News & Events

Newsnight editorship race opens up

Date posted:

4th August 2008

The contest for editorship of BBC2's flagship current affairs programme Newsnight has begun, with two contenders having been mentioned as head candidates so far.

The contest for editorship of BBC2's flagship current affairs programme Newsnight has begun, with two contenders having been mentioned as head candidates so far.

Newsnight deputy editor Jasmin Buttar and the deputy editor of BBC1's 10pm News, Daniel Pearl, have both been cited as strong potential candidates for the prestigious role.

Currently however, Jasmin Buttar will become the acting editor from this week following Peter Barron's sudden departure to become Google's head of communications and public affairs in the UK, Ireland and Benelux.

Robbie Gibb - editor of the BBC Westminster show, the Daily Politics and This Week - and Mary Wilkinson - commissioning editor for the BBC World News channel - have also been tipped as contenders for the job, although Daniel Pearl so far looks the strongest candidate according to insiders.

The BBC has recently been fighting off claims for a significant part of its licensing fee, as Channel 4 has been staking its claim on the funding in order to ease its payments on public funding.

It was decided recently however, that the private channel should not in fact receive a slice of the TV license fee for its public service broadcasting, saving BBC Worldwide several millions of pounds annually.

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