A BBC legend has shared what it was like to work inside a "liberal" newsroom. John Humphrys is a Welsh broadcaster who presented the BBC's flagship news programme, the Nine O'Clock News, from 1981 to 1987.
From 1987 to 2019, he presented on the BBC Radio 4 breakfast programme Today, and hosted BBC Two quiz show Mastermind from 2003 to 2021. Humphrys now presents a regular Sunday afternoon show on Classic FM, where he also sometimes fills in on the weekday More Music Breakfast show.
This week, he told The Times that he had "committed the ultimate sin of taking the BBC shilling and failing to demonstrate uncritical gratitude" after saying the BBC "badly failed" with Brexit by trying to "mould the nation into its own liberal left image". Humphrys said the BBC changed with attempts to become more open and welcoming to new voices, including people of colour, LGBTQIA+ people, and people with disabilities. He said these groups "demanded to be represented and heard...and ultimately to be obeyed", but have not been universally accepted.
The former presenter said the BBC focuses too much on a younger audience that "don't watch the box". He added: "But what about us, the licence-payers who'll never see 60 again and care a lot about the BBC?"
He decried listeners being treated like "bored teenagers" by Radio 4 producers with "plinky-plonky music" every 30 seconds and presenters greeting each other "with squeals of joy...as though they're secret lovers and can't imagine being parted".
Following the resignation of director-general Tim Davie, Humphrys said his former Today editor, Sarah Sands, should be a "serious candidate" for the job.
The former presenter said not only is Sands a woman "(about time you might say)" but she would "return the old Home Service to its former glory".
He finished by saying that the editors of news programmes should be encouraged to "spend less time obsessing over the algorithms that show young people turn first to their phones to find out what's happening in the world".
Humphrys said: "Of course they do. It's not just a phone. It's their lifeline to the world and the BBC must accept it and adapt to it. But first it must regain our trust."
-
NIA Probe Reveals Red Fort Blast Was Suicide Bombing Using 'Vehicle-Borne IED'
-
Inside Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood's sprawling home
-
Passengers, please note: these trains will remain cancelled until November.
-
How different is the Blue Aadhaar Card from the White Aadhaar Card, and for whom is it issued?
-
The Health Habit That Starts in the Mind, Not the Gym
