Jenna Price | Gary Lineker's suspension from BBC over British asylum policy is a lesson to us all

You'll remember this. Jones had not only suggested Gillard get towed out to sea but had then said the former PM's father had died of shame. Some of this happened while I was engrossed in the Swans flogging the Hawks in the AFL grand final. That third quarter was INSANE.

And somehow I found myself caught up in a campaign, with many, many others, to cost Jones and 2GB a lot of money. A lot.

At the very same time, I was teaching journalism at the University of Technology Sydney. Jones's supporters were on the phone to the vice-chancellor, a calm bloke by the name of Ross Milbourne, demanding I be sacked. Way down the pecking order, there were people insisting I go on leave without pay, demands I take down any mention of UTS and, in the meantime, shovelling all kinds of hate mail and complaints my way. There was also this bizarre idea that journalism academics should be blank slates, lest they corrupt the innocence of youth. I cannot tell you the number of parents of these innocents who rang or emailed me urging me to continue with the campaign. There were many. It is 100 per cent possible to have strong views yet also be able to be impartial when you are reporting (trust me, there are idiots in every political party and only a fool would align herself to one group).

This was really just at the very beginning of the weaponising of social media - but two (or more) could play at that game. The other sensible folks at UTS, Milbourne and his deputy Shirley Alexander among them, recognised that trying to deactiviate activism was a mug's game. Plus, in those days, most of us believed in academic freedom.

All this comes flooding back because of the heroic deeds of Gary Lineker. Let me tell you that standing up for refugees is a helluva lot harder than standing up for a white woman in a position of extreme power and influence. Lineker, former soccer star and current commentating genius, took on the British government's announcement on refugees. I only wish more people had done that when my grandparents were gassed in camps or murdered on the streets. What did the government say? Sunak published this tweet: "If you come to the UK illegally: You can't claim asylum, You can't benefit from our modern slavery protections, You can't make spurious human rights claims, You can't stay."

The worst. Even worse than John Howard, Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison combined (but definitely inspired by them). Lineker's response completely unhinged his bosses. He said the new policy was beyond awful and compared it to Germany in the 1930s. I don't even love soccer and I am totally on board with Lineker (and of course our own Craig Foster who is also a muscular advocate for refugees). Lineker was suspended for "breaching" BBC protocols but really it's director-general of the BBC Tim Davie and his boss, BBC chair Richard Sharp, who should get the flick.

MORE JENNA PRICE:

I remember when the BBC was the most admirable bastion of journalism on the planet (speaking of planets, with all the focus on footy, you might also have missed the BBC also decided not to broadcast an episode of David Attenborough's new series on British wildlife because of fears of a right-wing backlash).

Now the BBC is a shell brought to its knees by years of Conservative government cuts and endless pressure. This episode makes clear exactly how low it has sunk. Whatever happens now, Davie and Sharp will be the losers. Oh, let me rephrase that. They are already losers. The British football audience is furious and the only backers this pair of bumblers have? Widely loathed Conservative politicians.

What happened to Lineker is also a lesson for us. While the Coalition was in power, it slashed funding to the ABC, it constantly complained about coverage, it loaded the ABC board with Liberal suck-ups and it continued to undermine its reputation. And those years of Coalition terrorism have really freaked out news management.

As my first and best chief sub-editor Denis Muller wrote last year: "When Scott Morrison took over from Turnbull as prime minister, he wasted no time in using an appearance on ABC television to warn the ABC board to 'expect a bit more attention from me' if it didn't 'do better'."

It's still doing it now, with endless whining about partisan coverage. The current government need to shore up funding for the ABC, make it uninterferable, unalterable. It's #ourABC and should stay that way.

And a reminder to all politicians and others who seek to lobby on their behalf, everyone has a view. Journalists need to be fair, that's all.

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