Cutting the Bob Vylan Glastonbury livestream was an “option open to those on the ground,” the BBC has said for the first time.
Director General Tim Davie answered several questions put to him by the UK’s Culture, Media & Sport Committee (CMSC), which included addressing the long-running question of whether it would have been possible to pull the live feed of Bob Vylan, who could be seen on the BBC for several hours both live and on-demand chanting “Death to the IDF” and complaining about “working for a “f***ing Zionist.” A warning sign flashed up but the livestream from the West Holts stage was not immediately taken down.
Davie today said “there were individuals present at Glastonbury who had the authority to cut the livestream after appropriate consideration.” “Those individuals had access to advice and support offsite should they have considered it necessary,” he added. “What we can say is that cutting the livestream was an option open to those on the ground on the day.”
The BBC is revamping its live events editorial guidelines and, according to The Times, music boss Lorna Clarke has stepped back from her role.
Davie said there were 550 people working for the BBC at Glastonbury, where controversial Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap were also performing but had their set shown on iPlayer after it had taken place. Of those, 328 were working for BBC Studios, 187 for BBC public service and 35 for BBC News.
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