Last weekend, football coverage on television and radio was thrown into chaos as pundits walked out in ‘solidarity’ with Gary Lineker. The Match of the Day presenter had been stood down from presenting duties for comparing language used to launch a new government asylum seeker policy with 1930s Germany. However, Lineker will now return to air the football show next weekend, with the BBC since apologising and announcing an independent review into its social media guidelines.
TalkSPORT host and former Crystal Palace owner, Simon Jordan, said those who showed support by downing tools could be worried. “I actually, with a slightly cynical view, felt there was an opportunity with all these people wanting to withdraw their services, then consider it withdrawn permanently,” Jordan said. “I look at the new generation of broadcasters coming in, because this legacy and the idea that people get jobs for 30 years and keep them forever is some sort of misnomer.”
Jordan continued: “I spoke to one of our shows on Friday afternoon and said that my perception would be that they find a solution at some point and review the social media strategy. That is probably what they are going to do now, if you read the statement it apologies to the viewers. It is not apologising to Gary Lineker or his supporters, it is to the viewers for the disruption. It is reviewing the independent policies put in place, or getting the independent body to review the policies involving impartiality.”
Jordan also believes that nobody has come out on top from this battle and it will harm both parties in the long run. “Now, I am no advocate of the BBC, but in 2020 when [the corporation’s director-general] Tim Davie comes in to be able to sophisticates the processes around impartiality, if he has not done it properly, which you would seem is the case here, then the bottom line is, they need to tidy up,” he said.
“What you will find now is a different relationship between Gary, nobody won this battle, everybody had degrees of loss out of it, so with that in mind, you’ll probably find a sophistication of Gary’s social media. If they sophisticate the contacts going forward and say social media positions that have a political persuasion no longer available, Gary will then be confronted with a new contract, which probably encapsulates that clause. Now whether he signs it or not is another discussion, the bottom line is, yes, I built teams, I did not get into a position to make a significant amount of money without building a significant team around me to help me get there. I believe in a team mentality.”
Lineker has a right to say certain things if his contract does not stop him from doing it. If his contract does stop him from doing it, then he can always choose other platforms where he can air his views. If it doesn’t stop him from doing it, then what was all this about at the beginning of the week? “All we have seen is a politicised conversation and people drawing signs. Everybody has freedom of speech; what we don’t have is freedom of consequences,” Jordan said.
“The BBC have the idea of what people should and should not say. I know people who are very well-heeled, have a significant amount of money and have a relationship with the BBC for big shows and have clauses in their contract about bringing the BBC into disrepute. Some people would argue that making a strong political statement using language that some people would perceive as inflammatory could make that leap. The BBC obviously felt they were in that space.”
Jordan’s view may be cynical but he would have axed all those who refused to work for the BBC over the weekend following the Gary Lineker row. He believes that there is a new generation of broadcasters coming in and that the legacy and idea that people get jobs for 30 years and keep them forever is some sort of misnomer.