BBC News: Presenters & Rotas

Maxine is indeed leaving.
I don't get it either, people like Shaun Ley and Ben Brown who have no real job and aren't anywhere as good at presenting should be the ones shown the door.

Maxine leaving???? Can't believe this. She seemed to be the most enthusiastic presenter, always tweeting pictures, using the #weekendnewsclub hashtag, giving us the experience of working and living BBC News. Not only is she an experienced pro but also one of their few presenters with personality and emotion.

From her Twitter feed, I get the feeling she's not leaving by her own choice.

Sad day indeed.

What a shame that Maxine is leaving!

It'll be interesting (probably depressing) to see what changes are made over the next week or so.

This post makes little to no sense at all.

I must respectfully say that your post completely mis-frames the issue (if it can even be called that).


Let's run down the reasons why, shall we?:

a) No-one here knows whether Maxine is being "shown the door". Even if - big if - hers is one of the presenter posts that's being cut, we still don't know - and frankly, it's none of our business - whether she took voluntary redundancy, or if she didn't, whether or not she just - y'know - wanted to do something different.

b) You have no proof that Ben Brown or Shaun Ley were directly compared to Maxine by BBC bosses and found to be "better" or "worse" than her and that's why she's leaving. One imagines the number of times they've directly covered for her - and thereby provided a direct basis for comparison - is minuscule. It won't surprise you to learn that I have other priorities which mean I can't/don't want to keep track.

c) How do you know that Ben and Shaun aren't happy with the roles they have?

d) Whatever you think of Maxine (and personally, I happen to agree with you that she's great), Ben is a well-tested rolling news presenter and respected former foreign correspondent and Shaun is a seasoned political correspondent and live interviewer (with whom - full disclosure - I used to work on Radio 4). I realise it's a matter of personal taste, but you shouldn't dismiss their credentials to sit in a presenter's chair just because you personally enjoy their work less than another broadcaster.

e) For all the reasons I've outlined and many more besides, the way you've couched it simply isn't how decisions get made in broadcast newsrooms.

I'm sad to see Maxine is leaving the News Channel.

When the BBC News 24 launched in 1997 its distribution was very limited. For most viewers the only chance to watch News 24 was when it was simulcast on BBC1 overnight and, as overnight presenters, Maxine and Jane Hill were the first introduction to News 24 for many.

Was Maxine on the overnights? From all the clip from simcast she never appeared in any?

She was indeed, most famously she was on overnight duty on the night of Princess Diana's death, albeit that was a BBC World and Domestic simulcast, before the existence of BBC News 24.

It is nice to note (although sad that she's going at all) that Maxine's last shift will be alongside Simon McCoy on Monday afternoon. I do hope Simon and the behind-the-scenes team give her a nice send-off, befitting Maxine's seniority and length of service at the BBC.

How many female newsreaders are there at the BBC now that are over 50? I can only count two - Fiona Bruce and Reeta Chakrabarti following the departure of Carole Walker and Maxine. So much for the temporary drive to have older women presenting the news a few years ago! It was obvious the BBC weren't taking it seriously when Fiona Armstrong, Julia Somerville and others were dropped.

Would you like to elaborate on why they aren't good at presenting?

Or why you think they don't have real jobs?

Tweeter is talking about Maxine, I dont remember anyone else having this much praise for there bbc news roles. I fully agree with whats been said.