[UTVLifer]

Interesting quotes from this Times article linked by Beth Rigby

twitter.com 

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."

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"

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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

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.”