BBC Breakfast are considering whether to recommence their weekend paper review slots, abandoned during the pandemic. I had been appearing on the show for three decades, and, while I miss the trips to Media City in Salford and the friends I made there, I wonder if maybe the slot has had its day.
The original idea was to catch up with the big stories in the newspapers, but so many of them are now, of course, inhabiting a parallel universe, not least the Daily Mail. Too seldom these days are the reviewers real journalists, but simply individuals with axes to grind.
I heard that Prince Charles, touring BBC studios in London a few years ago, asked what the point was of newspaper reviews. It’s a question it’s not so easy to answer any more.
Has the paper review slot had its day?
These days reviewers are rarely journalists but individuals with axes to grind
