The BBC and Emily Maitlis, its former star newscaster, continue to battle. BBC insiders have offered their support to Maitlis after she claimed that a BBC board member had interfered editorially. “an active agent”The Conservative party.
After Maitlis made the claim in her lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival this week, referring to Robbie Gibb but without naming him – in the context of the BBC making a swift apology and rebuking her after she made political comments on air – The Times reports insiders at the Corporation sharing the same concerns about Gibb’s intrusion into editorial matters.
Before taking his place on the board, Gibb – who used to be the editor of the BBC’s live political programmes – was an aide of former prime minister Theresa May. Now The Times quotes Maitlis’s view on his interference as “widely shared”by his former colleagues, who see his political loyalty as making it impossible for him be as impartial and objective as his job requires.
Allies of Gibb have also spoken out – including his former colleague Sean O’Grady writing this weekend in another British newspaper, The IndependentGibb was able maintain his political opinions. “in check”.
Another BBC boss Charlotte Moore used her platform at the Edinburgh TV Festival to reject Maitlis’s claims, saying that all protocols had been followed in its treatment of the apology after the presenter spoke out.