Jane Root, the controller of BBC 2, has decided to axe the award-
winning current affairs programme Correspondent. Thirty years ago there were a number of such programmes on the BBC, and the disappearance of one of them would scarcely have been noticed. But in Greg Dyke’s increasingly dumbed-down BBC, Correspondent is probably unique, and so its passing is of some significance. In consigning it to his-tory Ms Root reveals a great deal about herself. According to her, the programme’s title conjures up visions of ‘an Eton-
educated guy in a white linen suit’. It will be replaced by an international current affairs series called This World which, we can be certain, will be entirely free of Old Etonians and linen suits.
So far as I can see, Correspondent has in point of fact never been introduced by anyone who went to Eton. The reference to linen suits is presumably a dig at Martin Bell, who attended the Leys School in Cambridge. Other journalists who have served as correspondents include John Simpson (St Paul’s), Jeremy Bowen (Cardiff High School), Rageh Omar (Cheltenham), Kate Adie (Sunderland Church High) and Mark Tully (Marlborough). No Etonians to be seen, and a pretty broad mix of educational backgrounds. We may take it, I think, that ‘an Eton-educated guy in a white linen suit’ is shorthand for someone who is
middle-aged and speaks with a vaguely middle-class accent and appears to be well educated and interested in serious issues. These are qualities which Jane Root would apparently like to exclude from BBC 2.
Not very long ago they defined BBC 2. The channel does, of course, still have some pockets of seriousness which I am sure Ms Root could reel off, but it has undoubtedly dumbed down during her watch, which began almost exactly five years ago.
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