BBC suspends presenter critical of government and creates outcry

” Revolt for Lineker », « Mutiny at the BBC », « The Beebs goes too far “: the announcement Friday evening of the temporary suspension of the former footballer and presenter of the very popular program “ Match Of The Day “, caused such an outcry that it largely eclipsed from the front pages of British newspapers the very political visit of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to Paris the day before.

The former England striker, who has presented this football show since 1999, which has been a veritable institution since 1964, was suspended after criticizing the new Conservative government bill aimed at preventing migrants arriving via the English Channel from seeking asylum in the UK. According to this, asylum seekers will be sent to Rwanda pending the study of their file. This project has been denounced even by the UN.

It’s about a “ cruel policy aimed at the most vulnerable, in a language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s “wrote on Twitter the 62-year-old ex-footballer, who regularly shares his progressive opinions with his 8.8 million subscribers. He has already spoken out against Brexit or in favor of welcoming migrants, in particular.

In a context of very tense debate on immigrationbut also of recurring criticism of impartiality aimed at the audiovisual sector on the part of the British right, the BBC announced on Friday that it had “ decided that [Gary Lineker] was going to step back from presenting Match Of The Day until we had a clear agreement with him on his use of social media “.

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Wave of support

In the aftermath, several consultants of weekend football shows decided to withdraw from their programs by “ solidarity ‘, forcing the BBC to apologize to viewers and replace some of its sports programs with antique or DIY shows at the last minute. Match Of The Day will air, but without analysis and a presenter, the BBC said.

A petition in support of the former international has exceeded 178,000 signatures.

“ The BBC has damaged its own credibility by appearing to bend to government pressure “, Estimated the former director general of the BBC, Greg Dyke.

“ If he had tweeted in support of the government, would this have happened? Probably not. It’s only because he tweeted against them, against power, that we tried to silence him “, also argues Vishnu Mohan, a 27-year-old trader in London.

According to the newspaper The Daily Express On Saturday, a group of 36 British Conservative MPs reportedly wrote a letter to the group’s chief executive, Tim Davie, asking for an apology “ without reservation from the presenter.

During an interview on Saturday evening, Tim Davie “ apologized that viewers were impacted “, but assured that he would not resign from his position after this controversy.

Tories appoint one of his backers to head BBC

The BBC is regularly attacked by conservatives who accuse it of having covered Brexit in a biased way. In the midst of inflation, the government of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson last year froze the license fee for two years, a additional budgetary pressure for the group looking to save money.

Faced with criticism, the audiovisual giant has erected impartiality into “ priority and, on the advice of the government, Richard Sharp was appointed in 2021 to the presidency of the BBC. But this appointment is disputed, because this former banker, financial support of the Conservative party, would have, shortly before his appointment, played the matchmaker to help Boris Johnson obtain a loan of 800,000 pounds (900,000 euros).

Gary Lineker, 48 goals for England until his retirement in 1994, did not react publicly to his suspension. However, he repeated this week that he fully assumed his words.

(With AFP)

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