The hubris of Today presenters.

Yes I am a bit deaf but turning up volume didn’t help.

Fleurpepper

I said that people with regional accents had to 'lose' them to get jobs in TV (not acting but presenting). I was told this was a thing of the past and no longer the case. Although there are now many actors, and presenters of some shows, who do have a strong regional accent. But not really on the news. And this is doubly so for anyone from an immigrant background.

Steph McGovern BBC breakfast news for many many years

Ranvir Singh ITV Breakfast News

Hugh Edwards BBC News

Kirsty Wark Newsnight

Four presenters on mainstream news programmes with regional accents

Fleurpepper I am struggling to understand your point.

Folks who live in the U.K. whether born here or not tend to pick up the accent of where they live/work/attend school.

Ranvir Singh has an Indian accent?

Yes, I get it that you don't understand my point at all. That's OK, forget it.

Fleurpepper

Ranvir Singh has an Indian accent?

Yes, I get it that you don't understand my point at all. That's OK, forget it.

I cannot see why you are so fixated on Indian accents?

Chestnut

Has anyone yet seen Amol Rajan interviewing Bill Gates? That was absolutely fascinating. I thought AR asked many interesting questions but eventually asked some very personal ones and BG shut him down. I wonder what he thought of him.

I have listened to the podcast of this - I thought he was better at asking quick questions rather than longer ones which involved more "conversion". I don't know why he kept on comparing Gates to Musk and pushing on his personal views of Trump... or why we are interested in who to (and why) he was apologising after an affair 20+ years ago.

Also odd that he made him describe peanut brittle in some detail as though it was something exotic!

Here is the interview on iPlayer. They even went to Africa for some or all of the filming.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001hsl1/amol-rajan-interviews-bill-gates

I thought some of AR's body language on the sofa was rather casual and sloppy as if he was not prepared to show respect. It has just been revealed that BG and his wife have contributed £59 billion to their foundation. 😲

Fleurpepper

Ranvir Singh has an Indian accent?

Yes, I get it that you don't understand my point at all. That's OK, forget it.

I believe posters did get your point.

GrannyGravy13

Fleurpepper

Ranvir Singh has an Indian accent?

Yes, I get it that you don't understand my point at all. That's OK, forget it.

I cannot see why you are so fixated on Indian accents?

Because Amol hasn't got one.

That's very worrying, considering he was brought up in London 😂

Fleurpepper

I said that people with regional accents had to 'lose' them to get jobs in TV (not acting but presenting). I was told this was a thing of the past and no longer the case. Although there are now many actors, and presenters of some shows, who do have a strong regional accent. But not really on the news. And this is doubly so for anyone from an immigrant background.

Oh, the news!!

Well, perhaps newsreaders need to present the news clearly and precisely.
None have strong accents.

The News is not Strictly or Britain's Got Talent.
Or drama like Shetand (subtitles required)
Death in Paradise
Or Gogglebox.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0FczHoSvEA
you gotta love her 😂

Chestnut

Here is the interview on iPlayer. They even went to Africa for some or all of the filming.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001hsl1/amol-rajan-interviews-bill-gates

I thought some of AR's body language on the sofa was rather casual and sloppy as if he was not prepared to show respect. It has just been revealed that BG and his wife have contributed £59 billion to their foundation. 😲

Thank you Chestnut for this link. I hadn't seen this interview and I have to agree that Amol Rajan was sloppy and verging on rude.

To his credit Bill Gates responded well.

I would not like to see a return to the obsequious interviewing of politicians and public figures we saw in the 1950s and even into the 1960s but I do think that a remarkable person like Bill Gates is due a bit of respect.

Callistemon21

Fleurpepper

I said that people with regional accents had to 'lose' them to get jobs in TV (not acting but presenting). I was told this was a thing of the past and no longer the case. Although there are now many actors, and presenters of some shows, who do have a strong regional accent. But not really on the news. And this is doubly so for anyone from an immigrant background.

Oh, the news!!

Well, perhaps newsreaders need to present the news clearly and precisely.
None have strong accents.

The News is not Strictly or Britain's Got Talent.
Or drama like Shetand (subtitles required)
Death in Paradise
Or Gogglebox.

Yes, News - and political presenters/interviewers. No, we are not talking about soaps, films and other programmes, at all. That was made clear many many threads ago.

And no, Amol has not got one. That is the very point!

Give the Indian accents subject a rest mate!

Here is AR with his arm down the back of his shirt having a good scratch whilst interviewing Bill Gates. You see what I mean about showing no respect. Lounging around scratching himself whilst interviewing one of the most important people in the world. This is at 40 mins into the interview.

Amol Rajan gave Bill Gates the opportunity to show himself as a thoughtful, discreet and kind human being.
For example 'What do you fear most?' was followed by a long pause and the eventual answer 'not being a good friend'

Yes, he spoke too quickly on occasions and yes the staging could have been better - those sofas are impossible to sit on comfortably - but I didn't think he was disrespectful.
As for 'going to Africa' the purpose of the interview was to shed light on Bill Gates philanthropy, so of course that's where they were. I don't understand why that raised eyebrows.

The other interviews in the series follow a similar pattern. I have seen the ones with Billy Jean King and Greta Thunberg. In both the interviewees think rather than trot out well-rehearsed answers. He even made Greta Thunberg giggle at one point, showing a lighter side to her character.

I still like his interviewing style. Maybe he should invest in a few sessions with a speech coach.

Isn't Amol Rajan the one who criticised the Today presenters for speaking 'posh'? If he means they actually articulate and down swallow the end of words or sentences he should copy them - not berate them.

GrannyGravy13

Fleurpepper

Ranvir Singh has an Indian accent?

Yes, I get it that you don't understand my point at all. That's OK, forget it.

I cannot see why you are so fixated on Indian accents?

Because I asked for examples of TV News presenters with an Indian accent (not soaps, films, series, Strictlyand the like). Yes, regional accents are increasingly acceptable, even for News presenters- but not for anyone with a non British accent, and certainly not an Indian one.

And that Asian children, and other immigrants, often have to juggle with many languages from birth, in extended families where there may be more than one, and Urdu on top for films, etc. Then have to learn English, and how to use the right accent and register for the right situation.

Still today, anyone with the accent of their parents or grand-parents, will have to work hard to lose it. Fact.

I say this as someone who has taught 1000s, mostly 6th Formers who were brilliant linguists and with whom I had long conversations on the subject.

In order to impress, they often spoke too fast.

The two posts I posted earlier and that were deleted explained this. Why anyone would have reported them for praising the amazing skills of those multi-lingual students, is just beyond me.

Fleurpepper, you have a bee in your bonnet on this.
if I’d had the same B-road Lancashire accent as my paternal grandparents, I’d have struggled to be taken seriously. We moved around Lancashire, I did 5 primary schools and could speak the local accent at school within a week. At home, this was discouraged because mum told us people would take 10 points off our IQ if we had strong Lancashire accents. Lyndsey Hall is often criticised because he’s kept his northern accent.

Our local radio companies have presenters with local accents, that includes Pakistani and Indian presenters.

lixy As for 'going to Africa' the purpose of the interview was to shed light on Bill Gates philanthropy, so of course that's where they were. I don't understand why that raised eyebrows.

It didn't raise any eyebrows, it was just mentioned. It was in fact Kenya where the interview took place. As for his interviewing style, credit where it's due, he does have many good points. But on the other hand he is far too relaxed in his body language. To see someone slouching around and scratching down their back like that, I think is very unprofessional. I wouldn't want him doing that whilst sitting next to me on a sofa.

Interesting posts, although I didn't write the OP because of anyone's accent and was quite surprised at the dash to castigate him for how he speaks.

Wouldn't we have got more out of the interview if he hadn't decided to deconstruct someone else's already-prepared speech? For example, he criticised the use of the word "mission". If rather than flaunting his knowledge (for what that is worth), he had asked Starmer why he had chosen the word "mission", we would have learned more about Starmer's thinking and less about the arrogance of a man with an English degree.

and was quite surprised at the dash to castigate him for how he speaks

I think that may have been inevitable, DaidyAnne because of the speed at which he speaks and the way one word runs into another. He's often coming under criticism for that and knows himself he should slow down.

Yes, as I said, the thread didn't just go off-piste, it went down a crevasse!

Amol perhaps makes the interviews more about him and his beliefs than those of the interviewee, a big mistake as it doesn't enlighten the public at all.

Greta

Isn't Amol Rajan the one who criticised the Today presenters for speaking 'posh'? If he means they actually articulate and down swallow the end of words or sentences he should copy them - not berate them.

I think it was Ed Stourton and Amol Rajan, both Cambridge alumni!

Posh Ed -v- Amol with his London accent 😀

I am interested to see how Amol gets on with presenting University Challenge, it’s a firm favourite in our house (DH and I see which of us gets the most correct answers 🤣)

Callistemon
Have you seen AJs add for the new Google pixel phone.
She said with her old phone, when she took a selfie all you could see was her teeth 😂
This is what my Nigerian jokes about. I must point her to the new phone.