Connect with us

News

BBC’s flagship soccer show boycotted over Gary Lineker impartiality row | CNN

Published

on

BBC’s flagship soccer show boycotted over Gary Lineker impartiality row | CNN



CNN
 — 

The BBC’s weekend soccer protection has been plunged into chaos following its announcement that Gary Lineker would “step again” from presenting, after he turned embroiled in an impartiality row when he criticized British authorities coverage on Twitter.

The broadcaster now faces a boycott from pundits, presenters and even gamers of its flagship soccer present “Match of the Day,” whereas different soccer packages – Soccer Focus and Remaining Rating – and a few radio programming have been pressured off air because of the furore.

Lineker criticized the federal government’s controversial new asylum seeker coverage on Tuesday and was subsequently stepped down from his presenting duties this week for the reason that BBC stated his tweets breached their tips, particularly its dedication to “due impartiality.”

The BBC’s determination has sparked controversy, leaving the group underneath hearth from opposition politicians, the BECTU union who characterize BBC employees, and its former director common Greg Dyke.

Advertisement

“The BBC will solely be capable of convey restricted sport programming this weekend and our schedules might be up to date to mirror that,” a BBC spokesperson stated in a press release Saturday.

“We’re sorry for these adjustments which we acknowledge might be disappointing for BBC sport followers.

“We’re working exhausting to resolve the scenario and hope to take action quickly.”

On Tuesday, Lineker tweeted “Good heavens, that is past terrible” to a video posted on Twitter by the British Dwelling Workplace saying the brand new proposed coverage – an try to cease migrant boats crossing the English Channel from France which has been criticized by the United Nations and different world our bodies.

He added: “There isn’t a large inflow. We take far fewer refugees than different main European nations. That is simply an immeasurably merciless coverage directed on the most susceptible individuals in language that isn’t dissimilar to that utilized by Germany within the 30s, and I’m out of order?”

Advertisement

As Britain’s public broadcaster, the BBC is sure by “due impartiality” – a a lot debated time period which the group defines as holding “energy to account with consistency” whereas not “permitting ourselves for use to marketing campaign to alter public coverage.”

On Friday, the BBC introduced that Lineker would “step again from presenting Match of the Day till we’ve obtained an agreed and clear place on his use of social media,” including that it thought-about his latest social media exercise to breach its tips.

In response, first pundits, then commentators, after which even Premier League groups introduced their intention to boycott the present in help of Lineker.

BBC commentators Steve Wilson, Conor McNamara, Robyn Cowen and Steven Wyeth stated in a joint assertion issued late on Friday that “within the circumstances, we don’t really feel it will be acceptable to participate within the programme.”

Advertisement

Jermain Defoe, a former England striker, introduced Saturday he wouldn’t seem as a pundit on the Sunday present.

“It’s at all times such a privilege to work with BBC MOTD. However tomorrow I’ve taken the choice to face down from my punditry duties. @GaryLineker,” Defoe tweeted.

Defoe’s announcement seems to be the primary signal that the British broadcaster’s Sunday tv programming may also be affected.

In the meantime, the Skilled Footballers’ Affiliation announced on Saturday that “gamers concerned in at this time’s video games won’t be requested to take part in interviews with Match of the Day.”

“The PFA have been talking to members who needed take a collective place and to have the ability to present their help for many who have chosen to not be a part of tonight’s programme,” the assertion added.

Advertisement

“Throughout these conversations we made clear that, as their union, we’d help all members who may face penalties for selecting to not full their broadcast commitments. It is a frequent sense determination that ensures gamers received’t now be put in that place.”

Following his aspect’s 1-0 defeat in opposition to Bournemouth on Saturday, Liverpool supervisor Jurgen Klopp was requested in regards to the BBC subject.

“I can not see any purpose why they might ask anybody to step again for saying that. I’m unsure if that’s a language subject or not,” the German advised reporters.

“If I perceive it proper, then that is about an opinion about human rights and that must be potential to say.

“What I don’t perceive is why everyone goes on Twitter and says one thing. I don’t perceive the social media a part of it however that’s in all probability [because] I’m too outdated for that.”

Advertisement

The BBC’s former director common Greg Dyke stated that the broadcaster has “undermined its personal credibility” by suspending Lineker as a result of it appeared prefer it had “bowed to authorities strain.”

Keir Starmer, chief of the opposition Labour Get together, stated that the BBC had obtained “this one badly incorrect and now they’re very, very uncovered.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “As a powerful supporter of public service broadcasting, I need to have the ability to defend the BBC. However the determination to take Gary Lineker off air is indefensible. It’s undermining free speech within the face of political strain – & it does at all times appear to be rightwing strain it caves to.”

Opposition Labour Get together deputy chief Angela Rayner additionally lambasted the BBC’s determination in a tweet on Saturday.

“The BBC’s cowardly determination to take Gary Lineker off air is an assault on free speech within the face of political strain from Tory politicians. They need to rethink,” she tweeted.

Advertisement

In the meantime Nadine Dorries, an MP with the governing Conservative social gathering and former Tradition Secretary, welcomed the BBC’s determination, tweeting: “Information that Gary Lineker has been stood down for investigation is welcome and exhibits BBC are critical about impartiality.

“Gary is entitled to his views – free speech is paramount. Numerous non Public Service Broadcasters can accommodate him and his views and he could be higher paid.”

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

News

Revolutionary Guard commanders vow response to Israel attack on Iran

Published

on

Revolutionary Guard commanders vow response to Israel attack on Iran

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

The top commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards issued a stark warning to Israel on Thursday, vowing that Tehran would deliver a harsh response to last week’s Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic.

Major General Hossein Salami, the head of the guards corps, warned in a speech that Iran’s retaliation would be “unimaginable” as Iranian officials stepped up their rhetoric against Israel.

“Israelis think they can launch a couple of missiles and change history,” he said. “You have not forgotten . . . how Iranian missiles opened up the sky . . . and made you sleepless.”

Advertisement

Separately his deputy, Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, told Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese television channel close to Iran, that a response would be “inevitable”. In more than 40 years, “we have not left any aggression without a response”, he said.

The belligerent comments came as the Islamic regime weighs its options following Israel’s attack on Saturday, during which Israeli war planes launched three waves of strikes at Iranian military installations. The targets included missile factories and air defence systems in three provinces, including Tehran.

Regime insiders told the Financial Times that the options being considered include a possible strike before next week’s US presidential election, or Iran’s leaders could decide to hold off for now.

“The winner of the US election could take an Iranian attack personally and act against Iran. So, if Iran wants to respond to Israel, the best time is before the US election,” one insider said. “The only thing that could change this would be a fair breakthrough in ceasefire talks between [Hizbollah in] Lebanon and Israel which does not seem very likely.”

The US has this week stepped up efforts to broker a deal to end the conflict that has lasted more than a year between Israel and Hizbollah, Iran’s most important proxy.

Advertisement

But there was little optimism of a breakthrough as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Israel retain the right to unilaterally enforce any agreement that would lead to Hizbollah withdrawing from southern Lebanon.

Another Iranian insider indicated Tehran might opt to maintain psychological pressure on Israel rather than launch a direct assault.

“With Hizbollah launching tens of rockets into Israel daily in a legitimate war, a direct response may not be necessary right now,” the insider said. “What benefits us is not a direct war with Israel. We need to keep the level of people’s stress low so that they can live their lives. This is the top priority.”

But an Iranian analyst said the dilemma for Tehran was “that Israel would take any delay in Iran’s response as a sign of weakness and would feel emboldened”.

Iran’s initial reaction to Israel’s strikes — which were in retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage fired at the Jewish state on October 1 — suggested that Tehran’s response would be measured and not immediate, Iranian analysts said.

Advertisement

Speaking on Sunday, a day after Israel’s attack, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader and ultimate decision maker, refrained from vowing to retaliate.

Instead, he said the strikes should neither be “overestimated or underestimated”. Iranian state media played down the impact of the attack, which killed four soldiers and a civilian, saying the damage was limited.

But Tehran has shown a willingness to risk an escalation with Israel as regional hostilities triggered by Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack have spread across the Middle East, thrusting Iran’s years-long shadow war with its regional enemy into the open.

In April, it fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel in a clearly telegraphed retaliation for an Israeli strike on the republic’s embassy compound in Syria, which killed several senior guards commanders.

It gave little notice before launching 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1, a more severe attack that was in response to the Israeli assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s leader and a close confidant of Khamenei.

Advertisement

“Only a shock can stop Israel from its aggressions and free the region from the current stalemate,” the first regime insider said. “Iran might even go for a big bang and do something totally outside Israelis’ calculations as there is no other way to stop it.”

The US, which has pledged an “ironclad” commitment to the defence of Israel, has warned Iran not to retaliate as western nations have sought to contain the crisis amid heightened fears of all-out war.

“We will not hesitate to act in self defence. Let there be no confusion. The United States does not want to see further escalation,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, said this week.

Continue Reading

News

Harris says Trump 'devalues' women's ability to make their own choices

Published

on

Harris says Trump 'devalues' women's ability to make their own choices

PHOENIX — Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that former President Donald Trump’s remarks this week about protecting women whether they “like it or not” is another sign of how he “devalues” women.

“His latest comment is just the most recent in a series of examples that we have seen from him in his words and deeds about how he devalues the ability of women to have the choice and the freedom to make decisions about their own body,” Harris told NBC News in an exclusive interview.

The vice president also argued that most Americans “believe that women are intelligent enough and should have and be respected for their agency to make decisions for themselves about what is in their best interest,” rather than the government or Trump “telling them what to do.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately provide a comment on Harris’ remarks.

Follow live updates on the 2024 election

Advertisement

Trump on Wednesday said that his “people” had instructed him not to say that he wanted to “protect the women.”

“I said, ‘Well, I’m going to do it, whether the women like it or not.’ I’m going to protect them,” Trump said during his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press NOW,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt was asked if she can see how Trump’s comments about doing something “whether the women like it or not” might make women uncomfortable.

“No, I can’t. Because if you look at the full context of President Trump’s remarks, he brought this up in the context of illegal immigration and protecting women from the illegal immigrant criminals,” Leavitt said Thursday.

Harris on Thursday also talked about President Joe Biden’s “garbage” remark from earlier this week, in which he appeared to criticize either Trump supporters or a comedian who delivered racist jokes at Trump’s rally in New York, and reiterated her view that “we should never criticize people based on who they vote for.”

Advertisement

In addressing Biden’s comments, Harris pointed to Trump’s rhetoric about “the enemy from within” and comparing the U.S. to a “garbage can.”

“He does not understand that most people are exhausted with his rhetoric, exhausted with that approach, exhausted with an approach that Donald Trump has that’s trying to divide our country and have Americans point fingers at each other,” she said. “They’re done with it, and they’re ready to turn the page.”

Harris’ comments came before her rally in Phoenix. Her next campaign stops on Thursday are in Nevada, where she will hold rallies in Reno and Las Vegas.

The Sun Belt blitz comes as polling indicates a neck-and-neck presidential race less than a week before Election Day.

When asked by NBC News what Harris thinks her late mother would say to her in the final days before the election, Harris smiled.

Advertisement

“‘Just go beat him,’” she said, laughing. “That’s probably what she’d say. Yeah, that’s my mother.”

Yamiche Alcindor reported from Phoenix, and Megan Lebowitz from Washington, D.C.

Continue Reading

News

Election 2024 Polls: Senate Races

Published

on

Election 2024 Polls: Senate Races

About our polling averages

Our averages include polls collected by The New York Times and by FiveThirtyEight. The estimates adjust for a variety of factors, including the recency and sample size of a poll, whether a poll represents likely voters, and whether other polls have shifted since a poll was conducted.

We also evaluate whether each pollster: Has a track record of accuracy in recent electionsIs a member of a professional polling organizationConducts probability-based sampling

These elements factor into how much weight each poll gets in the average. And we consider pollsters that meet at least two of the three criteria to be “select pollsters,” so long as they are conducting polls for nonpartisan sponsors. Read more about our methodology.

The Times conducts its own national and state polls in partnership with Siena College. Those polls are included in the averages. Follow Times/Siena polling here.

Advertisement

Maine and Nebraska award two electoral votes to the statewide winner and a single electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. (Maine has two congressional districts, and Nebraska has three.) Historical election results for these districts are calculated based on votes cast within the current boundaries of the district.

Sources: Polling averages by The New York Times. Individual polls collected by FiveThirtyEight and The Times.

Continue Reading

Trending