Match of the Day: Audience peaked at 2.8m after BBC Lineker row while ITV’s Six Nation coverage tops 5m March 20, 2023 Two million viewers tuned in to watch Match Of The Day (MOTD) Live after Gary Lineker’s return to the BBC. The corporation said the coverage of the FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday, which was hosted by the 62-year-old presenter, saw an average of 2.1 million viewers based on overnight figures. An audience peak of 2.8 [...]
Stagnant wages since 2008 financial crash means workers £11,000 worse off, BBC Panorama reveals March 20, 2023 Workers are £11,000 worse off per year due to 15 years of wage stagnation, according to the Resolution Foundation. In new figures shared with BBC Panorama, the think tank calculated that, had wages continued to grow at the pace seen before the 2008 financial crash, the average worker would make £11,000 more per year than [...]
Lineker row offers the BBC a chance to reflect on how it does sport March 16, 2023 National treasuredom isn’t codified. It is a status that creeps up on individuals, usually as they enter their twilight years. It does not reflect universal approbation, but certainly requires dissenters to be in a dwindling minority. Gary Lineker is clearly too divisive a figure to be considered a national treasure just yet, but the past [...]
Strikes: Over 1,000 local BBC TV and radio journalists begin 24-hour walkout over proposed cuts to service March 15, 2023 BBC services face disruption as staff begin a 24-hour strike in protest against proposed cuts to the broadcaster’s local radio output. Around 1,000 journalists are expected to walk out on Wednesday, as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivers his Spring Budget, prompting changes to the local TV and radio schedule in England. Around 25 journalists left Broadcasting [...]
Gary Lineker scolds Tory MP over claim BBC host called northern voters ‘racist bigots and Nazis’ March 15, 2023 Gary Lineker has described accusations that he called northern voters “racist bigots” as “outrageous and dangerously provocative”. The recently reinstated Match Of The Day host took to Twitter once again in response to comments made by Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis. During an interview with Channel 4 News, Mr Gullis said he was not concerned with [...]
Elon Musk: Gary Lineker takes aim at Twitter boss after son gets threatening messages March 14, 2023 Gary Lineker has questioned Twitter owner Elon Musk after a threatening message was sent to his son in the wake of the sports presenter’s row with the BBC. The former footballer, who was reinstated as host of Match Of The Day (MOTD) on Monday, re-shared a private message which said his eldest son, George, should [...]
Gary Lineker to return as host of Match of the Day: BBC apologises for ‘confusion by grey areas’ March 13, 2023 Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker will continue as a BBC presenter after the corporation apologised for a “difficult period for staff, contributors, presenters, and most importantly, our audiences”. A host of sports presenters and pundits pulled out of BBC shows at the weekend after the former England striker was told to step back [...]
Gary Lineker row: Now George Osborne weighs in on Tory immigration rhetoric March 12, 2023 Support has poured in for Gary Lineker following his suspension from the BBC amid an ongoing row over the government’s policy on stopping small boats crossing the Channel. Football pundit Lineker was pulled off air last week after tweeting about the UK’s asylum policy following the announcement of the new Illegal Migration Bill by Suella [...]
Does the BBC’s Gary Lineker row show that the government has a problem with football? March 12, 2023 The weather forecast finished and then suddenly there it was: the BBC’s hurried replacement for Match of the Day following its spectacular bungling of the Gary Lineker row. Shorn of its theme tune, opening title, studio, presenter, pundits, commentators and about an hour of running time, this was bleak and surreal; a sort of post-apocalyptic [...]
Former BBC sports commentator John Motson dies, aged 77 February 23, 2023 John Motson, the former BBC commentator who became one of the most recognisable voices in sports broadcasting, has died aged 77. Known affectionately as “Motty”, he combined an encyclopaedic knowledge of football with a palpable love for the sport that was reflected in his work. Motson, who also became synonymous with his trademark sheepskin coat, [...]