“For a functioning democracy, it is vital that in turn the politicians and in particular the leaders and even prime ministers are also questioned and held to account in one-to-one interviews”
In an extraordinary move, the editors of all the UK’s major broadcasters have penned a letter to Theresa May condemning her refusal to take part in further on-air interviews following a car crash questioning on BBC Breakfast this morning.
In the letter, seen by JOE, senior editors from BBC News, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV, Sky and ITN said they were writing to formally complain after “unprecedented circumstances” have seen the prime minister refuse their requests in order to “save her voice” for her party conference speech on Wednesday.
“For a functioning democracy, it is vital that in turn the politicians and in particular the leaders and even prime ministers are also questioned and held to account in one-to-one interviews,” they wrote.
“As public service broadcasters, we are required by licence to produce high-quality, impartial and accurate news and analysis. If we interview the other party leaders at the conferences we are required for balance to interview every party leader.”
This is a copy of the letter sent by national broadcasters to Robbie Gibb (head of comms at Number 10) protesting May's interview dodging.
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) October 2, 2018
The full list of signatories to the letter is: Ben de Pear, Channel 4 News; Jess Bulman, Channel 5 News; Jonathan Munro, Head of Newsgathering, BBC News; Rachel Corp, Acting Editor, ITV News; Jonathan Levy, Director of Newsgathering Sky News; and John Hardle, Chief Executive, ITN.
Earlier today it emerged that Theresa May was dodging the long-standing tradition of sit-down interviews with major broadcasters in order to “save her voice” for her big speech, after a BBC Breakfast interview which saw her repeat the same line on bringing an end to freedom of movement in response every question from journalist Mishal Husain.
Veteran broadcaster, Jon Snow, also called out the prime minister in a video – declaring that in his entire career he has never been denied access to a party leader during the conference.
The @10DowningStreet press office have granted @theresa_may interviews to 20 @BBCNews journalists during conference; none for @Channel4News or @5_News and there is solidarity across broadcasters that this is a dangerous precedent https://t.co/Zx66NDdpMH
— Ben de Pear (@bendepear) October 2, 2018
