Peston: Beeb tried to iron out my eccentricities after complaints
ROBERT PESTON has told how the BBC sent him on a series of training courses to “iron out” his eccentricities.
The corporation’s economics editor, 55, a former newspaper journalist, won plaudits for his scoops on the financial crisis. But he told Radio Times magazine the corporation took action when viewers complained “they hated the way I sounded”.
He said: “Even when you are a reasonably successful print journalist, people may complain about the columns you write, but it’s not quite the same – it’s nowhere near as personal as what happens as soon as you get on the TV or radio.
“People feel somehow that they can say all sorts of things to you, some of them nice, some of them unbelievably rude. And if you work for the BBC they think they employ you – and they do employ us, because they pay the licence fee – so they can say what they like.
“I know the BBC found it quite uncomfortable because it wasn’t just people writing to me, it was people moaning in newspapers, and there was quite a lot written about how crap I was.”
Asked how the BBC responded to the complaints, he said: “They sent me off for training to iron out my eccentricities. They failed completely. They hired various presentation specialists, all of whom have gone on to seek other careers, I’m sure, because it was a total failure.
“And then, I had been moaning away about how the economic world as we knew it was about to come to an end because of all these banks taking these stupid risks – and lo and behold it happened. I got one or two decent stories, and suddenly people started to take an interest in what I was saying.”