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(LifeSiteNews) – The BBC has come under fire for appearing to break its own strict impartiality guidelines after journalists were told to use their “influence” to “affect change” in favor of “transgenderism.”
A training program presented by “transgender” lobby group Global Butterflies reportedly instructed BBC journalists to use their “magical ally powers” to influence powerful politicians and celebrities in forwarding the LGBT agenda.
One BBC employee who participated in the training session spoke out, suggesting that there is a contradiction in the BBC’s position as an impartial news service while promoting the LGBT ideology.
Speaking to BBC colleague and journalist Stephen Nolan on the Stephen Nolan Show, the anonymous employee said that participants “were given a lot of different points of how allies could use their influence to affect trans rights for people” including using “their magical ally powers.”
“I realised that it talked about using your influence on politicians to affect change, which was sort of the main point that they were trying to get across. This is how you would affect change and influence politicians,” the employee said.
“The second you join the BBC, impartiality is hammered into you and how we can’t influence people and you always have to be neutral,” he added.
However, despite the insistence to be “neutral,” a slide from the “transgender” training presentation instructed trainees that “[an] ally uses their privilege whatever that may be e.g. wealth, seniority, ethnicity, connections, social status, etc. to access influencers for example leaders, celebrities – change the minds of the media, influence politicians, write or share stories and articles and tell people what is happening.”
The trainee stressed that “as soon as I saw that I was thinking, ‘Well, how is that impartial?’” leaving him with the impression that the broadcaster was “now telling us to break the impartiality.”
“Those were the things that I thought were a no-go as a BBC employee,” he said.
Continuing, the trainee journalist explained that instructors “said during the presentation ‘Don’t be afraid to protest’. Now at that point, I immediately threw a red flag in my mind because I knew that during my impartiality training… that we couldn’t attend protests. This was very clear.”
“I’m left confused now as [to] what actually impartiality means because if we are being told one thing that we can’t go ahead and protest or use political influence, and now during a BBC training session, I am now being told to actually go ahead and use my political influence and start a protest,” the trainee said.
Nolan himself raised objections to the “transgender” training, asking of the broadcasting corporation “[if] these new impressionable young trainees are being told at the beginning of their BBC careers to be lobbyists, how is your news impartial?”
Global Butterflies openly supports changes in law favoring so-called “trans rights” and encourages employers to dispense with gendered language.
A BBC spokesman said in response to criticism concerning the training that it was “a voluntary course and includes generic training materials provided by a third party. But the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines are sacrosanct, our staff know this and they understand their responsibilities.
“The slide in question has not been included previously and will be removed for any future sessions,” he confirmed.
The broadcaster was subject to scrutiny on its compliance with identity politics last month when it came to light that comments from an alleged rape victim about her attacker were altered to avoid “misgendering” the man who identifies as a woman.
BBC editors replaced all references to the abuser as “he” or “him” with “they” and “them,” calling into question the company’s commitment to accuracy and impartiality.
Reports also confirmed that both the BBC and Channel 4, publicly-funded bodies in the U.K., provided around £20,000 of funding to “transgender” lobbyists All About Trans. The group advises media outlets on “trans” inclusive language and terminology to use in broadcasting.
A BBC insider told The Times that, though receiving the funds from the BBC ten years ago, “All About Trans has informed our approach in news and all content. It was embedded nearly a decade ago and it’s not gone away.”