18-09-2022, 06:49 PM
(18-09-2022, 05:47 PM)Steve in Pudsey Wrote: If he wants to move on from news and another broadcaster is willing to get their cheque book out, what's the problem?I think it's simplistic to think that the skills and knowledge required to guide the country through a royal death, for which the plans have been extentively planned and rehersed, are directly transferable to other major occasions such as general elections. Whilst I don't doubt this week has been exceptionally challenging for the broadcasters involved the kind of challenges faced are different to those faced during major political coverage.
We've seen this week that state occasions are in safe hands if Huw moves on, Sophie and Mishal, amongst others, have shown themselves as being more than capable of leading that kind of coverage and getting the tone pitch perfect.
If the commercial sector come knocking I don't see any particular need for a cash strapped BBC to get into a bidding war or pay silly money to keep him.
Wish the fella well, treat him with respect (no gardening leave nonsense), pay generous tribute to his contribution over the years, give him a good send-off on air and put put out a press release articulating a desire to work with him on a freelance basis in the future. No bridges burned, all doors remain open when the right project comes along.
Or is that too simplistic?
Being able to guide the country through a period of collective grief where guests will largely be painting the same picture and the events are largely expected is completely different to being able to guide the country through an election night where the unexpected is to be expected and guests will try and mislead viewers in various different ways. Arguably the one bit of the coverage that is most similar to an election night or similar event is the speculation in the hours leading up to the death announcement and that period of coverage showed Huw to simply be in a different class at such events compared to Clive Myrie.
Would it make sense to throw a blank check at Huw? Probably not, but that doesn't mean the BBC shouldn't seriously be considering what it can do to keep him even if that may involve annoying some but not all (with the impact on those a similar age or older being less important than those significantly younger or you are just kicking the can down the road) other presenters (and at the end of the day it appears Amol Rajan is alienting half the BBC in any case so they may have to make a hard choice in that regard before to long in any case).