BBC reporters are prohibited from wearing “Black Lives Matter” t-shirts in the newsroom, as it is considered too political.
BBC reporters are not allowed to wear “Black Lives Matter” t-shirts in the newsroom, with the gesture deemed too political and “not appropriate.”
BBC Director-General Tim Davie made the announcement on Oct. 19 at the Sunday Times Culture Interview Forum during the Cheltenham Literature Festival, citing that while the organization opposes racism, it is “not appropriate for a journalist who may be covering that issue to be campaigning in that way,” the Guardian reports.
“You cannot have any assumption about where people are politically. You leave it at the door, and your religion is journalism in the BBC. And I tell you: the problem I’ve got is people react quite chemically to that,” Davie said.
“So you can’t come into the newsroom with a Black Lives Matter T-shirt on. We stand absolutely firmly against racism in any form.”
Davie explained that while the BBC promotes diversity and opposes racism, it must also uphold strict standards of political impartiality.
“I find some of the hatred in society at the moment utterly abhorrent, personally, really upsetting, but that is a campaign that has politicized objectives,” Davie said of the BLM movement. “Therefore, it is not appropriate for a journalist who may be covering that issue to be campaigning in that way.”
He continued. “And, for some people, joining the BBC, that is a very difficult thing to accept. And it has not been an easy thing to get done this, and we wrestle with it every day.”
The same goes for stationary items that send a political message during election season, Davie said.
“I feel very, very strongly that if you walk into the BBC newsroom, you cannot be holding a Kamala Harris mug when you come to the election – no way, that’s not even acceptable,” he said.
As the BBC Director-General, it’s Davie’s “number one priority” to remain impartial, which requires “elements of diversity,” including “socioeconomic diversity,” an area he says has not been discussed enough.
“It is absolutely a big battle, and I’m getting questions: ‘Why are you giving a voice to Reform?’, ‘Why are you doing this?’ We’re not giving a voice—we’re covering it, reporting on what people are interested in and reflecting the reality of their experiences,” he said.
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Source: Black Enterprise
