(03-06-2023, 07:55 PM)ginnyfan Wrote: When was the last time BBC News devoted two 45 minute slots for an interview with a PM, President, statesmen, Nobel Prize winner or someone of real significance?
When is the last time someone of such significance granted the BBC an interview? Government ministers often try to avoid a 5 minute grilling on Breakfast nowadays. And worth noting Amol has had a series of 30-45 minute interviews airing on BBC2 in recent weeks.
A bit of news snobbery going on here I think. Nobody is denying it's irrelevant to global viewers and across the week, even across the day, overdone by BBC News from a UK perspective. But it is arguably the biggest media story of the year and the interview was with the person at the centre of it, not an axed former colleague or someone they interviewed 10-15 years ago who still has a vendetta. The general viewer will be far more interested in it than an extended interview with a foreign president or UK government minister.
It was 45 minutes of already produced content aired on Friday night in what is a low key slot for News channels with a 15 minute follow up.
If they'd edited it down to 30 minutes and filled a back half hours with it, probably more than once, would we even be having this conversation?
And yes there is the issue of it overshadowing the covid inquiry shenanigans but that sort of thing of the BBC not headlining Tory controversies is something they've been accused of doing for years. If the Schofield story hadn't been running they'd have likely led with the India crash anyway on the news channel at least.