After Emily Maitlis, the former anchor of Newsnight, said the BBC was “Tory-infiltrated,” Laura Kuenssberg attacked her former coworker for breaking the impartiality guidelines with her Dominic Cummings lockdown “monologue.”
This week, Maitlis and the BBC got into a verbal altercation when she criticised her previous employer for criticising her after the broadcast regarding Boris Johnson’s then-chief advisor in 2020.
She said in her introduction to Newsnight’s report that Mr. Cummings “flouted” lockdown regulations by travelling 260 miles from his house to County Durham, making the public “feel like idiots” for obeying them.
The BBC, according to Maitlis, who left the organisation last year to join the media conglomerate Global, “sought to placate” No. 10 by delivering an apology “within hours.”
Additionally, she inquired as to whether the BBC “could be delivering a message of comfort straight to the Government.”
However, Kuenssberg said in a recent interview with The Times that she has “never been directed what to say” and that the job of BBC journalists is to “discover the truth.”
People often comment that you are severely confined since you can’t do this or that, she added. That’s completely backwards in my opinion since the BBC’s whole premise is that you don’t follow the script; instead, all you’re doing is looking for the truth.
I’ve never been instructed what to say or, perhaps more crucially, what not to say.
This comes after David Dimbleby harshly criticised Maitlis’ monologue in an interview with the corporation’s Today programme, calling it “polemic” and “a mistake.”
Full transcript of Laura Kuenssberg’s conversation with The Times: “I’ve never been instructed what to say.”
Regarding BBC objectivity
People often remark, “Well, you’re very constrained; you can’t do this or that.” That’s completely backwards in my opinion since the BBC’s whole premise is that you don’t follow the script; instead, all you’re doing is looking for the truth.
I’ve never been instructed what to say or, perhaps more crucially, what not to say.
Regarding the presidency of Boris Johnson
He will undoubtedly always be remembered as a prime minister of great significance.
Because, regardless of your opinion of the UK’s choice to leave the EU, there is a reasonable case to be made that his participation tipped the scales, but there is also a reasonable case to be made that if he hadn’t won the Tory leadership in 2019, Brexit would not have taken place.
He will thus have a sizable chapter in UK history. Additionally, the prime minister was in control throughout the epidemic and came dangerously close to dying from the illness.
about Liz Truss
People that she later outlasted or outwitted have frequently looked down on her. She has been really resilient.
She is [or is willing to be] relentless, shape-shifting, pragmatic, and eager to have a little fun on her own dime. She has instincts.
about online abuse
There is no denying the poisonous nature of social media.
I use it much less now. A journalist should be on the phone, meeting people, or travelling to search out information rather than sitting and updating their screen.
It’s a matter of prioritisation. How should I spend my time? Does it check notifications? No, therefore stop using Google and turn off your alerts.