The BBC has found itself at the centre of a storm among its own female staff following its decision to uphold a complaint against Today presenter, Justin Webb.
In August 2023, BBC Radio 4 received a complaint from a listener after Webb had been discussing the decision by a sporting body, the International Chess Federation (FIDE), to ban trans women from all-female competitions.
During the discussion, Webb uttered the phrase: "Trans women, in other words, males."
The BBC’s editorial complaints unit (ECU) upheld the complaint and said Webb was in breach of its impartiality guidelines.
In the weeks since the ruling, Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, has found his inbox littered with complaints from female staff concerned by the decision.
According to the Telegraph, one email sent to Davie from a female employee warned the "BBC must avoid conflating viewpoints with facts".
Justin Webb landed himself in hot water at the BBC BBC The sender added in the email to Davie: "If the BBC is to censure journalists for being factual we are slipping into very dangerous waters."
The publication also claims a senior insider at the corporation has described the environment in the BBC newsroom as an "absolute meltdown".
According to the Telegraph, prominent female presenters and senior BBC women have all written to Davie in regards to the ruling.
GB News has contacted the BBC for comment regarding the complaints.
News of the complaints being sent to Davie emerged in the same week the BBC boss faced a grilling from a cross-party culture, media and sport select committee.
Davie suggested the BBC has a duty to be "kind, caring and nice" when it approaches contentious subjects such as the trans debate.
He described Webb's wording as a "foot fault" before saying to the committee: "It’s an area where we need to have the confidence of our journalists to discuss these issues and not have no-go areas.
"To do that we demand our journalists keep within our editorial guidelines which aren’t overly restrictive or one-sided.
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Tim Davie has received complaints from female members of staff
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"This is being whipped up around us in a way that is deeply, deeply damaging to civilised debate."
Davie also referred to how often social media discussion on trans issues can result in volatile spaces and reflected on how the BBC hoped to avoid similar outcomes.
"My main concern is we begin to have a culture where the debates around these things solely migrate to echo chambers and social media. I’m interested in the BBC preserving an ability to bring together people to talk about these things," he said.
"We are holding the centre of the ring here and that is not a fun place to be."
