Emily Maitlis
British journalist, former Newsnight presenter and co-host of The News Agents
| Emily Maitlis
| |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Journalist and presenter |
| Known for | Presenter of BBC Newsnight; co-host of The News Agents |
Emily Maitlis is a British journalist and presenter. She presented the BBC's Newsnight and, with Jon Sopel, the BBC podcast Americast. In February 2022 she left the BBC, after what she described as "20 phenomenal years", to join Global, where she co-hosts the daily podcast The News Agents with Sopel and Lewis Goodall.[1][2] In August 2022, in the MacTaggart memorial lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, she referred to "another active agent of the Conservative party" on the BBC Board without naming him; the description was widely taken to refer to Robbie Gibb.[3]
BBC
According to BBC News, Maitlis joined the BBC in 2001, presented news bulletins on BBC One and on the news channel then known as BBC News 24, presented BBC Breakfast, and later joined Newsnight. She also fronted live BBC News specials, including election nights and the EU referendum. The same report recorded that she "made headlines and won awards for her 2019 interview with Prince Andrew", and that she and Sopel co-hosted Americast, which launched in 2020.[1]
BBC News also recorded earlier impartiality rulings. In 2020 the BBC ruled that a Newsnight monologue by Maitlis about Dominic Cummings's journey to County Durham during the Covid-19 lockdown had breached impartiality guidelines. In June 2021 she was "reprimanded for breaching the BBC's impartiality rules by retweeting a 'clearly controversial' post by Piers Morgan about the government's response to the pandemic."[1] Those are the BBC's published rulings; this page does not add to them.
Departure for Global
On 22 February 2022 BBC News reported that Maitlis and Sopel had announced they were leaving to launch a podcast and host a radio show on LBC, whose parent company is Global. Maitlis called it a "major new podcast" and "an amazing opportunity", and said it would be "a wrench to leave the BBC after 20 phenomenal years". Jonathan Munro, then interim director of BBC News, thanked them for "many years of sterling service".[1]
On 22 August 2022 Global announced that the podcast would be called The News Agents, launching on 30 August 2022, with Maitlis and Sopel hosting Monday to Thursday and Goodall on Fridays. Global said the three had joined from the BBC, where Maitlis had hosted Newsnight, Goodall had been policy editor of Newsnight and Sopel had been North America editor. The podcast is a Persephonica production for Global; Persephonica's founder, Dino Sofos, is the executive producer.[2]
MacTaggart lecture, 2022
On 24 August 2022, delivering the MacTaggart memorial lecture, Maitlis discussed the BBC's handling of her 2020 Cummings monologue and the corporation's approach to impartiality. She said:
"Put this in the context of the BBC Board, where another active agent of the Conservative party – former Downing Street spin doctor, and former adviser to BBC rival GB News – now sits, acting as the arbiter of BBC impartiality."[3]
She did not name the board member. The Guardian identified the description as referring to Sir Robbie Gibb, then (and still) the BBC Board member for England, a former director of communications for Theresa May and a former editorial adviser to GB News.[3] The same wording, and the fact that she did not name him, is recorded on the page for Robbie Gibb. This page does not treat the "active agent" description as a finding.
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel to leave BBC to launch podcast and host LBC show", BBC News, 22 February 2022.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Global reveals details of brand-new daily podcast fronted by Emily Maitlis & Jon Sopel", Global, 22 August 2022.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jim Waterson, "Emily Maitlis says 'active Tory party agent' shaping BBC news output", The Guardian, 24 August 2022.