One of the more dramatic work actions we’ve seen in a while comes at the British Broadcasting Corporation. After the BBC asked Match of the Day pundit Gary Lineker to “step away” following Friday agreeing over his use of social media to support refugees and criticizing a British government migration bill, his colleagues Ian Wright and Alan Shearer announced they wouldn’t appear on the show either.
That situation was already notable Friday afternoon. But it’s since escalated much further. We’ve seen the rest of the Saturday Match of the Day commentators withdrawing, Jermaine Defoe withdrawing from Match of the Day 2 on Sunday, the Professional Footballers’ Association stated that players and managers would not participate in Match of the Day interviews, other presenters announcing they’d also pull out of their own shows (including Alex Scott of FootballFocusJason Mohammad of Final Scoreand Glenn Murray of both those programs), and to the BBC replacing those shows (and shows from other sports, including Colin Murray’s Fight Talk) with other programming and apologizing for their “limited sport programming”:
NEW | all 6 commentators due to work on MOTD tmrw pull out. Joint statement ⬇️ https://t.co/0rSuUcoxWn pic.twitter.com/mIyIEmUftH
— Dan Roan (@danroan) March 10, 2023
I made a decision last night that even though I love doing football focus and we have had an incredible week winning an SJA award that it just doesn’t feel right going ahead with the show today. Hopefully I will be back in the chair next week…
— Alex Scott MBE (@AlexScott) March 11, 2023
Was meant to be up in Media City today but reflecting last night I felt it was the right thing to do to step away from Focus & Score today.
Hoping normal service resumes next week??— Glenn Murray (@GM_83) March 11, 2023
It’s always such a privilege to work with BBC MOTD. But tomorrow I have taken the decision to stand down from my punditry duties. @GaryLineker
— Jermain Defoe OBE (@IAmJermainDefoe) March 11, 2023
PFA statements ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/7k89oSFxF6
— Dan Roan (@danroan) March 11, 2023
Update: they are able to show viewers still photography from football games, so that’s something.
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) March 11, 2023
The metaphor of the BBC replacing Final Score with The Repair Shop (aka. something is broken and it needs to be fixed) seems apt today. https://t.co/nHJadmSjFM
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) March 11, 2023
NEW | BBC statement on “limited sport programming” ⬇️
Says it’s “sorry for these changes which we recognize will be disappointing for BBC sport fans.“We are working hard to resolve the situation and hope to do it soon.”
Statements ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/LEP0lWHhJ6— Dan Roan (@danroan) March 11, 2023
As Henry Winter of The Telegraph noted, this has led to quite the run of internal BBC memos as well:
BBC bosses finally realizing the anger amongst sports staff over treatment of @GaryLineker and holding meetings on Monday. Should be lively. pic.twitter.com/EbS6x6KZ3K
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) March 11, 2023
To BBC staff from Barbara Slater … pic.twitter.com/qOUsr1OKSp
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) March 11, 2023
Meanwhile, League One side Forest Green saw chairman Dale Vince saying they won’t speak to the BBC until Lineker is back on air:
In solidarity, we (@FGRFC_Official ) won’t be speaking to the BBC until Gary’s back #GaryLinekar #MOTD #football pic.twitter.com/rQToeqJmSg
— Dale Vince (@DaleVince) March 11, 2023
The BBC also received strong criticism from two opposition leaders, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey. From Starmer:
The BBC is not acting impartially by caving in to Tory MPs who are complaining about Gary Lineker.
They got this one badly wrong and now they’re very, very exposed.
As is the government, because at the heart of this is the government’s failure on the asylum system. And rather than take responsibility for the mess they’ve made, the government is casting around to blame anybody else – Gary Lineker, the BBC, civil servants, the ‘blob’.
What they should be doing is standing up, accepting they’ve broken the asylum system, and telling us what they’re going to do to actually fix it, not whingeing on about Gary Lineker.
From Davey:
This saga has shown to fail at the very top of the BBC and the dire need to urgently protect their independence.
We need leadership at the BBC that upholds our proud British values and can withstand today’s consistently turbulent politics and Conservative bullying tactics.
Sadly, under Richard Sharp’s leadership, this has not been the case: his appointment and position are now totally untenable and he must resign.
The BBC should be a champion of freedom of speech and must overhaul their current rules and judgment on impartiality. They can’t continue to play by rules that are so one-sided.
The Conservative Government has systematically attacked and undermined the independence of our BBC. That’s not in the best interests of our country and our democracy and Liberal Democrats will fiercely stand up against this.
As has been noted, too, the BBC social media policy doesn’t really seem to cover what Lineker did, specifically citing “a sports or science presenter expressing views on politics or the arts” as “lower risk”:
These are the BBC rules on social media and it is v hard to see how Lineker broke them. (Via @kitandrew1) pic.twitter.com/fzBQT5cgSj
— Sam Freedman (@Samfr) March 10, 2023
On a lighter note, this has led to some of the always-amusing on-air scenes and discussion of an outlet trying to report on itself:
Incredibles. BBC director general Tim Davie doorstepped by a BBC journalist on the BBC News channel, answering questions about why BBC stars are in open mutiny about the BBC’s best-paid presenter being suspended for breaking BBC social media rules. pic.twitter.com/gxVka4vdil
— Jake Kanter (@Jake_Kanter) March 10, 2023
Phenomenal scenes. pic.twitter.com/fm1bcWewq1
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) March 11, 2023
We’ll see what happens with the Lineker situation going forward. But the collective action in support of him has certainly altered the BBC’s sports programming this weekend. And while they’ve said they plan to go ahead with a just-highlights Match of the Day, that may be without commentary thanks to rights issues. So it makes for a very different weekend of BBC sports coverage, and could potentially lead to further changes down the road as well.
[The Guardian; image from Scott Bryan on Twitter]
