[Football] Gary Lineker to step back from presenting MOTD

[Titanic]

Gary Lineker to step back from presenting MOTD

Gary Lineker to step back from presenting Match of the Day until agreement reached on social media use - BBC statement

www.bbc.co.uk

Gary Lineker is to step back from presenting Match of the Day until an agreement is reached on his social media use - BBC statement.
It follows an impartiality row over comments he made criticising the government's new asylum policy.
In a tweet, the presenter had compared the language used by the government to set out its plan to "that used by Germany in the 30s".

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Good i dont pay my licence to listen to his dross

If you don't pay your license fee, you are not legally entitled to watch MOTD. Crikey!

Incidentally, even Jeremy Clarkson has now come out in support of Lineker.

Get your 'missread the room' coat on and tune into talkshite. You know it's for the best

(Incidentally your speling and punkstuation are shit )

 

[Icy Gull]

That’s not an answer. Why shouldn’t they?

Because there are some right dickhead players and it could cause massive problems to the clubs who pay their wages. EG Matt Le Tissier if he was still a player.

 

[clapham_gull]

Whether you agree with Lineker or not in my honest opinion is completely irrelevant.

It's the rules on impartiality that need looking at and it those rules that have got everyone in a pickle.

And when you aren't applying them to journalists and are applying them to MOTD presenters, something clearly isn't working.

Impartiality is very very difficult in the modern age, especially when impartiality itself is somewhat arbitrarily defined.

Impartiality by very it's very definition often involves not saying something. Impartiality is supposed to mean apolitical.

The problem with not saying something in today's world is that then often gets defined as "support", impartiality itself perceived as political.

This leaves broadcasters in a very difficult situation, getting attacked equally from the left and the right. Let the journalist deal with that, they get the training.

As for the others, just don't apply it. Allow presenters to express their views. Just make it clear to them that they don't use their social media channels to promote their programmes or their employer.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Ah yes, Leeds..... the only club where I once saw National Front supporters selling their magazine openly in the Elland Road car park on a match day.

Endurance medal awarded for still not having put potty on ignore. Soldier

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Whether you agree with Lineker or not in my honest opinion is completely irrelevant.

It's the rules on impartiality that need looking at and it those rules that have got everyone in a pickle.

And when you aren't applying them to journalists and are applying them to MOTD presenters, something clearly isn't working.

Impartiality is very very difficult in the modern age, especially when impartiality itself is somewhat arbitrarily defined.

Impartiality by very it's very definition often involves not saying something. Impartiality is supposed to mean apolitical.

The problem with not saying something in today's world is that then often gets defined as "support", impartiality itself perceived as political.

This leaves broadcasters in a very situation, equally getting attacked from the left and the right. Let the journalist deal with that, they get the training.

As for the others, just don't apply it. Allow presenters to express their views. Just make it clear to them that they don't use their social media channels to promote their programmes or their employer.

 

[Shooting Star]

Unsurprisingly, people are letting the political debate he referred to cloud the heart of the issue. Lineker has chosen to work for the one TV company where impartiality is enshrined. This isn't about the rights and wrongs of what he has said. This is about whether he's gone too far as a BBC presenter.

The better discussion to have is whether the BBC can ever achieve full impartiality, or what should that look like in practice.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Because there are some right dickhead players and it could cause massive problems to the clubs who pay their wages. EG Matt Le Tissier if he was still a player.

So if you play football you shouldn’t have an opinion. Good job Marcus Rashford didn’t think that. Unless you think working class kids should go hungry?

 

[Guinness Boy]

Good i dont pay my licence to listen to his dross

Do you have a Twitter account?

 

[portlock seagull]

Gary’s been a fool?

He’s got Jeremy Corbyn and Piers Morgan to agree. If that’s not winning the internet, what is?

Ha ha, maybe.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

A serious reply to a sensible post....

GL has been a bit careless.

Still....because what he said resonates, he has support among the influencers. All the MOTD presenters versus....mad Nad Dorries? Who wins?

Only the dimbots will be demanding a recount.

 

[Silverhatch]

Would you be comfortable with Albion players expressing their political views via Twitter?

YES. I might not like what they say but if they were strident enough to publicise their own views - then I’d deal (or not) with it.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Why are all the free speech defenders suddenly trying to tell us Gary should have kept quiet?

Almost like they weren't in favour of free speech at all.

It’s about their right to be racist, homophobic and hard line religious.

It’s not about Gary’s right to point out that they are being.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

So if you play football you shouldn’t have an opinion. Good job Marcus Rashford didn’t think that. Unless you think working class kids should go hungry?

This.

Did some tory nobber suggest he shut up at one point? Yes, yes they did.

Shame on them.

 

[BadFish]

A very reasoned response for which I thank you together with your apology.
Of course I know why the asylum seekers, economic migrants ,call them what you will ,want to come here rather than the other EU countries. In all probability they have some knowledge of our language and will have heard on the grapevine that they will receive a lot better treatment here than in some continental countries.
The nub of this problem is how do we maintain a fair and equitable response to this very understandable desire. We both agree that unfettered immigration is unacceptable but how is it to be controlled ? I wish I knew the answer or had heard some alternatives put forward by the opposition parties. The one thing I am sure of is that idiot Lineker is not contributing to the solution. On the contrary he is making things worse

Thanks for the response. I think the first step to discussing this problem is to understand the distinction between the different groups within the immigration debate.

Asylum seekers, economic migrants are not 'call them what you want' they are two distinct groups with two distinct strategies necessary to process them. It is vital to understand the difference and not allow people to conflate the two.

This conflation is how you have ended up with the hopeless and ineffective policies we are seeing.

A agree that a fair and equitable response is what everyone (including Lineker) is after. The point is that the policy being offered by the Conservatives is simply not one.

 

[Stat Brother]

Why are all the free speech defenders suddenly trying to tell us Gary should have kept quiet?

Almost like they weren't in favour of free speech at all.

Although they are big fans of Alanis Morrissette's back catalogue.

 

[Steve in Japan]

Come on Glenda, here's your chance!

 

[LamieRobertson]

I'm not surprised Halligan says that, he likes to be contrarian. The data on housebuilding in 20C is widely known and key info widely available. See, for instance:

House building in England - Full Fact

Our overview of the supply and demand for homes in England.

fullfact.org

Also see this, which is interesting. Key chart is on p31 to indicate ownership models. One policy is key:

https://www.nhbcfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/NF62-Homes-through-the-decades.pdf

says a lot more which i think makes a lot of sense …...i will look at your stuff though

 

[Icy Gull]

So if you play football you shouldn’t have an opinion. Good job Marcus Rashford didn’t think that. Unless you think working class kids should go hungry?

Maybe you should email PB and suggest players should express their political opinions on Twitter, as I am pretty sure they sign up to not doing so as things stand.

I am guessing btw

 

[Guinness Boy]

This.

Did some tory nobber suggest he shut up at one point? Yes, yes they did.

Shame on them.

“Couldn’t you feed them with your salary?” says person on above average salary whose job it is to actually stop kids starving

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Ah yes, Leeds..... the only club where I once saw National Front supporters selling their magazine openly in the Elland Road car park on a match day.

Our former player, when he took on their manager job, banned the selling of their racist mag on the terraces.

I may condemn 1980s tykes for being thick, but in 2023, the likes of @Is it PotG? make me sick,