forced to actually pay more taxes also if Corbyn did get he would have scrapped the House of Lords sugar would have to work for his money then.

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Maybe back during the Labour days and the early years of the collation but now it's a Tory outfit. more and more conservatives are getting top jobs there and right wing bias journalists like Laura Kuenssberg are getting free rein to say what they like. you would swear sometimes BBC News has turned into GB News with the amount a rightwing leaning stories they put on.