It’s been nearly two years since Andrew Neil left the BBC, with the political broadcaster first joining GB News as the fledgling channel’s chairman, before quickly leaving and now going on to host The Andrew Neil Show on Channel 4.
However, the broadcaster has now given his thoughts on the current state of the channel with which he spent the most years, saying that cuts to the licence fee have had an “impact” on BBC News.
Neil hosted multiple programmes across the BBC throughout the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, and told this week’s Radio Times magazine that BBC News has “suffered because it’s been death by a thousand cuts”.
He said: “The licence fee has been reduced by 30 per cent in real terms since 2010. It’s frozen again for another two years. The conversation at the BBC has been ‘How can we do this more cheaply?’ Not ‘How can we do it better?’ That’s had its impact on BBC News.”
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Neil also spoke about how both the BBC and other broadcasters’ coverage has declined in his eyes, due to a lack of consideration and depth of conversation.
He said: “Even the BBC doesn’t have room for long interviews any more. People like intelligent conversation. There’s too much shouting, too much ideology, too much point-scoring and not enough intelligent exchange of views.”
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Neil’s new Channel 4 show, The Andrew Neil Show, is a half-hour weekly programme which sees Neil conducting interviews with decision takers and news makers from across the political spectrum, while he also gives his own individual take on the biggest issues of our times.
The programme has so far seen guests including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Mick Lynch and David Miliband, with the show also accompanied by a weekly podcast.
The Andrew Neil Show airs at 6pm on Sundays on Channel 4. You can read the full interview with Andrew Neil in this week’s issue of Radio Times magazine. If you’re looking for something to watch tonight, check out our TV Guide.
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