‘BBC is full of boring people doing boring jobs’: Jeremy Paxman claims ‘any fool’ can read the news and launches attack on reporters who are more interested in being on television than ‘letting the story tell itself’
- Jeremy Paxman said ‘any fool’ could read the news and attacked vain reporters more interested in being on television than ‘letting the story tell itself’
- Paxman said the BBC is ‘full of boring people doing dull jobs and pretending they’re important’
- Former Newsnight presenter said BBC is ‘an immensely frustrating organisation’
Jeremy Paxman has said the BBC is ‘full of boring people doing dull jobs and pretending they’re important’.
The former Newsnight presenter, who hosts BBC2’s University Challenge, claimed ‘any fool’ can read the news and attacked vain reporters more interested in being on television than ‘letting the story tell itself’.
In a talk with comedian Richard Herring, the 70-year-old said: ‘I think you have to decide ‘would the world be a better place if the BBC didn’t exist?’.
Jeremy Paxman has said the BBC is ‘full of boring people doing dull jobs and pretending they’re important’
‘And I think I come down on the side of the world would not be a better place if the BBC didn’t exist, but it is an immensely frustrating organisation.
‘It’s full of boring people doing dull jobs and pretending they’re important.’
Paxman, who left Newsnight in 2014 after 25 years and was once a presenter of the 6pm news bulletin, attacked his former profession, saying: ‘I think news reading is an occupation for an articulated suit.
‘I can’t see any point in reading the news at all. Reading aloud, do you remember reading aloud at school? That’s what it is. I don’t think it has any grandeur or skill or anything to it. Any fool can do it.’
He also discussed working alongside reporters in places like Beirut and Uganda.
The former Newsnight presenter, who hosts BBC2’s University Challenge, claimed ‘any fool’ can read the news and attacked vain reporters more interested in being on television than ‘letting the story tell itself’ (file photo)
The presenter, famous for his aggressive interviewing style, said: ‘It’s very dangerous. But I don’t tell war stories because it just switches the focus from whatever’s happening wherever you are to me, me, me.
‘That’s the besetting problem with television. It’s full of vainglorious fools who want to be on telly instead of just letting the story tell itself.’
The journalist said the BBC’s ‘true mission’ was ‘just to make interesting programmes’.
He also took a swipe at actors saying acting is ‘completely unimportant’.
He added: ‘Reading somebody else’s lines – what an evanescently pointless thing to do.’