Gary Lineker, the legendary and deadly number 9 of the English team, years later became a commentator and then the host of that television network. BBCand especially the program Match of the daya sort of weekly ritual for millions of English football fans.

The BBCprobably the most prestigious journalistic institution in the world due to its level of rigor, independence and depth, has a very rigid policy for its journalists, based on the concept that those who cover or comment on political issues, for example, should not publicly comment on their personal social media accounts , related to the problems that are the subject of their daily business.

An exception to this policy was the case of sports journalists, who commented on issues outside their scope of coverage, such as political issues, on their personal accounts.

The BBC In 2016 and 2018, he defended Lineker, who is very active on social media and a well-known critic of the English Conservative Party, precisely on the basis that he is a freelancer, since this does not conflict with his work at the BBC, which is alien to the political sphere.

However, due to this discomfort, BBC introduced a new clause in its manuals, called the “Lineker clause”, according to which a journalist, regardless of the field he has devoted himself to, when he is highlighted, is obliged to have special responsibility and limitations in disclosure. his personal opinions.

A few days ago, Lineker took to Twitter to strongly criticize the Conservative government’s recent change in immigration policy.

That comment generated, in the application of the Lineker clause, his suspension from the channel BBC and in the program Match of the daywhich caused a large-scale scandal among subscribers BBC, opposition politicians and defenders of human rights; the first to claim back Lineker, protected by the right to pay for watching quality television; seconds, accusingly BBC have conservative roots and agree with the Government; and third parties, considering the decision to be detrimental to Lineker’s right to freedom of expression.

Lineker remained active on Twitter and steadfast in his stance that he was not giving up. In the end, the general pressure ended up bending the CEO’s hand BBCwho finally brought Lineker back into the program, apologized to his press staff and even promised to review his policy so that such events would not happen again.

I cited this case to show that in the first world, journalism has its own codes and the influence they have on the audience and on society in general, unlike in our country, where some journalists are not angry at all by taking their personal opinion on social networks, in many cases even fiercely, on issues directly related to his journalistic work, which should be impartial and objective.

There is no doubt that we have a long way to go to improve society. (OR)