- Peter Barron
- 24 May 06, 04:24 PM
Following Tuesday's show, a number of viewers about our item about Mark Oaten (you can watch it here).
Their complaints split into two main areas - first that he was an unsuitable choice of guest and second that it was an inappropriate choice as lead item. Let me respond to each in turn.
When as a leading member of the Liberal Democrats' front bench team following a sex scandal, Newsnight - in common with most of the media - requested an interview. This would surely - by any yardstick - have constituted a newsworthy item. Until a few days previously he had been a contender to be the leader of the Liberal Democrats. At that point Mr Oaten refused all interviews. Eventually we persuaded him to talk for the first time on television about the circumstances of his resignation to Newsnight. He did not want to do a formal interview but instead suggested a film in which he would discuss these issues.
While the film was presented by Mr Oaten, most of its content was made up of interviews with Mr Oaten conducted by our producer. Mr Oaten was clearly trying to explain, although not excuse, his behaviour, but did so in response to our questioning and under our editorial control. The result was, I think, a rare and extraordinary insight into the pressures and temptations involved in political life at Westminster. I accept that many disagree, but I strongly believe it was a worthwhile and newsworthy item.
Should we have led with it? Newsnight, unlike more formal news bulletins, is a hybrid between news and current affairs. Our primary aim every day is not necessarily to reflect the biggest stories in the world that day, but to reflect, analyse and discuss a range of current issues. The function or dysfunction of the Westminster machine is clearly an issue of huge current concern.
We did not set out with a firm intention that this would be our lead item, but continued to weigh up our options in the course of the day. By late afternoon we faced the choice between the Oaten film and an analysis of the Government's latest asylum figures. In terms of exclusivity, novelty and interest we concluded that the Oaten film should go first.
I accept that the circumstances of Mr Oaten's resignation will be distasteful to many viewers, but Newsnight's aim was not to justify his actions or assist his rehabilitation - it was to try to explore what it is that has led many politicians down the years to take these kind of risks.
Peter Barron is editor of Newsnight
- Richard Porter
- 24 May 06, 03:45 PM
I was at a conference at the weekend where someone asked me to define 'News'. I hate it when people do that. It's just possible they may have detected through my coughing and spluttering that the definition can be a bit vague.
I'm currently looking at the output of 大象传媒 World and CNN and wondering to myself: Is this news? You see there's . The pictures are spectacular. We've been using them almost non-stop for about 90 minutes now. But the fire seems to have been caused by an electrical fault. And it's in the cargo terminal. And there are no reported casualties.
So is it news?
Well yes, it is. It's a particularly large fire, and it is at a well-known international airport. For quite a long time we didn't know whether the cause could have been more troubling. We're a visual medium, and the images are incredibly strong. Thanks to the user-generated hub in News Interactive, we're getting first-hand reports from passengers at the airport (the eye-witness we just spoke to sent an email to the 大象传媒 using his Blackberry).
But it's probably not news for much longer. It will make a strong package for the rest of the day, but I doubt the live coverage will sustain for very long. And CNN appear to think the same thing, since as I write we've both moved on to other stories. Not that we ever watch each other to see what's happening. Oh no.
Richard Porter is head of
- Miranda Holt
- 24 May 06, 12:15 PM
The highlight of this morning's programme was getting our reporter, Jon Manel, to smuggle a garden gnome into the Chelsea Flower Show, where such ornaments are banned because they're naff.
Lots of people thought it was very amusing - but the subsequent, light-hearted, discussion between Robin Lane Fox, FT Gardening columnist and Tim Rumball, from Amateur Gardener Magazine on snobbery in gardening, led the former to say: "If you banned fairies you'd have to ban half the garden designers."
Some listeners were predictably offended by such a homophobic comment, and demanded instant on-air apologies. We settled with reading out one cross e-mail and three in praise of gnomes at the end of the programme.
(You can hear the whole episode here, and see the pictures of the gnome here.)
Miranda Holt is assistant editor, Today
- Daniel Dodd
- 24 May 06, 12:13 PM
Some callers to the Audience Log asked why Tuesday's rise in profits at Marks and Spencer was reported so widely.
The answer is simple: M&S is an iconic High Street brand - famously Margaret Thatcher bought her underwear there and today we learn in the papers that Gordon Brown buys his there too! Broadcast or print we are all agreed that M&S is a story. It's a store that everybody knows, one of those British brands that everyone has heard of and has a view on - millions shop there.
On top of that, M&S is recovering from the most traumatic collapse of its long history and was at the heart of a tough-fought takeover battle two years ago. So yesterday's coverage was all about how is the turn-around going - is M&S back to what it was. Answer: not yet!
Daniel Dodd is editor of the business & economics unit
- Matt Morris
- 24 May 06, 11:11 AM
As every redtop reader now knows very well, a seventh group of tenants has settled into the Big Brother house and so the usual question is being asked - is it news or not?
Even internally on Five Live we don't have a settled view on this. My own opinion might be summed up as: It's worth doing BB if it raises an interesting issue, or if something actually happens. So yes, it is news... sort of.
We marked the beginning of BB7 last week; we've done a feature on tourette's syndrome; we're considering doing something on what it's like to come out when you're a Muslim (was it easier for Kamal than for Shabhaz?) And even though we like some of the issues raised, we know there's hype and manipulation.
But as Drive editor Jon Zilkha put it: "We cover things which are just plain interesting. Some of what we do is speculation, some is conversation, some is reflecting what people are talking about. BB fits in there somewhere as part of the cultural mix."
When television newsreaders were accused of "prancing" last week, the head of 大象传媒 TV news Peter Horrocks came on Five Live Breakfast to talk that over (listen to the interview here). Towards the end of the piece, Nicky Campbell asked Peter: "Is Big Brother a story?" Peter tactfully suggested that Five Live would be more likely to cover it than the Ten O'Clock News.
Peter is right. We've got a bit more space, in the Five Live schedule, than they have on the Ten. And if we can't find room occasionally for sharing a bit of gossip with the audience - an audience that understands fully that spurious celebrity is a curious part of the modern world - then we're probably being a bit too snobbish.
When BB7 started, the editor of Breakfast, Richard Jackson, had a thought. "Why don't we ask the audience if they want Big Brother coverage?" On reflection, we were pretty sure what the texting constituency, or a majority of them, would say: "No Big Brother, thank you."
One guy - a devoted Breakfast listener - had already emailed to say that as soon as we mentioned Big Brother he would switch over to the Today programme. And he would do that every morning if the words "Big Brother" so much as passed the lips of Nicky or Shelagh. Or even Helen Blaby.
So if we thought the audience (or at least the texting constituency) would vote against, why on earth would we cover it? Well... because it's news. Sort of.
Matt Morris is head of news, Radio Five Live
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