View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

BBC hits back at ‘mischievous’ Olympics reports

By Andrew Pugh

The BBC has denied claims that its director-general Mark Thompson told staff he was ‘increasingly unhappy’with the corporation’s coverage of the Olympics.

A report in the Daily Mail today quoted an email it claims was sent to staff from director of news Helen Boaden titled ‘An order from the DG”, saying: “Mark Thompson is increasingly unhappy that we are focusing far too much on Team GB’s performance to the exclusion of all else.

‘This is also becoming a theme within the Press. As editor in chief, he has issued a directive that this needs to change from today. So you need to get cracking on making that shift.”

The paper also quoted a BBC insider saying ”it would be a shame if we had to water down our coverage to satisfy an abstract notion of fairness”.

But in a statement released this morning the BBC said: ‘We emphatically deny that the Director-General has made any complaint about the nature of our news coverage of the Olympics and to suggest otherwise is mischievous and wrong. Mark Thompson made his position perfectly clear in the statement he released yesterday.”

In his statement Thompson said: ‘I am as delighted as our audiences and the whole BBC team about the brilliant performance of Team GB – and it is quite wrong to suggest otherwise.

‘The BBC has been right to focus on sporting achievements which the whole country has been celebrating and we will continue to do so with pride. We can do that while at the same time making sure that our news programmes fully reflect some of the other great sporting achievements and human stories of the London Games.”

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network