The BBC has warned staff against expressing support for low-traffic neighbourhoods, after ruling that Jeremy Vine breached impartiality rules by backing safe cycling measures near his London home.
The Radio 2 presenter, a well-known cyclist, has posted repeatedly on Twitter about his support for LTNs – and publicly criticised individuals who objected to the introduction of the traffic-calming scheme near his house in Chiswick.
One local anti-LTN campaigner complained to the BBC, arguing that Vine’s repeated tweets in support of the scheme represented “a campaign of abuse” against a legitimate campaigning group. They claimed Vine breached the corporation’s new impartiality rules by expressing a view on a controversial matter in a manner inappropriate for a “journalist who should be non-biased”.
After an investigation, the BBC’s editorial complaints unit has sided with the member of the public and concluded that Vine breached impartiality rules. It ruled that taking a public side in the debate over whether LTNs are good or bad is the “kind of topic to which considerations of due impartiality applied for the BBC”.
Vine is influential in the cycling world, commutes to his jobs at the BBC and Channel 5 on a bike and regularly posts video footage of near-misses with car drivers. Earlier this month, he told the Guardian his support for safe cycling was “not political”.
The broadcaster’s repeated support for the Chiswick low-traffic neighbourhoods led to him branding anti-LTN campaigners – who claimed a cycle lane would make it easier for robbers to stage getaways – as a “source of persistent malevolence towards cyclists in my area”.
He also praised the introduction of a contentious local cycle lane – which angered some car drivers for taking up road space – for “improving safety, allowing kids to cycle, reducing pollution, increasing footfall in the shops, calming traffic”.
The BBC director general, Tim Davie, has put enormous emphasis on impartiality, although which topics are considered contentious can be difficult for staff to work out. Racism, homophobia and climate scepticism are considered settled topics – but if a journalist takes a public stance on issues that anger certain media outlets or political parties then it can lead to internal investigations.
Two other BBC staff told the Guardian they had been informally warned by managers about expressing public support for LTNs near their homes, because it was seen as a politically contentious issue.
The BBC emphasised that Vine and other staff in the broadcast’s news division were well within their rights to use social media to express generic enthusiasm for cycling and call attention to the potential benefits of riding a bicycle. They also said that Vine was within his rights to highlight personal attacks on anti-LTN websites in the Chiswick area, such as when individuals celebrated the broadcaster injuring himself by falling off a Penny Farthing.
