Lord Birt, the former director-general of the BBC, has called for presenters such as Gary Lineker to abide by impartiality rules if they are “inextricably bound up with an important BBC programme”. Speaking before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Lord Birt addressed the ongoing review of the BBC’s social media guidelines and stated that he hoped it would offer “crystal clarity” to employees about their responsibilities.
Lord Birt’s comments come in the wake of Gary Lineker’s three-day suspension from Match Of The Day after he posted a tweet in which he criticised the language used by the UK government to promote its asylum plans. Lord Birt argued that presenters of important BBC programmes should refrain from offering their opinions on controversial political topics. He cited the example of a Strictly Come Dancing presenter who was “passionately opposed to immigration” and spoke openly about stopping small boats, arguing that the same impartiality rules should apply to all BBC presenters.
While acknowledging that public opinion on Lineker’s tweet was split, Lord Birt stated that he did not think the damage to the BBC was terminal as the broadcaster had “too much credit in the bank”. However, he stressed that the issue needed resolving quickly and wished it had been resolved more speedily.
