Emily Maitlis

Maitlis left the BBC earlier this year and said the media was often guilty of “normalising” populist views in the name of balance.

After describing how she tried to balance the actor’s claims about Trump, she said: “We finish the pre-recorded interview; Adam Cumiskey is the output editor and he’s a big film buff. “So, back to the speed of response. But as we are heading up in the lift I turn to Adam and say, ‘We can’t possibly put this out. Within hours, a very public apology was made, the programme was accused of a failure of impartiality, the recording disappeared from the iPlayer, and there were paparazzi outside my front door.” A phone call of complaint was made from Downing Street to the BBC News management. What I’m saying is it’s normal for government spin doctors to vocalise their displeasure to journalists.

Our national broadcaster, compulsorily funded by the British television-viewing public, is under a duty to remain politically impartial and unbiased. However, ...

But, as I tried to point out, only a fool would ignore the opinions of experts when they’re opining on “What was” and “what is” in their specialist field. We’re about to face a year or possibly many more, of what is widely predicted to be the worst economic crisis for generations and the news is devoting ridiculous amounts of time asking whether Liz Truss wlll be able to sort it out, which as the country in general and the entirety of the BBC news team know, is a risible idea, yet on they plod with it. The BBC, and all TV news really, seem to consider their role as that of the stenographer, blankly reporting, slavishly reacting and pointlessly discussing all information coming out of SW1 as though this was the only thing of importance in the entire world. Perhaps pristine objectivity is indeed impossible, but what we’re presented with nowadays is clearly not so much “news presented in a way that may occasionally be seen as biased” but rather a mish-mash of opinions ranging from “experts” to “the man or woman on the street”. It always amused me to see what great store BBC journalists set by the opinions of the CBI. It’s important for organisation like the BBC (and other media) to realise that ‘both-sides’ is essential to reporting on any issue. Often the difference is because of a completely different set of priorities that are being ignored or overlooked by narrowly-focused technical experts. Indeed, it is precisely when the establishment most commands our trust that it most needs to be challenged. The problem with that is it turns the BBC into an echo chamber for other echo chambers — the liberal elites reverberating to one another’s opinions for evermore. She also attacked the government for being “prepared to test the very limits of the constitution to achieve their aims”. For a start, she no longer works for the BBC and is therefore free to speak her mind. But by the time we went on air we simply had one of each; we presented this unequal effort to our audience as balance.

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After describing how she tried to balance the actor’s claims about Mr Trump, she said: “We finish the pre-recorded interview; Adam Cumiskey is the output editor and he’s a big film buff. “So, back to the speed of response. But as we are heading up in the lift I turn to Adam and say, ‘We can’t possibly put this out. Within hours, a very public apology was made, the programme was accused of a failure of impartiality, the recording disappeared from the iPlayer, and there were paparazzi outside my front door.” A phone call of complaint was made from Downing Street to the BBC News management. What I’m saying is it’s normal for government spin doctors to vocalise their displeasure to journalists.

BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore says there was no government influence on its decision to apologize over a 'Newsnight' segment,

But she stressed that impartiality is a “cornerstone” of the corporation’s ethos. “[Anything] that addresses impartial news right now is incredibly important and obviously impartiality is a massive subject for the BBC,” said Moore. government complained about a “Newsnight” introduction.

All too often, news media are primed to back down, even apologise, to prove how fair they are. That can be exploited, says journalist Emily Maitlis.

According to the Financial Times, he’s attempted to block the appointments of journalists he considers damaging to government relations, provoking Labour’s deputy leader (among others) to call it “Tory cronyism at the heart of the BBC”. It wasn’t unusual in the Blair days – far from it – in the Brown days, in the Cameron days. Why had the BBC immediately and publicly sought to confirm the government spokesman’s opinion? In other words, the introduction was a precis of what viewers could expect of the whole show. It was a sobering but equally an exciting time to have an interview with one of the world’s bestloved actors. We had Conservative MPs explaining the PM’s loyalty, we had pollsters explaining the public horror on this issue, we had defenders, we had critics and we had a detailed analysis of which rules had been broken and when. The introduction set out, as is often the case, the rest of the show. It speaks again to how forcefully even imagined populist accusations of bias work on the journalist’s brain. I am terrified that by putting out the interview as it stands we will be seen as biased. It was the height of Covid: New York had been decimated by the disease, makeshift morgues and a ghostly city abandoned by anyone with the means to leave. But by the time we went on air, we simply had one of each; we presented this unequal effort to our audience as balance. The long-term effect of those trends I will leave to others.

Channel 4 boss Ian Katz has praised Emily Maitlis's MacTaggart Lecture as “brilliant” and said it serves as a powerful reminder that “due impartiality is ...

“If Channel 4 is about anything it is about finding that new dish”. He added that the “whole industry” made it clear that the contribution that Channel 4 makes to the economy, levelling up and TV is “best protected in public hands”. Reflecting on what the future may hold for Channel 4 as the Government seeks to privatise the channel, Mr Katz said: “I covered politics for a long time (and) I learnt it is a fool’s game to try to predict what politicians do.”

Former BBC Newsnight presenter and the journalist behind the infamous Prince Andrew interview, Emily Maitlis, has been widely praised for her MacTaggart ...

- “Fair and robust” mediation between “those in power” and the public: “The challenge for us, I think, is how we live up to that responsibility in a way that is both fair and robust, because either without the other is useless … Our job is to make sense of what you’re seeing, and anticipate the next move." “A lot of the examples that I’ve used here have been from my own experience. - Sunlight: “We need to show our workings more. It makes no sense for an organisation that is admirably, famously rigorous about procedure, unless it was perhaps sending a message of reassurance directly to the government itself. All of the above sounds rather bleak, doesn’t it? You even photoshopped his hat to look more Russian.” - A glossary: “We, the ‘frogs’, have to give names to the populist playbook tricks that we encounter.” “Put this in the context of the BBC board, where another active agent of the Conservative Party - a former Downing Street spin doctor, and former adviser to BBC rival GB News – now sits, acting as the arbiter of BBC impartiality.” I always thought you had high-quality standards at GB News. Harking back to that time, and referencing a paper on “strategic bias” by scholar Ayala Panievsky, Ms Maitlis said: “By the end of that week, we had invited on a Corbyn supporter [and] commentator to explain to us what we had done wrong! “We were offering a platform to the very people trying to tell the public to distrust our news.”

Emily Maitlis has been praised for callingout an 'active agent of the Conservative party' on the BBC's board during her MacTaggart Lecture.

As we have made clear previously in relation to Newsnight we did not take action as a result of any pressure from Number 10 or Government and to suggest otherwise is wrong. It makes no sense for an organisation that is admirably, famously rigorous about procedure – unless it was perhaps sending a message of reassurance directly to the government itself?’ The BBC found the programme breached its editorial standards and that decision still stands.’ People have flocked to social media to share praise of Maitlis, with one writing: ‘THANK YOU, @maitlis for telling it like it is. [If your marriage is as boring as the BBC show, I feel sorry for you](https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/22/if-your-marriage-is-boring-i-feel-sorry-for-you-17224205/?ico=more_text_links) [Emily Maitlis recalls shock over BBC’s ‘speed’ in apologising to Downing Street over Newsnight monologue](https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/24/emily-maitlis-shocked-at-bbcs-speed-in-apologising-over-newsnight-monologue-17239650/?ico=more_text_links) It’s simply heartbreaking to see the corporation so neutered.’ [opening monologue during an episode of Newsnight ](https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/28/what-did-emily-maitlis-say-about-dominic-cummings-why-did-miss-newsnight-12768708/)in 2020, in which she said [Dominic Cummings](https://metro.co.uk/tag/dominic-cummings/?ico=auto_link_entertainment_P4_LNK1), then Prime Minister [Boris Johnson](https://metro.co.uk/tag/boris-johnson/?ico=auto_link_entertainment_P4_LNK2)’s chief adviser, had ‘broken the rules’ with a lockdown trip to Durham and ‘the country can see that, and it’s shocked the Government cannot’. [spoke out about the BBC’s impartiality](https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/24/emily-maitlis-shocked-at-bbcs-speed-in-apologising-over-newsnight-monologue-17239650/), revealing how shocked she was at how quickly the BBC moved to apologise to Downing Street after her controversial Newsnight monologue two years ago. [attracted over 20,000 complaints ](https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/11/newsnight-receives-almost-24000-complaints-emily-maitlis-comments-dominic-cummings-12840407/)and the BBC later decided that the presenter breached impartiality rules, saying in a statement: ‘We believe the introduction we broadcast did not meet our standards of due impartiality.’ [Emily Maitlis](https://metro.co.uk/tag/emily-maitlis/) has been showered with praise after [she called out an ‘active agent of the Conservative party’ on the BBC’s board](https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/24/emily-maitlis-shocked-at-bbcs-speed-in-apologising-over-newsnight-monologue-17239650/?ico=more_text_links), including by a Channel 4 boss who labelled her as ‘brilliant’. [announced her departure from the BBC earlier this year](https://metro.co.uk/2022/02/22/newsnights-emily-maitlis-leaving-bbc-after-20-years-16149552/), having joined in 2001 and hosted Newsnight since 2006, as she went on to join rival media group Global where she hosts a new podcast and a radio show with another former BBC journalist, Jon Sopel.

Maitlis's claim that Sir Robbie, who once led BBC's Westminster coverage and was involved in founding the right-wing GB News channel, is now “the arbiter of BBC ...

Neil Henderson, a home and foreign news editor, said he would be sacked if he expressed the same critical views on government policy, as the Match of the Day presenter. It looks the best decision for everyone.” Maitlis and O’Brien are now Global colleagues. “The biggest influence government have over BBC is the threat of further cuts to or abolition of the licence fee.” “Emily has nailed her political colours to the mast now,” an insider said. [Emily Maitlis’](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/bbc-emily-maitlis-jon-sopel-leaving-journalists-no-longer-defined-1477618?ico=in-line_link)s explosive claim that the BBC was infiltrated by an “active agent of the Conservative party” who is shaping the broadcaster’s news output shows why [ she was right to quit the corporation](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/emily-maitlis-leave-newsnight-bbc-new-podcast-jon-sopel-global-1475513?ico=in-line_link), insiders have said.

The BBC has defended its impartiality “on every subject” after the broadcaster came under fire from Emily Maitlis, the former Newsnight presenter, for “both ...

[Purchase a Print subscription for 11,12 € per week You will be billed 107,91 € per month after the trial ends](https://subs.ft.com/spa3_uk3m?segmentId=461cfe95-f454-6e0b-9f7b-0800950bef25&utm_us=JJIBAX&utm_eu=WWIBEAX&utm_ca=JJIBAZ&utm_as=FIBAZ&ft-content-uuid=802f0ad0-2ef9-43ae-bcd4-fe7b7ab59535) [Purchase a Digital subscription for 6,64 € per week You will be billed 39 € per month after the trial ends](https://subs.ft.com/spa3_digital?ft-content-uuid=802f0ad0-2ef9-43ae-bcd4-fe7b7ab59535) [Purchase a Trial subscription for 1 € for 4 weeks You will be billed 65 € per month after the trial ends](/signup?offerId=41218b9e-c8ae-c934-43ad-71b13fcb4465&ft-content-uuid=802f0ad0-2ef9-43ae-bcd4-fe7b7ab59535)

In a raw and personal analysis, the former Newsnight presenter reveals a broadcaster that has been cowed by government, says Guardian columnist Gaby ...

The basic journalistic principle of divorcing your own feelings from the story sits increasingly uneasily with a younger generation of reporters, and perhaps also viewers, raised to “call out” what they believe to be wrong and to prize authenticity. [installation of Richard Sharp](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/07/richard-sharp-bbc-chair-may-be-a-tory-donor-but-it-could-be-far-worse), a pro-Brexit Tory donor, as chair. There has long been a pretty greasy revolving door between Fleet Street and Downing Street, but viewers expect a publicly funded institution such as the BBC to rise above all that; to remain unimpeachable and unflappable, whether under fire from left or right. The Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, meanwhile, seemingly continues to enjoy great licence to offer his views on Twitter. [her memoir Airhead](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/18/airhead-emily-maitlis-review-bbc-newsnight-current-affairs-tv), in which she analyses old interviews and teases out the often uncomfortable ethical dilemmas raised by questioning a Donald Trump or a Steve Bannon, you occasionally catch a sense of frustration between the lines; something she seemingly wants to say but can’t. In its handling of that complaint, the [BBC](https://www.theguardian.com/media/bbc) effectively hung one of its most senior female journalists out to dry. There was, she claimed, no “due process” to consider whether a script that had been cleared by the programme’s editors was actually defensible. To have a pro-Brexit economist debate a pro-remain one on air was not “balance”, she said, if economists generally were so overwhelmingly against leaving that it took hours of ringing round to find one lone maverick in favour. Once those in power learn that your boss will surrender at the first hint of displeasure, they’ll keep pushing. It was almost as if someone wanted to send a “message of reassurance” to No 10. Her father would tune in religiously to the evening bulletins and nobody was allowed to interrupt the pips.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Charlotte Moore said the former BBC journalist's MacTaggart Lecture on Wednesday had been on an “incredibly important ...

that is absolutely not the case,” she added. She said the song content is a “massive beast”, but highlighted it has a “complex funding structure” which includes funding from EBU, participants and from the host city. Kate Phillips, director of BBC unscripted, also told the festival audience she is “so excited” for the BBC to broadcast Eurovision 2023, but recognised it is not a cheap event for the broadcaster to take on.

She aspires to be an American-style anchor with a dedicated trailer for her ego, a wannabe star who turns interviews into a story about her.

The cluster-bomb effects of lockdown on our society that he warned against have come to pass. When Rishi got emotional in a meeting about the traumatic effect on kids of closing schools and the scary NHS backlogs, he was met with a wall of silence. There actually was an explicit instruction to ministers to pretend that unevidenced draconian measures were “following the science” (don’t mention the knock-on effects!). Cynics have a point, but I say the truth, even if it missed the first bus, is always an improvement on lies. [not doing a terribly good job](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/09/used-defend-bbc-now-switching/), is he? It is pretty dismaying to hear a senior journalist in a democracy complain that, during the 2016 referendum, the BBC would create a “false equivalence” by putting one pro-Brexit economist on air to debate with one anti-Brexit economist. She is the wannabe star who turns interviews into a story about her. [not a Conservative](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/24/emily-maitlis-robbie-gibb-active-agent-conservative-party-bbc/). now sits, acting as the arbiter of BBC impartiality”. A still-smarting Emily prefers to blame the BBC board “where an active agent of the Conservative Party … Delivering the MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh TV festival this week, she lashed out at her former employer for issuing an apology after she opened a show with a furious monologue against Dominic Cummings’s “eye-testing” lockdown trip to Barnard Castle. Who could possibly have deduced during 16 years of impeccable impartiality in the Newsnight presenter’s chair that, all along, she was an aggrieved Remainer, seething with contempt for the Brexit vote and living with her investment manager husband in the socialist republic of Notting Hill?

The ex-BBC star called board member Robbie Gibb a Tory 'agent'. Reality is more complex.

Yet there is a long history of party supporters being appointed to the chair or board of the BBC – a former Liberal MP was once chairman. If she persists in blaming Brexit for the recent queues of motorists at Dover, when it would appear a shortage of French customs officials was primarily the reason, we will know that she is happy in her bubble, and Tim Davie will sleep that much easier. The Royal Charter’s concept of ‘due’ impartiality applies only to matters of current political debate (in the case of elections, even tighter rules apply). Yet if the BBC had become part of Operation Fear, it would surely have lost the trust of Brexiteers entirely, and not have made it to its centenary year unscathed. Even straightforward factual reporting – for instance, on the various problems besetting the NHS – can, over time, come to seem hostile, in the eyes of the government of the day. [Dominic Cummings’ flight to Durham](https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/watch-how-dominic-cummings-contempt-made-us-feel/) during the COVID lockdown, and her clear belief that he had thereby broken lockdown rules.

Emily Maitlis, former presenter of BBC's Newsnight, has a long and impressive career in journalism. She has often skilfully managed to hold power to account ...

This condescending opinion is sadly shared by many on the left and it should be confronted whenever it rears its ugly head, especially in the case of Brexit. Maitlis is seemingly still aggrieved and reluctant to admit that her introductory monologue regarding Dominic Cummings in 2020 during the height of the pandemic wasn’t her finest hour. The BBC’s purpose isn’t to dictate and influence. It is to inform honestly and professionally. But Maitlis didn’t merely report on the facts of Cummings’s infamous trip to Barnard Castle – something the BBC should absolutely do – she decided to give opinionated commentary. Or worse still, the audience should have been made aware – like the children they are – that one side was indeed correct. I watch the BBC regularly and can quite confidently say that it does not have a right-wing bias. She cited the Financial Times’ reporting that Gibb attempted to block the appointment of journalists he considered to be damaging to government relations. On the contrary, board members have a duty to challenge senior executives. She named her lecture “Boiling Frog: Why We Have to Stop Normalising The Absurd”. If true, I wouldn’t call this an overreach on the part of Gibb. She has often skilfully managed to hold power to account in a robust and rigorous manner.

The journalist, who left the BBC earlier this year, said the media was often guilty of 'normalising' populist views in the name of balance.

“If Channel 4 is about anything it is about finding that new dish”. He added that the “whole industry” made it clear that the contribution that Channel 4 makes to the economy, levelling up and TV is “best protected in public hands”. He added that he thinks “the thing we have to obsess about as news organisations is trust” and claimed that Channel 4 is the most trusted news outlet in the UK.

Tory bias is real – just ask Robbie Gibb. By James Ball. Photo by David Levenson/Getty Images.

Firstly, it is a fundamental tenet of the BBC that it is a public broadcaster, not a state one; it operates for the good of the British public, not the British state or government. What the BBC should be doing is finding a new and authentic way to fulfil that mandate – one that doesn’t rely on an imagined world where every correspondent emerges aged 40 from a cloning machine, with no character, personality, background or opinions of their own. The Conservatives, having endlessly claimed that the BBC is a hothouse of Marxism, successfully installed Richard Sharp, who was an adviser to Boris Johnson during his mayoralty and a major Conservative donor, as chairman of the BBC board. He is also widely suspected, fairly or otherwise, of leaking stories about the BBC and its staff to right-leaning newspapers, sometimes with the goal of influencing appointment processes. The Conservative government has been manipulating the BBC’s delicate political position in such a way as to undermine the very purpose and existence of the institution, giving its bosses a task at which they can only fail. How else are we to describe Maitlis finally making public and explicit what has been known – and despaired of – inside the BBC for the last few years?