Newsreaders: Not Allowed To Be Human

(This post may have no interest for any readers who are not resident in the UK.)

The BBC has some very good news presenters and journalists on its 24-hour programme BBC News 24. One of my favourites is the lively Martine Croxall, a lady who presents a very human face when reading the news, or appearing on longer news and political presentations.

As far as I am concerned, she is an assest to the BBC, and we could do with more like her, and far fewer of the po-faced, self-important news presenters who think they are the focus of the news, not the stories.

When Boris Johnson announced that he was to run again recently for election to the leadership of the Conservative Party, that was greeted with derison my many journalists, and generated dire warnings from others. So when he announced his withdrawal from the contest at the last minute, that came as a relief to almost everyone in this country.

Including, it would seem, the excellent Martine Croxall. Here is her very human reaction to that news.

However, following her obvious smiles and use of the word ‘gleeful’, complaints flooded in. She was accused of showing bias against Boris Johnson, and breaking the rules of ‘impartiality’ that supposedly exist at the BBC. She was then removed from her job as a newspreader and presenter, and her fate is as yet unknown.

This is worrying to me, as other presenters are blatantly biased and impartial but all of those are still working. Not least the pro-Conservative Fiona Bruce, who uses her role as presenter of the high-profile BBC1 show ‘Question Time’ every week to allow right-wing guests to say anything they like without interruption, then shuts down any argument against them in seconds. Fiona is married to an advertising executive whose company received almost £4,000,000 to advertise Conservative Government Policy.

That’s an easy jigsaw to put into place. A 3 year-old could do it.

Fiona Bruce’s current salary from the BBC is over £409,000 a year. This includes her salary for presenting the TV programme ‘Antiques Roadshow’.
Martine Croxall’s salary was estimated to be around £100,000 a year.

I know who I would sooner watch.

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20 comments

    • beetleypete

      Thanks, Felicity. Unfortunately, I live in East Anglia. It has been a Conservative stronghold since elections began, and a big supporter of Boris Johnson. I doubt the regional newspaper would take kindly to my opinion. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete. x

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  5. Robert

    Having watched the attached clip a couple of times, obviously there is some conversation missing which might show a political bias (I’ve not had time to find the whole clip). I feel the enthusiasm showed was in line with the excitement of a news worthy story emerging, the word gleeful possibly not the best as many people in a fragile personal state probably dont want the instability of government leadership, but just to get on with rebuilding their life so someone on as you say £100,000 a year. showing so much joy probably doesn’t go down too well. Should she be banned. No, over reaction by the national broadcaster but she should know that there are boundaries.

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    • beetleypete

      Thanks, Bobby. It was simply her obvious delight that Boris had pulled out, and her use of the word ‘gleeful’. That was enough to consider her to be biased against Boris, and cost her the presenter role. The complaints that affected her were from the Conservative Part Head office, and various Boris Johnson supporters around the country. Martine knew about the boundaries of course, but on this occasion she showed that she was human.
      Cheers, Pete.

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  6. Yetismith

    I get progressively more disgusted with news presenters. They all look like ghouls these days and they are all clearly, unashamedly biased one way or the other. I was not familiar with this lady but she seems like someone I might watch. I am sorry she has been treated this way and I agree that it is worrying. I feel there is no one to be believed anymore. How is one to find the truth?

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  9. wilfredbooks

    As you probably already know, Pete, I don’t watch the news, but I agree completely about this lady and her career prospects. The BBC claims to be unbiased, but that always rings hollow with me. Some newsreaders become presenters in other fields, and one I enjoy watching is Steph McGovern [hope that’s the correct spelling] who is from Middlesbrough, not far from me, and never tries to suppress her accent, or her wicked sense of humour: she’s always very good on Have I Got News For You. Cheers, Jon.

    Liked by 1 person

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