If the BBC’s key presenters, including Gary Lineker and Claudia Winkleman from Strictly Come Dancing, do not follow new social media restrictions, they may risk disciplinary action.
According to the guidelines, the broadcaster’s top personalities will be barred from political campaigning and insulting the character of particular politicians, but they will be permitted to voice their views on subjects and policies.
Talent will also be barred from advocating or criticising a political party while their show is airing, as well as for two weeks before and after the series begins and concludes.
The BBC report added there will be a ‘particular responsibility’ for presenters ‘to respect the BBC’s impartiality, because of their profile on the BBC’ on flagship shows, such as Match of the Day, The Apprentice and Strictly.
Strictly Come Dancing‘s Claudia and Tess Daly, Dragons’ Den’s Evan Davis, The One Show’s Alex Jones, and MasterChef presenters John Torode and Gregg Wallace are among those who have broken the regulations, according to the BBC.
Similarly, Lord Alan Sugar from The Apprentice, Fiona Bruce from Antiques Roadshow, and Mark Chapman and Gary Lineker from Match Of The Day will have to follow the new regulations.
Greg James, Zoe Ball, Vernon Kay, and Scott Mills of BBC radio were also nominated as presenters of flagship programmes.
Former England striker Lineker welcomed the BBC’s revamped social media guidelines as ‘all very logical’ on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Lineker, the BBC’s highest-paid broadcaster, was forced off the air in March after becoming embroiled in a debate about impartiality.
On X, now known as Twitter, the 62-year-old contrasted the terminology used to introduce the government’s refugee seeker programme to 1930s Germany.
The decision to bench Lineker provoked an uproar, with several of his fellow sports journalists, including Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, boycotting Match Of The Day.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Lineker said the fallout was ‘all pretty sad.’
‘What the boys did was incredible,’ he said, referring to Wright and Shearer.
‘It was incredibly moving. For me, as the person they stood up for, it meant a lot. I cried in the back of the taxi.’
On March 18, Lineker returned to presenting duties, fronting live coverage of Manchester City’s FA Cup quarter-final versus Burnley with Shearer and Micah Richards.
Following the event, BBC director-general Tim Davie said that the corporation has commissioned an independent review of its social media policies, particularly those pertaining to freelancers.
Davie apologised for what he called a “tough period for staff, contributors, presenters, and, most importantly, our audiences,” and defined the BBC’s commitment to free expression and impartiality as a “difficult balancing act.”