No person or organization is immune to mistakes, but when you’re a successful broadcaster, those mistakes are seen by millions of viewers. (Just ask ESPN, whose Stephen A. Smith made his “horrible” mistake this week.) For the British Broadcasting Corporation, a few days away drew attention to the network. The BBC has apologized twice this week for separate incidents, one involving pornographic audio playback during the broadcast of an FA Cup football match, and the other in relation to comments on the COVID vaccine made by a doctor during an interview.
The BBC broadcasts pornographic noises during a football match
BBC broadcaster Gary Lineker couldn’t hide his amusement on January 17 when audio played of a woman moaning loudly as he and his colleagues discussed the upcoming football match between Wolves and Liverpool. For fox sports Linekar joked to Danny Murphy: “Would you please stop making those noises?” and he asked aloud if everyone at home listened what they were Apparently they were the victims of a joke, as far back as the former athlete tweeted they had discovered the source of the discolored noises:
Well we found this recorded on the back of the TV. As for the sabotage, it was pretty fun. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ikUhBJ38JeJanuary 17, 2023
Gary Linekar may have found the situation amusing, but the network appeared to be taking it seriously when the BBC apologized and said it was investigating the incident. A spokesperson said in a statement:
We apologize to any viewers that were offended during tonight’s live football coverage. We are investigating how this happened.
It wasn’t the first time sports games have been infiltrated by pornography But it’s not often that people fall victim to the “phone strapped to the back of the chair” trick. If you find this situation amusing or offensive, it follows another blunder by the BBC which saw the network play defensively.
Doctor makes debunked claims about COVID-19 vaccine in interview with BBC News
During a BBC News interview on January 13 with prominent vaccine skeptic Dr Aseem Malhotra on cholesterol medication, Deadline reports that Malhotra “hijacked” the interview to say Vaccines against COVID-19 “carry cardiovascular risks” and said there was “a lot of data” to support his claims. However, the news site reports that the doctor’s research has been discredited by Health Feedback, a group backed by the World Health Organization. After receiving over 250 complaints, the BBC released a statement saying:
We agree that we should have been better prepared to dispute Dr Malhotra’s assertion given his previous comments on the vaccination schedule, and we regret that this was not the case.
Later that morning the BBC also had a member of the UK Vaccine Network on the show to refute Aseem Malhotra’s statement and issued a correction quoting research from the British Heart Foundation which said vaccinated people they have a much lower risk of serious complications from the virus.
As the BBC recovers from what has been a difficult week in the public comments, you can see what previews are coming soon with our TV show 2023 .
Source: Cinemablend
