Talk:Newsnight

Paxman
On the Newsnight episode of Thursday, 18th of November 2005, during a discussion of journalism and blogs (in relation to the Iraq war) the presenter Jeremy Paxman made reference to Wikipedia!

Comparing Wikipedia with blogs, he stated something like "...Wikipedia where lots of people contribute to an online encyclopedia which is often better than the published thing". Not totally sure if that is a correct word-for-word quote but it should be close. Still, its good to get a compliment from one of Britain's most respected journalists and someone who is definatly not known for handing out complements too frequently! 80.195.168.97 00:53, 18 November 2005 (UTC)


 * He complimented Wikipedia on University Challenge a few months back as well. --Bonalaw 09:50, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

Interview with Michael Howard
According to the Wikipedia article on MH, and according to the BBC, JP asked MH the question twelve times, not fourteen. (Both mention also that fourteen is a common mistake.) So I've changed the article.

TRiG (talk) 02:16, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

Criticism of Newsnight
I have been looking at some entries for a number of so called "alternative media" related topics such as that of the Medialens website, and journalists such as John Pilger, George Monbiot and political commentator and linguist Noam Chomsky. I notice these all have some sort of section, however big or small, broaching the issue of criticism of these sources. I wondered why no one has added anything relating to criticisms of Newsnights reporting of stories, the stories covered, guests chosen etc? I shall be checking entries for other more mainstream news sources and commentators to see if this is also the case. I understand that criticism for criticisms sake cannot be allowed under the neutrality conditions of Wikipedia but it is interesting to see how information is presented to the public. Does anyone else have any views on this?


 * I suppose the main criticisms tend to be about the individual presenters' styles. Some people think Paxo is too harsh, some have criticised Wark for having friendships with politicians, personally I think Esler has drifted into an attitude that he must attempt to stir up confrontation even at the expense of sense, I don't think anyone has a bad word to say about Kearney though. --Bonalaw 19:50, 5 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Newsnight sometimes faces the same accusations that the BBC as a whole gets sometimes of not censoring themselves in their reporting of events in iraq. Newsnight has done segments on several of the coalition-forces' warcrimes, including interviewing some US soldiers about how they were killing non-combatants and then planting shovels and weapons on the corpses so it looked like they were insurgents planting IEDs. But this sort of thing doesn't really get critisized outside some of the crazier right-wing blogs. To have a criticism section we really need to find a notable and reputable source giving voice to those criticisms. Until then it's just better for NPOV to leave it out. Elmo 14:19, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

"Recent-cruft"
I noticed this edit describing a recent one-off variant on the playout music.

Is this really important in the large scheme of things, or just part of the combined tendency to (a) Add factoid cruft to Wikipedia and (b) Consider anything that happened in the last six months worthy of inclusion? Don't get me wrong; my criticisms aren't solely concerned with this one edit, it just seems to be symptomatic.

I appreciate that any programme article will (and should) have slightly more weight on its recent/current status, but this concentration on recent minor issues seems to be a bit silly. Fourohfour 15:06, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

"Current Reporters"
Any Wikipedians think it is a good idea to improve the article by mentioning the current reporters, as well as the presenters. I recommend adding Justin Rowlatt, the recent Ethical Man.

Main Presenters in the 80'S
The article as it stands implies that previous to Paxman Peter Snow was the main presenter for most of its history. 'Newsnight has been running since 30 January 1980, with Peter Snow presenting the programme for its first 17 years.' As far as I can remember the two main presenters for much, if not most,of the 80's were actually John Tusa in the 'Paxman' No.1 spot and Donald McCormick as the Esler/Wark sidekick. (I can very clearly remember this because I enjoyed watching the 'Tomorrows Headlines' piece each night - Tusa always showed the next day's Morning Star, and McCormick never did). I'm sure Peter Snow must sometimes have been lead presenter, but if it was anyone's show in the way that it is now Paxman's it was definitely Tusa's.

Even the BBC's own site just has Peter Snow moving 'to the BBC to become one of  the regular presenters of Newsnight in 1980'. (My italics)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/presenters/peter_snow.shtml

I think the article needs reworded to remove the individual emphasis on Peter Snow, but am not confident enough about the facts of the case (dates and so on) to do so. Do we have any BBC staff among our contributors who might want to set the record straight?

Liamcalling (talk) 19:50, 18 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Cleared up the problem with the Peter Snow reference. Also expanded the history section a little. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), the Andrew Billen article is the only reference to the "'Newsnight wife' syndrome" I can find on the web, although it was much cited in the press more than twenty years ago. Philip Cross (talk) 19:10, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

Peter Rippon
I just caught the tail end of tonight's episode on BBC World and it was presented by Peter Rippon. He is listed as an editor, not a presenter. Is this a change in line up or has everyone else just got the flu? And incidentally, is he any relation to Angela Rippon? Traveller palm (talk) 13:05, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Does this article need a tag at the time of typing?
At present, this programme is in the middle of controversy, and I can see that could lead to suspect comments about the programme. For example, looking at the history, I see some one one had made the unsubstantiated claim that the programme had been axed, which, fortunately, was deleted from the article very quickly. Given that the programme's current controversy could easily invite suspect comments, does any one think that this programme needs a tag warning people about this? I shall appreciate any feedback. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 16:38, 12 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Not sure about a tag, but if there is persistent vandalism we should think about semi-protection. Ghmyrtle (talk) 17:07, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

Some more news about the programme for the article
I am pretty sure that on news on Radio Four today (December 19 2012) it was announced that the editor of the programme has either resigned or retired; he is stepping down and handing the job to some one else in view of all the controversy there has been about the programme's treatment of issues related from the Jimmy Savile scandal. If any one has the details on this this, it could go in the article to keep the article nicely up-to-date. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 15:09, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Indeed. More information here (so long as the BBC is trusted as a source, of course).   Presumably all the other editors are out Christmas shopping??  Ghmyrtle (talk) 15:39, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

According to news reports on Radio Four, the man who is resigning is Stephen_Mitchell_(journalist). According to this website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20786533 the editor of Newsnight is Peter Ripon, who is moving to a new role. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 16:45, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Peter Rippon and his deputy are moving from Newsnight to other roles. I've added that, and some more info on the Pollard report, to the article.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 23:20, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Many thanks for doing this, ACEOREVIVED (talk) 16:45, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

Request for change to table of list of presenters
Should not the table of list of presenters include reference to Martha Kearney? It could put in the years when she did appear as a presenter on the programme, even if she has stopped presenting the programme since beginning to present The World at One. 20:26, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

OK, I have seen that the table refers to current presenters - but could there not also be a table called "past presenters"? ACEOREVIVED (talk) 18:17, 24 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Past presenters are currently listed below. I can't see how a table would help present this information in a better way. Please do add any other past presenters to the list if any are missing. Uvghifds (talk) 22:09, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

External links modified (February 2018)
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Putin
Sanction are in place but are sanctions on cyber currencies in place, if not why not????? 217.155.7.180 (talk) 22:54, 3 March 2022 (UTC)