And finally… time is running out for the ‘anchorman’
Is there still a place in primetime news for a middle-aged, male, star presenter, asks
Newsreading is “an occupation for an articulated suit”, according to Jeremy Paxman. “Do you remember reading aloud at school? That’s what it is. I don’t think it has any grandeur or skill. Any fool can do it.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by John Ryley, the head of Sky News, who declared the end of the era of the “all-powerful anchor”; reporters were now experts. The future of news, he explained, is digital, with the headlines available on mobile phones whenever the viewer chooses, rather than delivered – with a bong of Big Ben – on the hour.
In perhaps not unconnected news, Adam Boulton, the channel’s editor-at-large, this week announced that he is to leave after 33 years.
In Boulton’s words, that means he and fellow Sky News anchor Dermot Murnaghan have “had our day”.
“Jon Snow is 74, and he’s going [from Channel 4 News]. Huw Edwards is in his 60s, [and] he’s suggested he may not be very long at the BBC. I think there is a changing of the guard going on,” he said – before suggesting that there’s “a kind of move against the baby boomers”. Which is perhaps ironic, given that, as Boulton keenly pointed out, “the demographic of people watching television is about our age”.
As Boulton’s long innings at Sky comes to an end, over at New Broadcasting House, a different endgame seems to be playing out around Edwards. The Welshman’s situation is different – he’s still very much employed – but the image he cuts is of a man so miserable with his lot, it’s almost painful to watch.
In August, he told Radio Cymru he is considering his future presenting the nightly news – after 20 years, he said mournfully, it can be “taxing”. “Now that a big milestone is here, which is 60 years old, it’s natural for a
‘Adam Boulton of Sky News says men like him have had their day’
man to think, ‘Am I going to continue in this job for another five years, or do I want to do something different?’ ”
In recent months, Edwards has seemed to take an almost mischievous delight in antagonising his employer on social media. In March, after BBC Breakfast presenters Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt had their wrists slapped for appearing to laugh at housing secretary Robert Jenrick’s prominent union flag, Edwards posted an image of him in front of the Welsh flag alongside the caption: “Flags are now mandatory – very pleased with my new backdrop for BBC News at Ten.” When he was ordered to take down the post, he responded: “Gutted. My pro-flag tweet has been cut down in its prime. By order.”
Last week, he skirted the corporation’s rules on impartiality again, after positing his concerns over the National Museum of Wales taking down a portrait of the slave trader Sir Thomas Picton. “As a journalist, I feel uneasy about this element of ‘censoring’ history,” he tweeted. “Should not Picton remain on display as a reminder to Wales of an aspect of its past – no matter how disgraceful?”
Even discussing Remembrance Sunday this week, Edwards managed to slip in a sly reference to a possible departure. “Every year, I feel humbled by the sight of veterans and their families, proud and dignified, often mourning the loss of comrades or loved ones,” he told Radio Times. “I will still be attending long after my BBC duties are done.”
Boulton believes men like him have had their run – but you feel that Edwards is convinced he’s got a lot yet to offer. He is reported to have sounded out ITV to see if he could fill Piers
Morgan’s empty chair on Good Morning Britain – now occupied by the sprightly 65-year-old Richard Madeley.
Sources claimed Edwards, in an exceptionally unusual move, hoped to maintain his position as the BBC’S go-to presenter for national events including royal occasions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, talks did not result in a job offer. The Telegraph has contacted the BBC about these apparent ambitions, but the corporation “does not comment on rumour”.
Certainly, BBC colleagues would not be too sad to see Edwards go. One said he was “part of a group of middle-aged men in news with egos the size of planets”. There was spluttering when he gave a recent interview complaining that colleagues had received pay rises while his own salary had been cut (from a highest level of somewhere between £550,000 and £599,999, to between £465,000 and £469,999 in 2019-2020), to help tackle gender pay differences at the BBC. “The reaction among the rest of us was: Huw, you earn more than £400,000 a year. Honestly, shut up,” said one long-standing BBC presenter.
Would he be welcomed elsewhere in the industry? “There has been a huge swirl around Huw, but I don’t get where he thinks his market value is,” says one senior ITN figure.
At the crux of all this is a delicate question: for middle-aged, white, male giants like Boulton and Edwards, is it time to call it a day on primetime news? Boulton touched on it his interview, hinting that “television is very sensitive to the idea of diversity” – but in this case that diversity cuts both ways. The old-school anchorman may be a target of ire behind the scenes due to his Establishment background and accompanying ego, yet Boomers can play the “-ism” card as well as anyone, and ageism is never a good look. Perhaps that’s why it’s taking so long for the guard to change. Or maybe the anchormen are just too expensive. Industry observers suggest that in days gone by, someone would have put a gentle hand on the shoulder of an unwanted newsreader and suggested he play a few more rounds of golf. Today, it would take an HR machine – and, you suspect, a hefty severance package – to achieve the same outcome.
Anchors-in-waiting include Reeta Chakrabarti, filling in on the News at One, Six, Ten and the weekends; the BBC Breakfast team of Louise Minchin, Naga Munchetty and current Strictly contestant Dan Walker; and even the Newsnight team of Faisal Islam, Emily Maitlis and Emma Barnett. Although what Paxman would make of such a move is probably not even for the ears of podcast listeners.
For the ageing anchor, the equation is complicated. Boulton is right when he says that it’s older people who watch TV: data from from Enders Analysis shows that, before lockdown (when everything got thrown up in the air), the average age of the BBC One viewer was 61, ITV’S was 60, Channel 4’s was 55; even E4, a youth spin-off from Channel 4, was attracting 42-year-olds. How do these channels appeal to a fresh cohort without alienating existing viewers – especially in news, traditionally shunned by younger people? And anyway, is it really the case that we only want to watch our own age group tell us about important things?
Fortunately, there is a very simple way of measuring this. Yougov has a running “popularity and fame” tracker, updated quarterly and based on “millions of responses from the British public”. Edwards currently ranks 88th on the list of Popular Contemporary TV personalities; poor old Boulton comes in at 436th.
So, who is the most famous, the most popular and the most-loved TV personality? Who can it be who is loved by 65 per cent of millennials, 84 per cent of Gen-xers and 89 per cent of Boomers? It’s white, Oxfordeducated, 95-year-old Sir David Attenborough. Sir Trevor Mcdonald, the 82-year-old who presented his final News at Ten on ITV in 2008, comes in second.
Breaking news: there is life in old dogs yet.