BBC apologise over changes to weekend’s sporting schedule amid Gary Lineker row | Sportscene to run amended format similar to Match of the Day-
Alex Scott and other pundits have pulled out of presenting the Football Focus programme, in solidarity with Gary Lineker, with Sportscene also impacted.
Pundits have also pulled out of presenting the Final Score programme with the show also cancelled.
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Hide AdJason Mohammad said he will not be presenting the BBC’s Final Score programme on Saturday.
Pundit Glenn Murray also said he had pulled out of appearing on Football Focus and Final Score on Saturday.
Sports reporter Marc Webber tweeted: “As Final Score reporters, we have decided to stand down from our duties today in solidarity with Gary Lineker. As a result, no Final Score will be broadcast today.
BBC has pulled its Radio 5 Live Sports coverage, saying there had been a change of schedule.
Former England footballers and MOTD regulars including Alan Shearer and Ian Wright announced on Friday that they would be boycotting the show in solidarity with Lineker.
We’ll have live updates and the latest news regarding football programming on the BBC.
RECAP: Football Focus dropped as Alex Scott pulls out in support of Gary Lineker | Final Score cancelled | BBC 5Live coverage pulled
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the Gary Lineker tweet row has shifted focus away from what the “disgraceful” Illegal Immigration Bill.
He told LBC on Saturday: “He’s got a perfect right to express an opinion even within the BBC’s own code. They are allowed to express opinions… of a partisan nature, providing it doesn’t impinge on their area of work. His area is sport.
“Others, Alan Sugar and many others, have made the most partisan comments in the past… against me particularly. I remember it very, very well and absolutely nothing was done despite complaints being made to the BBC.
“They’ve sort of come down like a ton of bricks on Gary Lineker, and whilst I support what Gary said, and I think he’s a decent human being in the way he’s put it and said it, unfortunately the whole debate now is shifting on to Gary and the BBC and ignoring the issue of this, I think, disgraceful piece of legislation that Parliament’s about to debate on Monday.”
BREAKING: BBC has pulled its Radio 5 Live Sports coverage, saying there had been a change of schedule.
BBC presenter Colin Murray said in a tweet, 5 Live’s Fighting Talk is not airing: “No @FightingTalk316 today, for obvious reasons.
“In the interest of transparency, this was a decision taken by the entire FT team and myself.”
What are the BBC rules on impartiality?
There been some confusion over where Gary Lineker fits into the BBC guidelines given he is a freelance and not in the news department. But here are the BBC rules
What do BBC guidelines state?
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.
Richard Sambrook, former director of news at the BBC and director of BBC Global News and the BBC World Service, told the PA news agency that “impartiality is crucial” for the BBC and staff in “everything they do”.
Meanwhile GB News have announced that they will be hosting an alternative Match of the Day - but with no footage of the football...
Alternatively you could just watch the hihglights on the Sky Sports Youtube channel at 530pm.
Gary Lineker is on his way to watch a Leicester City match, his son Harry has said.
He told reporters outside Lineker’s home in Barnes, south-west London, as he left to walk the dog: “He has gone to Leicester to watch the game. He will be back this evening.”
If you are just joining us - here’s a look at some key points.
- Football Focus did not air today and was replaced by Bargain Hunt on the BBC One schedule after presenter Alex Scott said it “doesn’t feel right” to go ahead with the show
- Final Score also will not go ahead, with The Repair Shop now listed for 4:30pm after presenter Jason Mohammad also said he would not appear today
- 5Live coverage has been cancelled with Dion Dublin being one of many to tweet he would not be partaking.
- Presenter Colin Murray said BBC 5 Live’s Fighting Talk was not airing today
- Match Of The Day pundit Ian Wright has said he’ll quit if the BBC “gets rid” of Lineker
5 Live, which would normally be covering today’s football matches, including commentary and punditry is running pre-recorded content.
A senior source told the BBC “5 Live’s sports programmes are currently being impacted and we are running recorded content”.
Will Gary Lineker return? The bookies seem to think so.
Gary Lineker is odds on at 8/11 to patch things up with the BBC and present next week’s show according to the latest odds from bettingsites.co.uk
Sir Keir Starmer said the BBC “caving in” to Conservative MPs in the Gary Lineker row is “the opposite of impartial”.
The Labour leader told broadcasters at Welsh Labour’s conference in Llandudno: “The BBC is not acting impartially by caving in to Tory MPs who are complaining about Gary Lineker.
“They got this one badly wrong and now they’re very, very exposed.
“As is the Government, because at the heart of this is the Government’s failure on the asylum system. And rather than take responsibility for the mess they’ve made, the Government is casting around to blame anybody else – Gary Lineker, the BBC, civil servants, the ‘blob’.
“What they should be doing is standing up, accepting they’ve broken the asylum system, and telling us what they’re going to do to actually fix it, not whingeing on about Gary Lineker.”
Roger Mosey, a former head of TV News at the BBC has said the latest developments at the BBC and the Lineker row highlights how chairman Richard Sharp has damaged the corporation’s credibility.
In a Twitter thread he has called for Sharp to stand down.
The BBC should reinstate Gary Lineker, say the Scottish Greens
The Scottish Greens sports spokesperson, Gillian Mackay MSP, said: “This has been a massive own goal by the BBC and is a clear attack on free speech.”
“Gary Linker was voicing a sentiment that millions of people rightly share about a racist government policy that will have a devastating impact on some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
“It is the appalling treatment of refugees that we should be talking about, not the Tweets of a TV host. “The message this sends is terrible. Countless BBC hosts have made their views on political issues clear on a whole range of issues with no such sanction. “
WIll MOTD2 air?
There is now doubts that Match of the Day 2 will go ahead.
Pundit Jermain Defoe said he is standing down from his slot on Sunday’s Match Of The Day 2.
The former England striker is the latest pundit to pull out of BBC shows after Gary Lineker was told to step back from hosting the Saturday edition of the football highlights programme in a row over impartiality.
The show is due to go ahead on Saturday evening without a presenter, pundits and several regular commentators, but the broadcaster has not said if Sunday’s version will be affected.
Defoe tweeted: “It’s always such a privilege to work with BBC MOTD. But tomorrow I have taken the decision to stand down from my punditry duties. @GaryLineker.”
Children have delivered letters to Gary Lineker’s home, with one expressing support for his stance on refugees.
Two boys posted letters through the 62-year-old former England footballer’s door in front of a pack of reporters and photographers awaiting comment after he was told to “step back” from his Match Of The Day hosting duties in an impartiality row.
Tristan, eight, who did not want to give his surname, turned up with his mother with a letter which said “thank you so much” to the star.
His mother said: “My son said, ‘Thank you so much. Thank you for defending the refugees’.”
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