LX
He is now "Senior News Correspondent" based in London, but is also a stand-in presenter as well.
Is Christian Fraser now based solely in the UK as a presenter, rather than a reporter? He remarked this morning to a guest on Breakfast (which he was presenting) that he spent 9 years "on the road for the BBC", implying that that part of his career is now over.
He is now "Senior News Correspondent" based in London, but is also a stand-in presenter as well.
CU
He is now "Senior News Correspondent" based in London, but is also a stand-in presenter as well.
Ah, OK, thanks.
Is Christian Fraser now based solely in the UK as a presenter, rather than a reporter? He remarked this morning to a guest on Breakfast (which he was presenting) that he spent 9 years "on the road for the BBC", implying that that part of his career is now over.
He is now "Senior News Correspondent" based in London, but is also a stand-in presenter as well.
Ah, OK, thanks.
HO
I'm aware this is radio, not television, but Matthew Price co-presented the Today programme this morning and yesterday with Jim Naughtie, and said on Twitter he's with the programme for a fortnight (as presenter, presumably, as he's normally their chief correspondent).
Rather interesting choice to guest host a flagship programme which rarely deviates from its regular presenting team, especially for someone with little presenting or live interviewing experience. He's been good from what I heard this morning, although I'd suggest his delivery is a bit too monotonous and lacking energy for at time of the morning (the last thing you need opposite Jim), though I missed most of the serious interviews so can't comment properly.
I'm struggling a bit, though, to work out why they've opted for him over so many others. Save for the morning Lenny Henry guest edited (Nkem Ifejika from Newshour co-hosted), the last time I can recall the programme having a guest presenter was when they tried out Nick Robinson for a fortnight some years ago - and speculation linking Nick to Today didn't die down afterwards until the announcement last month.
I appreciate no one else is going to have any factual insight into why Matthew was chosen, but would you infer from this that the BBC is similarly giving Matthew prime experience/ trying him out for a position on Today or another programme further down the line? The only other explanation I can think of is it's budgetary (if I'm not mistaken Mishal and Justin, who both appear to be on leave this week, are staff presenters whereas Sarah, Jon and Jim are, or at least used to be, highly paid freelancers, so I suppose it's plausible they've chosen someone already on their books to cover rather than another presenter who either might be freelancing, or whose usual work would require freelance cover?) but this seems rather unlikely?
At any rate I'm fully hoping the next (male) presenter is Shaun Ley, who is consistently strong and without a full time progemme now. Likewise Lyse Doucet would be fantastic on the programme, but I'm hoping Sarah Montague will still be there years from now and I can't imagine Mishal disappearing anywhere for a while to come. The Price tryout is making me suspicious given that Today's ratings have fallen the last year or so, and I wonder if the presenting lineup being weaker/ less consistent now than it was a few years ago might be contributing to that. And while Nick will be a worthy addition, Jim Naughtie really isn't the weak link and will be duly missed from the programme, so that imbalance won't have been addressed in my view.
[apologies for the ridiculous length of this post.. One of the problems with fast-talkers dictating.]
Rather interesting choice to guest host a flagship programme which rarely deviates from its regular presenting team, especially for someone with little presenting or live interviewing experience. He's been good from what I heard this morning, although I'd suggest his delivery is a bit too monotonous and lacking energy for at time of the morning (the last thing you need opposite Jim), though I missed most of the serious interviews so can't comment properly.
I'm struggling a bit, though, to work out why they've opted for him over so many others. Save for the morning Lenny Henry guest edited (Nkem Ifejika from Newshour co-hosted), the last time I can recall the programme having a guest presenter was when they tried out Nick Robinson for a fortnight some years ago - and speculation linking Nick to Today didn't die down afterwards until the announcement last month.
I appreciate no one else is going to have any factual insight into why Matthew was chosen, but would you infer from this that the BBC is similarly giving Matthew prime experience/ trying him out for a position on Today or another programme further down the line? The only other explanation I can think of is it's budgetary (if I'm not mistaken Mishal and Justin, who both appear to be on leave this week, are staff presenters whereas Sarah, Jon and Jim are, or at least used to be, highly paid freelancers, so I suppose it's plausible they've chosen someone already on their books to cover rather than another presenter who either might be freelancing, or whose usual work would require freelance cover?) but this seems rather unlikely?
At any rate I'm fully hoping the next (male) presenter is Shaun Ley, who is consistently strong and without a full time progemme now. Likewise Lyse Doucet would be fantastic on the programme, but I'm hoping Sarah Montague will still be there years from now and I can't imagine Mishal disappearing anywhere for a while to come. The Price tryout is making me suspicious given that Today's ratings have fallen the last year or so, and I wonder if the presenting lineup being weaker/ less consistent now than it was a few years ago might be contributing to that. And while Nick will be a worthy addition, Jim Naughtie really isn't the weak link and will be duly missed from the programme, so that imbalance won't have been addressed in my view.
[apologies for the ridiculous length of this post.. One of the problems with fast-talkers dictating.]
SP
Has Sarah Smith also taken up role as Scotland correspondent now Laura Bicker and James Cook have moved stateside? There were three three stories from Scotland on today's News at Six and she covered the lead story.
SN
No, it's normally Philippa Thomas now. She still presents HARDtalk from time to time though...
Has Zeinab Badawi stopped presenting World News Today? On Wikipedia it says she stopped presenting the program in 2014, so is that true?
No, it's normally Philippa Thomas now. She still presents HARDtalk from time to time though...
SP
I notice World are still putting out that trail with Stephen Sackur in a taxi plugging "my show, HardTalk". Maybe I'm just watching at the wrong time but it always send to be Zeinab when I've caught it recently.
LL
No, it's normally Philippa Thomas now. She still presents HARDtalk from time to time though...
The normal WNT schedule is Karin Giannone on Mon-Tues and Philippa for the rest of the week.
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Has Zeinab Badawi stopped presenting World News Today? On Wikipedia it says she stopped presenting the program in 2014, so is that true?
No, it's normally Philippa Thomas now. She still presents HARDtalk from time to time though...
The normal WNT schedule is Karin Giannone on Mon-Tues and Philippa for the rest of the week.