BBC farce: Anger as social media rules rewritten for Gary Lineker's Twitter rants
THE BBC has rewritten its own guidelines about staff’s social media posts, which will give free rein for its presenters like Gary Lineker to rant on Twitter.
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The taxpayer-funded corporation has now rewritten its guidelines which says it is “risk is lower” if the presenter is talking about a subject unrelated to their field.
The example the BBC use is a “sports or science presenter expressing views on politics or the arts”.
However in the revised editorial guidelines, which were published last week, news and current affairs presenters are still banned from posting their political views on social media, or revealing their position on a “controversial subject”.
Tory MP Bill Cash said the changes attempted to “justify statements that Gary Lineker makes”.
This loophole has been deliberately out into the guidelines for the purposes of trying to justify statements that Gary Lineker makes
He told the Mail Online: “This loophole has been deliberately out into the guidelines for the purposes of trying to justify statements that Gary Lineker makes”.
The changes come after Mr Agnew, ex-cricketer-turned-commentator, told the Match Of The Day host to “keep his views to himself” on Twitter
He tweeted: “Gary. You are the face of BBC Sport. Please observe BBC editorial guidelines and keep your political views, whatever they are and whatever the subject, to yourself.
“I’d be sacked if I followed your example. Thanks.”
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But Mr Lineker hit back writing: "Jonathan, I'm the face of my own Twitter account. I'll continue to tweet when I like and if folk disagree with me then so be it.
"Thank you so much for your concern, which, I imagine, wouldn't be a concern at all if you agreed with me."
A BBC spokesman said: “We’ve always said that a sports presenter is able to express a political view in a way that a BBC journalist can’t, and the editorial guidelines make this clear."