Gary Lineker reinstated as presenter as BBC apologises
Gary Lineker made headlines after he was reprimanded by the BBC when he responded on Twitter to a video by the Home Office on the UK’s stance on migration.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman unveiled the government’s plans to stop migrants crossing the Channel on small boats which was met with widespread furore, most notably from Gary.
The sports presenter was later asked to step back from his hosting duties on Match Of The Day sparking a row with the BBC over impartiality and the use of social media.
The 62-year-old has now revealed his three golden rules before taking to Twitter.
“I have three rules: I never tweet if I’ve been drinking, I never tweet if I’m angry, and I always read the tweet back before hitting send,” Gary told Alastair Campbell for Men’s Health UK as part of their Talking Heads series.
He added: “If I have one per cent of doubt, I don’t post it.”
The broadcaster received a wave of support last month after he temporarily stepped down from Match of the Day.
After the move, fellow hosts, pundits, journalists and players all said they would not take part in Match of the Day – or in other BBC sports TV and radio coverage over the weekend.
The following week, after a weekend of having to scrap its shows and air much-reduced coverage, the BBC said it had reached an agreement with Gary and that he would be back hosting again.
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It comes after the former professional footballer compared the language used to launch a new Government asylum seeker policy with 1930s Germany on Twitter.
The broadcaster said it had “decided” Gary would take a break from presenting the highlights programme until an “agreed and clear position” on his use of social media had been reached.
The BBC says that it is “committed” to achieving due impartiality in all its output, describing it as “fundamental to our reputation, our values and the trust of audiences”.
The corporation’s guidelines state that the impartiality must be “adequate and appropriate to the output, taking account of the subject and nature of the content, the likely audience expectation and any signposting that may influence that expectation”.
It adds that BBC output must always “scrutinise arguments, question consensus and hold power to account” with both consistency and due impartiality.
Addressing the corporation’s social media guidelines, Gary told the same publication he had agreed to them but he never implied he would stop talking about two subjects – climate change and refugees.
“I wasn’t prepared to back down on that, especially as I felt and still feel that what I tweeted was fair and true. I wasn’t abusive, I wasn’t saying she [Suella Braverman] was a Nazi,” he commented.
“I talked about the use of words like ‘invasion’ and ‘swarms’ and ‘criminals’ and ‘rapists’, which I think we should be very careful about because it has real-life consequences.”
Gary Lineker was speaking to Men’s Health UK ‘Talking Heads’ columnist, Alastair Campbell, in an interview available on the magazine’s website now.
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