BBC came under No 10 pressure to avoid using ‘lockdown’ in early pandemic, leak shows

Leaked emails and WhatsApp messages from 2020 to 2022 show BBC under pressure from No 10.

Senior editor asked journalists to avoid using the word 'lockdown' in reporting at the start of pandemic.

Downing Street asked journalists not to use the word lockdown’ in relation to shutdown ordered by Boris Johnson.

Another leaked message shows BBC shying away from a story potentially damaging to the then prime minister.

Senior journalists such as Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel left last year to jointhe BBC’s commercial rival LBC, where there is more editorial freedom.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC makes its own independent editorial decisions and none of these messages show otherwise” A source said WhatsApp groups were an informal way of sharing information.