Thursday 20 June 2019

Butting in



"Emily Maitlis’s constant interventions and interruptions put the finishing touches on one of the worst examples of BBC TV I’ve ever seen." 
Here then are some stats about Emily Maitlis's relentless interrupting: a tally of the interruptions for each Tory leadership candidate on Our Next Prime Minister, with two types of interruption noted - (1) those that were proper pointed interruptions (i.e. the major kind) and (2) those that were intended to signal 'times up' and move on to the next candidate, or question or member of the public (i.e. the minor kind):

RORY STEWART
Major interruptions - 0
Minor interruptions - 2
Total - 2

SAJID JAVID
Major interruptions - 5
Minor interruptions - 2
Total - 7

JEREMY HUNT
Major interruptions - 4
Minor interruptions -
5
Total - 9

MICHAEL GOVE
Major interruptions - 8
Minor interruptions -
1
Total - 9

BORIS JOHNSON
Major interruptions - 24
Minor interruptions -
6
Total - 30

There's really not much to add to that, is there?

7 comments:

  1. During the day, from Andrew Neil and Norman Smith and I think on radio news as well, there has been emphasis on 'Mr Johnson' instead of 'Boris Johnson'. As usual I don't suppose this is unscripted. Some BBC editor will have concluded that 'Boris Johnson' has an automatic positive reaction with the popular vote - 'Mr Johnson' sounds less familiar and somewhat threatening. Yet another twist in the BBC 'get Boris ' campaign.

    Also on Politics Live, BJ was described by one of the guests as 'extreme right'.

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    Replies
    1. Arthur - Or,on the other hand, maybe people in high places have come to the reluctant conclusion that they'd better try being nice to our future PM!

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    2. Arthur, I think you're right. Some sort of edict has gone down forbidding any genial use of "Boris". I noticed that today on Sky. It sounded very unnatural...I think they say "Mr Johnson" because "Johnson" just sounds downright weird when everyone knows him as Boris. So Rigby went with "Mr Johnson", put then she had to deploy the same formality with Mr Gove, Mr Hunt, Mr Javid and so on...by which point it was becoming faintly ridiculous.

      Well spotted!

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    3. Yes, I too noticed Beth Rigby using the formal Mr Johnson and the same for Gove and the rest. What does she normally say? I couldn't be sure. I think it would be Michael Gove, Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt and presumably Boris Johnson.

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    4. It's just possible that the BBC wish to link the name Johnson with the white English far-right - in the same way as Robinson is via Tommy. Anyone with the name Boris carries with them a mystique, Pasternak and Karloff - names to conjure with. Boris Johnson is a rare breed and the BBC don't like it.

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  2. Craig - Words fail!

    A splendid 'gotcha'! If you haven't already, would you send a copy to 'Conservative Woman'? I suspect it may be read by more Tory party members & MPs than follow this blog.

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  3. Brilliant analysis Craig! Sis's suggestion is a good one - your analysis should enjoy a wider public.

    Just one thing I would add...Generally, in response to Maitlis's relentless interventions, Johnson deployed a good tactic of increasing his volume and just ploughing on with his answer. That made her look very foolish, since the format of the programme didn't really give her any comeback...


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