The BBC-based sitcom W1A centred on a running joke about how the spinelessness and ineptitude of senior management led them to dig themselves ever-deeper into holes. At one point in the series, the Corporation’s ‘Head of Values’ is wrong-footed by an ex-footballer who wants to be a television pundit. Another episode centres on him closing down an orchestra which turns out to be widely admired by licence-payers.
Well, life imitating art and all that then. Today’s ‘resolution’ of the Gary Lineker furore, which began on the basis of the director general Tim Davie’s determination to defend the Corporation’s impartiality, could hardly have done more to cement its reputation as a redoubt of liberal Left bias and groupthink.
The errant Match of the Day presenter is not only welcomed back having issued no apology about his tweets, but having also forced a review of existing impartiality requirements, especially those applying to freelance presenters.
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