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Gary Lineker: Asylum policy comments and the BBC

Rob said:
Would be brilliant if all associated with Match of the Day refuse to appear tomorrow night.
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Seems that's what we're gonna get. Shearer, Wrighty and now Alex Scott all saying they're not appearing so far. Think there's a real underestimation of the problems this is going to cause for them.

It was all fine for Alan Sugar to rant about Mick Lynch and a myriad of other people on his Twitter. It was all fine for Gary Lineker himself to talk about Qatar during the World Cup on the very football shows he was presenting. So why is it suddenly an issue for an opinion to be presented on a personal Twitter account, while separating those opinions from his day job on MOTD? Purely because his views don't match with that of the government? Questionable decision to say the least...
 
It's just disgraceful. I do feel like the BBC is essentially becoming a mouthpiece for the Tories, and anyone who expresses dissent gets castigated. All kinds of wrong.
 
It just shows the BBC up for how pathetic the institution has become. They've become so up their own ar**s that they don't even know what they stand for anymore. They just worry about how they can look good to the latest crowd for the next couple of months to try to please whoever. It was always going to catch up with them. If this speeds it up a little bit, so be it. Not been a fan of many of the presenters (Lineker included) or the BBC as a whole for a long time.
 
BarryZola said:
It just shows the BBC up for how pathetic the institution has become. They've become so up their own ar**s that they don't even know what they stand for anymore. They just worry about how they can look good to the latest crowd for the next couple of months to try to please whoever. It was always going to catch up with them. If this speeds it up a little bit, so be it. Not been a fan of many of the presenters (Lineker included) or the BBC as a whole for a long time.
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It's not their own arses they are up though. They are under the control of a Tory donor who is definitely up the government's arse.

The implication of all this is that you can only work for the BBC if you don't express any opinion in your personal life. Except it seems the only opinions that get sanctioned are any that shine a light on the poor government.

The pulling of a factual program that might upset people's opinions really puts all this into context.
 
It's a tricky one. If I posted similar I'd probably get a kicking from work using the social media policy however he is freelance. I would imagine the freelance contract he has includes a social media clause. Comparing anything to Nazi Germany will raise a million red flags and make bosses worry about corporate image. Should it be that way? No, but it will be covered in such a policy.
 
Gumbo_B said:
It's not their own arses they are up though. They are under the control of a Tory donor who is definitely up the government's arse.
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Oh, they're definitely up their own arses. That doesn't mean they can't be up other's too though, I don't disagree with that.
 
Poisson said:
It's a tricky one. If I posted similar I'd probably get a kicking from work using the social media policy however he is freelance. I would imagine the freelance contract he has includes a social media clause. Comparing anything to Nazi Germany will raise a million red flags and make bosses worry about corporate image. Should it be that way? No, but it will be covered in such a policy.
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Except the wording was that the language was not dissimilar to that which was used in Germany in the 30s. Which, if you look back at how that all went down, you could draw that conclusion. Was it the wisest thing to say? Possibly not, but then it's his own personal take on the way the government was behaving, in a reply to a (now deleted) tweet disagreeing with his opinion of their "stop the boats" campaign being awful.

Regardless of that though, the concern for me is how and why the BBC's stance on the issue changed in the space of less than 24 hours? If a supposedly independent and impartial organisation suddenly changes their approach to a disciplinary matter coincidentally after it's reported the government's own MPs aren't happy - that's a questionable chain of events for me.
 
Farcical situation.

Good to see other presenters siding with Lineker.

MOTD could just be a clip show tomorrow. Although Jenas has scab written all over him 👀
 
BarryZola said:
It just shows the BBC up for how pathetic the institution has become. They've become so up their own ar**s that they don't even know what they stand for anymore. They just worry about how they can look good to the latest crowd for the next couple of months to try to please whoever. It was always going to catch up with them. If this speeds it up a little bit, so be it. Not been a fan of many of the presenters (Lineker included) or the BBC as a whole for a long time.
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Your way of thinking is exactly why the BBC is fecked.

People keep saying “the BBC is x” and it tries not to be, it keeps trying to please everyone. The issue is this is the first government in history that has threatened its very existence if it doesn’t do what they want. So now it’s taken that tendency and become subservient to the Tory party.

It used to navigate the line well because there was an unwritten rule that whilst the government of the day may moan about the BBC it wouldn’t threaten it, but just like prorogation this post brexit Tory party doesn’t care about the usual norms.

At this rate flat earth believers will get the same airtime as Brian Cox. In fact we are there as they are censoring a fecking documentary by Attenborough.
 
rob666 said:
Oof.
Citation required.
I always found him a decent working class lad from a good Catholic school personally.
Edit...and three minutes ago he said on twitter that he wasn't down for the next edition of MOTD, but would not be appearing if he was due to be on.
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to be fair even i would refuse to appear so they will likely cancel it
 
Jermaine Jenas and Micah Richards have also ruled themselves out now along with Mark Chapman (reportedly, he doesn't post on Twitter).

To be honest, I can't see how anyone would want to go up on screen tomorrow. I can see the whole thing just being a highlights show with commentary.
 
Craig said:
Jermaine Jenas and Micah Richards have also ruled themselves out now along with Mark Chapman (reportedly, he doesn't post on Twitter).

To be honest, I can't see how anyone would want to go up on screen tomorrow. I can see the whole thing just being a highlights show with commentary.
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Let's hope so just to prove a point
 
Jeremy Clarkson has been confirmed as a stand-in for tomorrow night.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Dave said:
Your way of thinking is exactly why the BBC is fecked.

People keep saying “the BBC is x” and it tries not to be, it keeps trying to please everyone. The issue is this is the first government in history that has threatened its very existence if it doesn’t do what they want. So now it’s taken that tendency and become subservient to the Tory party.

It used to navigate the line well because there was an unwritten rule that whilst the government of the day may moan about the BBC it wouldn’t threaten it, but just like prorogation this post brexit Tory party doesn’t care about the usual norms.

At this rate flat earth believers will get the same airtime as Brian Cox. In fact we are there as they are censoring a fecking documentary by Attenborough.
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I understand completely what you're saying Dave. However, I would say that it's worth remembering that during the past decade the landscape of viewing TV and paying for it has shifted massively (Do I want to pay for the BBC license, shall I pay for Netflix etc instead). I would argue (some may disagree) that also during this period the BBC has had an un-naturally fast shift towards traditionally left-leaning causes.
Personally, if I was running the BBC I would have just tried to do what they were previously known for and to try to report well and accurately and use capable people to do so. That would be instead of forcing the likes of Zoe Ball on people on the radio in the morning instead of a perfectly capable Chris Evans, as well as shoe-horning anyone, however they could, to try to close the "gender pay gap" and then suddenly having 60% (or whatever) more black presenters over a several week period starting to present TV programmes (co-incidentally with BLM protests - see reacting to short term protests). People aren't stupid. They can see when things are being forced. It's not racist to not be a fan of positive dicrimination. Any kind of discrimination is wrong in my opinion. People should be judged on their merits. Just something to think about.
 
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I’m just surprised by how many tax dodging freelancers work for the BBC.
Anyone actually employed by the BBC wouldn’t have a choice not to present it.
 
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