Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy - Printable Version

+- Pres Café (https://pres.cafe)
+-- Forum: Pres Café TV and Radio Forums (https://pres.cafe/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: News and Sport Presentation (https://pres.cafe/forumdisplay.php?fid=3)
+--- Thread: Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy (/showthread.php?tid=381)

---

RE: Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy - UTVLifer - 11-03-2023

Interesting quotes from this Times article linked by Beth Rigby

https://twitter.com/bethrigby/status/1634654261383495681?s=46&t=uYc2nILLUU7TByduAbmbxg 

Quote:Tim Davie, the director-general, had hoped his decision on Friday would draw a line under the criticism sparked by Lineker’s tweets about asylum seekers; instead, it unleashed 24 hours of chaos that wreaked havoc on its sports coverage, culminating in Match of the Day being cut to 20 minutes. As presenters and pundits pulled out of their shows in solidarity with the former footballer, one source dubbed it an “I am Sportacus!” moment.

Inside the BBC, the condemnation of Davie’s handling of Lineker was fierce: “No one can mishandle a crisis quite like the BBC,” said a critic. Staff hopes for a swift resolution so that it did not affect Sunday’s programming — including Match of the Day 2 — were dashed. It didn’t help that the two main players were on opposite sides of the Atlantic: Davie is in Washington DC visiting the BBC’s offices, while Lineker had headed to Leicester to watch the team where he started his career play. “This is a terrible day for the BBC,” said one correspondent. “BBC Sport and Match of the Day are the jewels in its crown. There could be a risk of losing Premier League rights if this isn’t sorted quickly."

Quote:There was speculation that the BBC’s director of sport, Barbara Slater, was opposed to suspending Lineker, but sources close to Davie denied this. Staff were critical of her slow response to the crisis. “There’s a complete absence of leadership,” said a BBC sports journalist. “The staff are very unhappy and feel extremely unsettled.” Another added: “This is Armageddon — essentially an entire division of the BBC has gone on strike.” Slater has emailed staff apologising for the situation, and the BBC has told staff that it will be holding sessions on Monday so that they can “have their say”.

As a source says in the article, it all sounds very W1A. 

It also says that BBC Board members are "expecting an 'update' on the Lineker situation on Monday"

---

Last bit I'm going to quote is this section on how the general mood and moral of the BBC seems to be getting even more dire than it already was

Quote:The unhappiness was broader than sport, though. Leaked posts on the BBC’s Slack messenger system showed news staff were mutinous. One dubbed it “disgraceful cowardice from leadership”, another said “I’m starting to think there is little point in working here anymore”, and a third said “Richard Sharp — all good; Gary Lineker calling out racism and fascism — outrage.” A fourth asked: “Who has more integrity, a banana republic or the BBC?” A radio presenter put this in a wider context: “What you are watching is the pent-up anger of an entire organisation, channelling through this incident.”

---

RE: Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy - JAS84 - 11-03-2023

"I am Sportacus?" What, the hero from LazyTown? lol

It should be Spartacus, right?

---

RE: Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy - Kojak - 11-03-2023

(11-03-2023, 09:52 PM)JAS84 Wrote:  "I am Sportacus?" What, the hero from LazyTown? lol

It should be Spartacus, right?

---

RE: Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy - thomalex - 11-03-2023

Happened to be on the Sydney Morning Herald website and they have the Lineker story on their front page about 4 stories down. And to my surprise it is currently their most read article so maybe it is a bit more international than we think!

https://www.smh.com.au 

---

RE: Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy - Adsales - 11-03-2023

(11-03-2023, 09:49 PM)UTVLifer Wrote:  Interesting quotes from this Times article linked by Beth Rigby

https://twitter.com/bethrigby/status/1634654261383495681?s=46&t=uYc2nILLUU7TByduAbmbxg 

Quote:Tim Davie, the director-general, had hoped his decision on Friday would draw a line under the criticism sparked by Lineker’s tweets about asylum seekers; instead, it unleashed 24 hours of chaos that wreaked havoc on its sports coverage, culminating in Match of the Day being cut to 20 minutes. As presenters and pundits pulled out of their shows in solidarity with the former footballer, one source dubbed it an “I am Sportacus!” moment.

Inside the BBC, the condemnation of Davie’s handling of Lineker was fierce: “No one can mishandle a crisis quite like the BBC,” said a critic. Staff hopes for a swift resolution so that it did not affect Sunday’s programming — including Match of the Day 2 — were dashed. It didn’t help that the two main players were on opposite sides of the Atlantic: Davie is in Washington DC visiting the BBC’s offices, while Lineker had headed to Leicester to watch the team where he started his career play. “This is a terrible day for the BBC,” said one correspondent. “BBC Sport and Match of the Day are the jewels in its crown. There could be a risk of losing Premier League rights if this isn’t sorted quickly."

Quote:There was speculation that the BBC’s director of sport, Barbara Slater, was opposed to suspending Lineker, but sources close to Davie denied this. Staff were critical of her slow response to the crisis. “There’s a complete absence of leadership,” said a BBC sports journalist. “The staff are very unhappy and feel extremely unsettled.” Another added: “This is Armageddon — essentially an entire division of the BBC has gone on strike.” Slater has emailed staff apologising for the situation, and the BBC has told staff that it will be holding sessions on Monday so that they can “have their say”.

As a source says in the article, it all sounds very W1A. 

It also says that BBC Board members are "expecting an 'update' on the Lineker situation on Monday"

---

Last bit I'm going to quote is this section on how the general mood and moral of the BBC seems to be getting even more dire than it already was

Quote:The unhappiness was broader than sport, though. Leaked posts on the BBC’s Slack messenger system showed news staff were mutinous. One dubbed it “disgraceful cowardice from leadership”, another said “I’m starting to think there is little point in working here anymore”, and a third said “Richard Sharp — all good; Gary Lineker calling out racism and fascism — outrage.” A fourth asked: “Who has more integrity, a banana republic or the BBC?” A radio presenter put this in a wider context: “What you are watching is the pent-up anger of an entire organisation, channelling through this incident.”

That’s the first article that comes a tiny bit close to what I’m hearing… as I said before, this will be a watershed moment for the BBC and with people in charge who don’t appear to stand up for the very principles the BBC was founded on, it may not end well.

---

RE: Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy - Kojak - 11-03-2023

(11-03-2023, 09:53 PM)thomalex Wrote:  Happened to be on the Sydney Morning Herald website and they have the Lineker story on their front page about 4 stories down. And to my surprise it is currently their most read article so maybe it is a bit more international than we think!

https://www.smh.com.au 

Remember, there are a lot of Brits (and descendants of) in Australia - 1 in 20 of Australia's population are British-born.

---

RE: Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy - Adsales - 11-03-2023

(11-03-2023, 09:53 PM)thomalex Wrote:  Happened to be on the Sydney Morning Herald website and they have the Lineker story on their front page about 4 stories down. And to my surprise it is currently their most read article so maybe it is a bit more international than we think!

https://www.smh.com.au 

A bit lol?

It’s being reported and talked about globally with headlines such as “Tweet by British footie legend plunges BBC into historical crisis” all the way to “Downing Street censors football legend and causes BBC crisis”.

---

RE: Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy - Dadeki - 11-03-2023

Interestingly Lineker's Twitter account has gained over 100,000 followers since Thursday, so clearly a lot of people are backing him on this one.

---

RE: Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy - Kim Wexler’s Ponytail - 11-03-2023

(11-03-2023, 09:26 PM)lhx1985 Wrote:  I think Andrew Neil sailed close to the wind, on occasion. 

He got away with it, despite being in the news department, because he was quite clearly the best political interviewer at the corporation and clearly relished the opportunity to rip a politician of any affiliation to shreds - to the extent that Boris Johnson refused to do a one-on-one with him.

He was upfront about his bias - but he was still capable of holding power to account.

That's quite a hole you're digging.

---

RE: Gary Lineker/BBC Asylum Controversy - Dougal - 11-03-2023

It's very much an international story...

Canada: 4th most popular story on CBC; 9th story on CTV.
Australia: 5th story on the ABC w/ analysis piece under Features section.
New Zealand: 2nd "World" story on TVNZ; lead "Sport" story on TVNZ.
US: Above the fold on NYTimes; Above the fold on Washington Post.

---