''The secret of Alan Yentob's chat for the 'British Backscratching Corporation'''

  

More on the story from yesterday about Alan Yentob appearing on the News at Ten to plug his big New Year's Eve interview with Mel Brooks - the godfather of his son...

Richard Eden of the Daily Mail has been talking to ''a source'' [BBC? Not BBC?] who says:

This is the British Backscratching Corporation at its worst. Viewers should have been told of Yentob's close connection to his subject.

This mysterious source questions why, if BBC bosses deemed the publication of Mel's memoir to be newsworthy, he wasn't interviewed by one of the BBC's many U.S. correspondents.

And, going back to direct quotes from the same source: 

And if it was considered a job so important that someone had to be flown out at great expense some 5,000 miles from London, surely the interview should have been conducted by one of the arts correspondents?

The feature was on Monday's News at Ten. I've just checked it and, yes, there's no mention whatsoever of Alan Yentob's close personal connection to Mel Brooks. It begins with Huw Edwards saying, ''He's been talking to the BBC's Alan Yentob'', then Mr Yentob saying, ''I know the word can be overused, but Mel Brooks is a legend. A movie legend, a musical legend and a comedy legend'', and ends with Huw saying, ''The great Mel Brooks sharing some of his remarkable life story with the BBC's Alan Yentob. And you can see the full interview on BBC News Channel and iPlayer on 31st December. That's it.'' 

All a bit rum.