BBC forced to defend John Humphreys & Jeremy Paxman’s interview style
Two of the BBC’s biggest beasts, John Humphreys and Jeremy Paxman, have been singled out for criticism in a new report which claims their interview techniques are ‘excruciating’ and ‘not always fair’.
Comparing such one-sided bouts to a ‘fairground prizefighter’ former ITV boss Stuart Prebble claimed that such spectacles merely served to make the viewer sympathise with the interviewee.
The scathing remarks were made in an official report into the BBC’s news output in which Prebble pulled no punches himself. He said: “One is perfectly fit and looks as though he could take care of himself, but the other does it for a living; one has been schooled in the Queensbury rules, and the other is a pugilist.
“The result can be excruciatingly entertaining to witness, and no-one doubts that both sides need properly to be tested, but it is not always a fair display of the merits of each fighter.
“While no doubt most interviewees are ready, able and willing to try to put across their point of view, it must seem to many that the contest is played on anything but a level playing field,' Mr Prebble wrote.
“They are required to turn up at the crack of dawn or late at night, in an environment which is at best unfamiliar, to be braced and ready for any approach to the questioning, live on air with no second chances.”
A BBC spokesman defended these approaches, saying: “There are a range of different interviewing styles found across the BBC, which all have their merits. In many cases audiences expect and appreciate rigorous lines of questioning and part of the presenter's job is to ask the questions the public want the answers to.”