Gary Lineker has not been afraid to share his political opinions (Image: Getty)
The BBC is “addicted” to celebrity and needs presenters who understand the Britain that exists beyond the big cities, according to the Countryside Alliance.
The campaign group has attacked the broadcaster’s record on impartiality and says it needs programme-makers who are not the “typical urban graduate”.
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In a submission to the BBC, the Countryside Alliance sets out concerns surrounding its treatment of footballer turned pundit Gary Lineker.
He was briefly taken off air as a presenter of Match of the Day in 2023 after attacking the Conservative Government’s asylum policy but returned following a walk-out by fellow presenters and commentators in solidarity.
Mr Lineker had described the Illegal Migration Bill as an “immeasurably cruel policy” – claiming the language used around it was comparable to that “used by Germany in the 30s”.
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The Countryside Alliance states: “The recent controversy over Gary Lineker – where the BBC initially sought to sanction him for flagrant breaches of presenter impartiality duties in his social media activity, but then backed down when, in protest, some of his fellow presenters refused to do their jobs – suggests that the BBC has become addicted to a culture of celebrity among its own presenters. It has put them on pedestals and left them untouchable.”
The BBC, it adds, must “make known to its presenters that they are not indispensable, and it needs to be ready and willing to dispense with those who do not wish to comply”.
The campaign group claims that the “BBC’s complaints process is byzantine and seemingly designed less to enable just outcomes than to obfuscate”, accusing the broadcaster of applying “torturous reasoning” to “justify what appear to be transparent breaches of editorial guidelines”.
Spokesman David Bean said: “Impartiality should be about more than just reducing complex issues to two-sided arguments and trying to represent both. It needs to be a culture, but the BBC’s fixation with its metropolitan celebrity presenters is not well suited to building it.
“It should draw on-air and production talent from beyond the typical urban graduate, embracing a broader range of perspectives across its output. Ten years after the BBC’s own independent review accused its rural programming of having a metropolitan bias, little has changed and rural voices still struggle to be heard.”
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Saqib Bhatti, the Conservatives’ shadow minister for culture, media and sport, said: “The BBC is a valued institution with enormous reach, but submissions like this suggest it needs to do more to ensure people’s trust
“Controversies surrounding its top stars’ belief in the BBC’s commitment to impartiality have undermined the public’s faith in the organisation and it’s essential it learns lessons from submissions like this as we approach the renewal of the Royal Charter.
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“In an increasingly crowded field, the BBC needs to ensure its role and place in society is understood. If not, endless questions about its relevance will continue to persist.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “No other organisation takes its commitment to impartiality more seriously than the BBC and it remains our number one priority. Everyone who works for the BBC is aware of their responsibilities relating to impartiality and their social media use, and we have appropriate internal processes in place if required.”
The Countryside Alliance was responding to a consultation on new draft editorial guidelines.