The hubris of Today presenters.

It seems that I am not alone in regularly reaching for the off-switch in the morning.
Rajan's interviewing style is appalling as well as speaking so quickly that he falls over with so many words that it turns into a gabble.
Not the right job for him I think -
unfortunately I find the alternative National radio news programmes cringeworthy.

I disliked Jimmy Young but I’d bring him back instantly to replace the loathsome Jeremy Vine

DaisyAnne

No one needs to apologise Ailidh. I doubt everyone (anyone?) would agree with me that one of the best interviews ever was Jimmy Young's interview with Margaret Thatcher. Why? Because he let her talk with just a bit of directing the conversation. We learned so much more because of this.

The idea that the interviewer has to beat up each interviewee because "we are running out of time", as they so often say, is ridiculous. It's a choice the programmers make about what sort of programme they want. I'm not surprised that chatty podcasts have become popular.

I did like Jimmy Young. People thought he was a lightweight interviewer but he certainly got a lot more out of people, perhaps more than they intended, because he didn't interrupt, wasn't at all aggressive, just a little prompting to keep it on track.

That’s the key imo, good interviewers encourage their subject to talk. That means good listening with an occasional forensic question

No one needs to apologise Ailidh. I doubt everyone (anyone?) would agree with me that one of the best interviews ever was Jimmy Young's interview with Margaret Thatcher. Why? Because he let her talk with just a bit of directing the conversation. We learned so much more because of this.

The idea that the interviewer has to beat up each interviewee because "we are running out of time", as they so often say, is ridiculous. It's a choice the programmers make about what sort of programme they want. I'm not surprised that chatty podcasts have become popular.

I still can't think of anybody with a noticeable Asian accent though but if I do, I'll not mind being wrong

Various accents from local correspondents around the world, but all with clear diction and understandable to the audience. That is a requirement of the job.

aquagran

Anybody see him on House of Games? Going back to the original thread, not the sharpest knife in the drawer!

**** ***

Yes, I saw that, and as I don't live in the UK, that was the first time I heard of him. Based on how he played, I was shocked to hear that he would be taking over University Challenge. (There are nice people out there who upload HoG and UC on to YouTube almost immediately after they are broadcast so I can watch them the same evening)

DaisyAnne, no apologies! A most interesting OP and thread.

I have to confess that I secretly prefer to have my news delivered in a gentle RP, even though I and my accent are Scottish (though living in England for the last six decades). I suspect it's a comfort thing, reminds me of childhood.

I don't watch much live news these days, so I haven't hear Amol Rajan speak. Will go and find him on catch up and listen.

When I used to watch BBC Breakfast, the matey yet hectoring interviewing style of some of the young female presenters used to really grate on me. It didn't make them sound hard-hitting, merely bolshy and, when they hadn't bothered to research the pronunciation of some Scottish or furrin place-names, just a bit thick.

Callistemon21

^Are you telling me that the people who come here a bit later in their careers have all modified their accents? I don't think so^

No 🤔 as I said:

BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet is Canadian! With a quite unusual, fascinating accent 😲
Orla Guerin is from Dublin 😲
China Correspondent Stephen McDonell is Australian (whatever next!)

No doubt you can think of more.

Yes, that is true but my responses were only to the remarks of Fleurpepper's. I actually love to hear accents of all kinds on the tv and as I said, it isn't something I've ever noticed before. I shall be checking it all out now.
My remarks about Correspondents were purely about the addition of more accented English spoken by, say, Ukranians, rather than regional accents or American/Canadian accents rather than sending British people to report. Once again, I think it's a good thing to get a range of styles, accents, etc.
I still can't think of anybody with a noticeable Asian accent though but if I do, I'll not mind being wrong.

DaisyAnne, I’m sorry you feel your interesting OP started a heap of nastiness. I posted early in response, agreeing with the points you made. We didn’t get a forensic interview of Starmer, which would have helped clarify the pledges.

I confess to having been fed up that it so quickly went off piste with the focus on a perceived lack of Asian accents amongst newsreaders in the Uk. I contributed to that though so added to the lack of focus

When I hear my son speak now it is with a US accent - or more probably accent and intonation I don't know the accents to say where from but it's not the same as the accent he had before he left 10 years ago. I only need to holiday in Ireland and I'd pick up rhythms of speech!
My 3 year old picked up an accent in a matter of months. I think some people just "absorb" and some do it to fit in better with their peers. I'm not sure how much is intentional.

In the case of AR , I object not to the accent but the style of interviewing.

Yes, Callistemon21, I think it's cocky too.

DaisyAnne
It’s called avin a larf 😂 a bit of fun and merriment. But, with a smidgin of sarcasm thrown in 😉

Are you telling me that the people who come here a bit later in their careers have all modified their accents? I don't think so

No 🤔 as I said:

BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet is Canadian! With a quite unusual, fascinating accent 😲
Orla Guerin is from Dublin 😲
China Correspondent Stephen McDonell is Australian (whatever next!)

No doubt you can think of more.

Are you telling me that the people who come here a bit later in their careers have all modified their accents? I don't think so.

No 🤔

But anyone brought up here would probably speak with an accent like their peers or school friends, modified along the way if they go to college, university!!

Are you telling me that the people who come here a bit later in their careers have all modified their accents? I don't think so. Also I wonder how many of those that do, speak differently amongst their peers who do still have a broad accent.

My aunt went to live in the USA many years ago and she remained a Queen's English speaker to the day she died. Yes she used different terminology like a pocketbook for handbag and pants for trousers but otherwise she sounded like she'd never stepped out of the UK. My son works with people who were born here but still have the slight accent reflecting their parents' broader accents.

It has gone down the crevasse! But then threads do.

I'm not keen on his interviewing technique although I used to like him when he was first Media Editor. Perhaps he's become rather too 🤔 I'm struggling for the right words here; overweening? self-satisfied? Cocky.
Obviously the BBC rates him as a stellar interviewer!

We await to see how he gets on chairing UC.

Callistemon21

icanhandthemback

I think I understand what Fleurpepper is saying. Whilst News Presenters with regional accents are acceptable, we have yet to get to the stage where people who speak with certain international accents, say Black patois or Asian accent, are not yet employed without having to adjust their accent significantly. I haven't ever thought about this but, on the whole, I think this is true. However, I have noticed some of the correspondents from other countries are now used so maybe things are changing.

But anyone brought up here would probably speak with an accent like their peers or school friends, modified along the way if they go to college, university!!

Why on earth should Clive Myrie, brought up in Bolton, speak patois, AJ speak with a Nigerian accent, Amol speak with a Calcutta accent, etc??
Just why?

In fact, Clive still has Lancashire overtones, Amol is definitely London, our local presenter, Sabet Choudhury is posh, not Gloucestershire.

I don't get this Asian accent fixation.
They're British.

What is an Asian accent anyway?
And Huw Edwards probably moderated his Welshh accent (as did Richard Burton!!)
There is not one Welsh accent, even though it is a small country.

You are asking to understand the minds of the people who write these things. I have come to the conclusion it probably isn't possible.

I can't say how sorry I am that my OP started such a heap of nastiness.

DaisyAnne

MerylStreep

Apologies for digressing with some light hearted stuff.
Back to British Bashing.

I imagine there was a point to that post. I just can't imagine what it is.

Not you, DaisyAnne, I'm sure 🙂

MerylStreep

Apologies for digressing with some light hearted stuff.
Back to British Bashing.

I imagine there was a point to that post. I just can't imagine what it is.

Callistemon21

icanhandthemback

I think I understand what Fleurpepper is saying. Whilst News Presenters with regional accents are acceptable, we have yet to get to the stage where people who speak with certain international accents, say Black patois or Asian accent, are not yet employed without having to adjust their accent significantly. I haven't ever thought about this but, on the whole, I think this is true. However, I have noticed some of the correspondents from other countries are now used so maybe things are changing.

But anyone brought up here would probably speak with an accent like their peers or school friends, modified along the way if they go to college, university!!

Why on earth should Clive Myrie, brought up in Bolton, speak patois, AJ speak with a Nigerian accent, Amol speak with a Calcutta accent, etc??
Just why?

In fact, Clive still has Lancashire overtones, Amol is definitely London, our local presenter, Sabet Choudhury is posh, not Gloucestershire.

I don't get this Asian accent fixation.
They're British.

What is an Asian accent anyway?
And Huw Edwards probably moderated his Welshh accent (as did Richard Burton!!)
There is not one Welsh accent, even though it is a small country.

I genuinely don’t understand the point Fleurpepper is trying to make. As many have said, people speak in the local dialect of the area they were brought up in, not the dialect of a parent who was brought up in another country and has learned a second language. It’s highly unlikely that a first generation second language speaker would become a newsreader in their adopted country, anywhere in the world, not specifically in the UK, because they don’t have the knowledge of that country. It would be exactly the same for a native English speaker applying for a job as a newsreader in say, Poland.

However, I have noticed some of the correspondents from other countries are now used so maybe things are changing.

Oh My Goodness!!

BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet is Canadian! With a quite unusual, fascinating accent 😲
Orla Guerin is from Dublin 😲
China Correspondent Stephen McDonell is Australian (whatever next!)

MerylStreep

Apologies for digressing with some light hearted stuff.
Back to British Bashing.

😁

icanhandthemback

I think I understand what Fleurpepper is saying. Whilst News Presenters with regional accents are acceptable, we have yet to get to the stage where people who speak with certain international accents, say Black patois or Asian accent, are not yet employed without having to adjust their accent significantly. I haven't ever thought about this but, on the whole, I think this is true. However, I have noticed some of the correspondents from other countries are now used so maybe things are changing.

But anyone brought up here would probably speak with an accent like their peers or school friends, modified along the way if they go to college, university!!

Why on earth should Clive Myrie, brought up in Bolton, speak patois, AJ speak with a Nigerian accent, Amol speak with a Calcutta accent, etc??
Just why?

In fact, Clive still has Lancashire overtones, Amol is definitely London, our local presenter, Sabet Choudhury is posh, not Gloucestershire.

I don't get this Asian accent fixation.
They're British.

What is an Asian accent anyway?
And Huw Edwards probably moderated his Welshh accent (as did Richard Burton!!)
There is not one Welsh accent, even though it is a small country.

Well I really hope things are not changing. In the UK we need English/UK accents and clear diction otherwise the viewers may not understand what they're saying. As I said, if someone wants to work in broadcasting then they need to meet the required standards, which may include changing their accent. Why should standards drop just to accommodate people from other countries?

GrannyGravy13

Fleurpepper do you have Asian Presenters with Asian Adverts on Swiss TV/Radio ?

I think, from what FleurPepper says, she must mostly watch British television, there must be ways and means now.