John’s interviews on Today have occasionally attracted criticism from politicians, among them Jonathan Aitken, who in March 1995 accused him of “poisoning the well of democratic debate”. The criticism triggered an outbreak of pro-Humphrys comment among listeners and the media, including the Daily Mail, which described him as “one of the most brilliant journalists in the country”.

From the BBC website

The bloke is well past his sell-by date and needs carting away.
His scathing style and constant sneering negativity and badgering is a pointless waste of airtime.

Every guest is subjected to this nonsense to the point of losing any meaningful content

I detest him

anyone agree?

it comes to us all. don’t hate someone for getting old.

I don’t listen (too early for me), but a ‘serious’ news program does need a certain degree of sceptical pressurising of guests in order to cut through the pre-scripted drivel they try to get away with. See also Paxman.

Whether he’s taken it too far… I don’t listen, so couldn’t say.

All in all, very helpful post 🙂

it can get a bit tiresome, who to replace him though?

who in March 1995

not holding a grudge much…

agree he has had his day

Sometimes its not even a question its just a statement and he seems so intent on stating an opposing view he forgets the job is to find out what they think

I sometimes struggle to listen when he is on the show and often switch his interviews off

Eddie Maer is where it is at these days
Nice style on the show but can do the proper interview when its required and has more than one method of interviewing

I always remember when he[ humphries] had an interview over the syria children/refugees/asylum and the interviewee was arguing we take more
He asked what do you mean by more and hoe many
they explained the three methods of calculations and he just kept saying how many what number where to etc and did not discuss the issue as they could not give an exact figure on how many more we should let it so no debate took place as he just badgered this point to death.

I always imagine your partner going hey we should go out more and you go

” where to”
What days”
Who with
Cinema, pub, walks WHAT “
etc

Well if you cannot answer all of that we cannot discuss it
Its just shit for actually getting an understanding of the others view and unnecessarily antagonistic

his age is irrelevant but he has had his time in the sun

Years and years of talking to dishonest,evasive,corrupt, self serving lying bastards could make anyone a little sceptical, even sneering.

oh come on not all of us are like that on here 😉

I agree, I can’t stand JH’s interviews, they’re generally argumentative for the sake of argument.

I like Nick Robinson, Eddie Maier even more so, and I liked Evan Davis when he did Today (not seen him on Newsnight, its past my bedtime).

He’s better than Naughtie – who’s questions were often longer than the answers he received.
I prefer Mishal Husain though.

In these times, we need journalists to hold our politics to account.

The more aggressive the line of questioning, the better IMHO. We’ve a load of old shit in parliament right now.

A bit like “Motty” in the football commentary world they both need to walk away from the microphone and step aside.

Both were once good but now need to call it a day.

Eddie Mair needs to take the reins for JH.

he forgets the job is to find out what they think

Really? We should just have politicians come on, let the interviewer fawn all over them while they shove their party line down our uncritical throats?

Maybe you are content with that but I am not.

It’s Eddie “MAIR” 🙄 and he rocks*!

And yes I agree JH sneering interviews and general snorts of derision are very annoying at times. He does’nt just do it to Politicians though, there was one interview recently with a 6yo girl who had saved her younger brothers life and was getting a medal for it and his derisory astonishment at her skills was evident. I think he just hadn’t “switched mode”

*I am getting old.

He’s an annoying old man, soured by his own grimace.

I don’t listen to R4 news because of him.

Yep, if he is on the radio I have to turn to another channel.

I am not content with that straw man either but there are better methods than his to do what you want
The issue is whether he is effective not whether they are given a proper interview.

I have to switch over to another channel?

there’s the problem.

when in the car on the work commute with just an FM/AM radio what’s the alternative?

Nicky Campbell?

the fact that a man in his 50’s still calls himself Nicky says it all for me.

I’ll (reluctantly) stick with JH.

I used to listen to him on R4 long wave along with Valerie Singleton and found him dry but witty. That was over a quarter of a century ago, and he seemed old and fuddy then.

He’s annoying, but he’s like that with everyone.

And he gets stuck in, unlike Justin.

geoffj – Member
I prefer Mishal Husain though.

Me too.
🙂

Nicky Campbell makes my skin crawl.

I completely agree about Humphrys. Old man yells at cloud. I don’t need it at that time of day.

Hussein and Webb do a good job

I like Naughtie. I don’t like Sarah Montague.

Eddie Mair is fantastic though

I’ve no idea who he is but if the Daily Mail rate him then he’s probably a weapons grade bellend.

it comes to us all. don’t hate someone for getting old.

🙂

Yep, he’s tiresome now but it’s not just him. There is so much media training now that few interviews actually enlighten any more. Eddie Mair is where it is at

My morning commute is from six till seven.

Radio Three during the week, the alternatives simply aren’t worth contemplating.

Farming Today is probably the highlight.
Brian Matthews is * great, but his voice sends me back to sleep, so not a wise choice.

* Edit, was.
Cheers Brian.

Looks like it’s Nove on the sly from now on.
😐

There is so much media training now that few interviews actually enlighten any more.

I can think of a couple of notable recent exceptions where there was a lack of media training……

😆

probably why Boris is locked in the cupboard back at tory central office

I like some aspects of Humphreys and dislike others. Indeed, I tend to agree that he often badgers politicians as opposed to truly interviewing them.

That said, I LOVED the interview he did with Paxman. It was like the proverbial irresistible force versus the immovable object.

it can get a bit tiresome, who to replace him though?

Gotta be Tim Westwood.

It’s Eddie “MAIR” and he rocks*!

This. Plus lots. His interview with Boris was classic.

Humphrys is nothing but a UKIP fanboi.

Weird, only just the other day I was thinking along the lines of “what annoys you most about R4” and this topped the list, yes we need badgering of politicians but not just for the effing sake of it and then some interview replies pop up later as headline news like they were well thought out party policy rather than a response beaten out of a submissive interviewee – give me strength 🙄

avdave2 – Member
Years and years of talking to dishonest,evasive,corrupt, self serving lying bastards could make anyone a little sceptical, even sneering.

This.

Age does tend to bring with it more intolerance, but there does seem to be a pervasive attitude amongst the wannabe Paxman modern day journos, of borderline rudeness just for the sake of it.

I’ve stopped listening to R4 Today program because of Humphries.
As someone who works in science, his anti-science bias* started to really grate.

* In all science interviews JH basically said “you’re making it all up, aren’t you”. I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns out to be a climate sceptic.

This thread is just typical of the ageism and sexism seen on this forum. Good going!

Years and years of talking to dishonest,evasive,corrupt, self serving lying bastards could make anyone a little sceptical, even sneering.

I was going to say something very similar.

He does go too far sometimes, a bit tabloid with his questioning, but I genuinely reckon some of that is pressure to dumb down from management.

This morning he was talking (I think) to the shadow Defence Minister. It all got a bit OTT on both parts.

This thread is just typical of the ageism and sexism seen on this forum. Good going!

your mum is typical of the ageism and sexism seen on this forum

On the commute it’s R4 7:50, R2 for 20 mins then back to R4 once I know I’m safe from Thought for the day.

I’ve warmed to Eddie Mair over the past couple of months – he’s clearly head and shoulders above many in the meeja

Anybody Jonathon Aitken doesn’t approve of is alright with me.

Eddie Maire is gradually steering PM away from being yet another hard news programme on radio 4, which I approve of, given that immediately afterwards there is another bloody news programme.

He’s becoming the story, and he’s waaaay to impressed by his own reputation. Plus he’s so clearly an out-of-touch misanthrope it’s beyond a joke. He was trying to interview a couple of graffiti/street artists a while back, and it was embarrassingly obvious that he had no idea about what they did.

time to pension him off.

.

Meh – he can be a grating sometimes and I do sometimes find myself saying “For God’s sake let them answer the question”

But someone needs to cut through all the bollocks and I’d much rather listen to a bit of badgering than one of those snivelling soft-softly interviews with carefully agreed questions.