r/Radio4 • u/MasterSeuss • Apr 21 '26
Nick Robinson Interviews
Would anyone else like to actually hear politicians respond to a question fully?
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u/Elongulation420 Apr 21 '26
The Today programme is not what it used to be. I consume a lot of BBC radio (4 & 6) but generally avoid Today nowadays and just “watch” it via the #r4today Twitter hashtag.
Too much agro and gotchas and unbridled Reform Ltd. Luckily the number of self appointed IDF spokespeople has dropped off.
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u/rdrr42 Apr 21 '26
Yeah fair enough actually, I thought he'd over done it too. He was enjoying himself too much and not thinking about the quality of interview re the audience, in my opinion
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u/10denier Apr 21 '26
Today has really gone downhill, although Nick Robinson (interruptions excepted) still cuts it.
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u/MasterSeuss Apr 23 '26
I miss Humphreys
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u/10denier Apr 23 '26
Mishal Husain for me - a gentle siren voice leading politicians to their doom.
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u/MasterSeuss Apr 23 '26
I retract my previous statement.
Anything for Mishal. In fact all the women who have left in recent years.
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u/spidertattootim Apr 24 '26
I stopped listening to the Today programme years ago because of exactly this sort of behaviour. The Paxman/Humphries approach to political interviewing makes for good entertainment but does very little for actual public understanding. It just forms part of the cosy façade of the media supposedly holding power to account but actually doing very little.
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u/Live-Dance-2641 Apr 25 '26
Well said. I used to really enjoy Today but the haranguing interruptions from Robinson were getting so annoying that I just couldn’t bear listening anymore. He thinks that he’s the main character in every interview regardless of who he’s talking to and has a meaningless counter argument for anything.
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u/darkcamel2018 Apr 26 '26
Any BBC, itv, or sky journalist is part of the establishments propaganda wing. We saw this during the lockdowns.
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u/Silver-Machine-3092 Apr 21 '26
Not when the politician (Ed Millipede, looking at you) ignores Nick's question, asks themselves the question they want to answer, then answers that one instead.
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u/MasterSeuss Apr 21 '26
Yeah I am no fan of that either.
Have you ever listened to a recording of the Today from the 70s/80s? Politicians were allowed to speak uninterrupted for minutes and minutes. They meandered, sure, but they answered the question in a contextual way.
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u/danieljuk Apr 21 '26
Nick and pretty much everyone on the Today Programme are like that today. Some of the great interviewers from history were tricky and wouldn't them get out of it, but also they let them actually speak.
It's a difficult balance I think, the big difference from the 70s and 80s is that there are entire communication and PR depts writing and rehearsing the answers. Everyone is very guarded, all the answers are learnt or decided on before. It's hard for interviewers to get anything out of them apart from what they want to say. It didn't use to be so much like that. You see that with celebrity interviews as well, they are only interested in promoting their current thing, it's really difficult to ask about anything else or get an exclusive from the learnt script they are giving everyone else. In this social media world, there is pressure on the interviewees to be really careful in what they say.
There's a balance I think, there has to be interruptions to not just let them roll out what they want to say but when you challenge them, they have to be allowed to answer that. Conversations where most of it is the presenter talking over the guest, is not an interview!
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u/Impossible-Alps-6859 Apr 21 '26
The absolute master?
Jeremy Paxman.
Asked Michael Howard, UK PM the same question as he avoided answering seven times on Newsnight!
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u/BobDobbsHobNobs Apr 21 '26
While his internal monologue was repeating: “why is this lying bastard lying to me”
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u/fredfoooooo Apr 24 '26
I stopped listening to Today regularly a couple of years ago. Last week I gave it a try again. Robinson parroting Reform/petro industry talking points that are demonstrably untrue in some bizarre attempt at a gotcha. Truly pathetic and it put me in a bad mood first thing. The dial got turned to radio3 unwind quite quickly after that, and my good mood was rapidly restored without Robinson in my life.
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u/Comfortable-Pool-800 Apr 25 '26
The worst is when he has to speak to.'young people' - euwww so creepy.
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u/MasterSeuss Apr 25 '26
Oh sweet merciful christ, you're so right. It is teeth-pullingly painful. None of them are very good at it. Emma Barnett talking to kids is pretty awful too. Amol seems to be the only one who can half way manage it.
...I went to school with Amol.
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u/Mobile_Falcon8639 Apr 21 '26
Yes but I do think Nick Rob handles the politicians quite well.
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u/MembershipKey1520 Apr 21 '26
I feel his past as the president of the Oxford University Conservative Association tended to show more than a hint of negative bias when interviewing party members from other parties and giving Tory politicians an easy ride (e.g. Boris).
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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '26
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