After 25 years in the hot seat, Jeremy Paxman is finally stepping down from Newsnight. Following months years of will-he-won’t-he speculation, Newsnight’s star draw has finally had enough. According to the BBC press release:
‘He informed Tony Hall, the Director General, and James Harding, the Director of News and Current Affairs, of his decision last summer, but with the appointment of a new editor and following a difficult period for Newsnight, Jeremy generously agreed to stay to help the new team bed down.’
As Mr Steerpike reported last year, Paxo has not been happy with the BBC — in particular with Ian Katz’s tenure as editor of Newsnight — for some time. The BBC of course, doesn’t believe in radical change and this posed a dilemma for the new editor of Newsnight. Until Paxman went, the BBC couldn’t radically change the programme. Lacking the guts to do anything, Auntie just waited, and waited, until Paxo took the decision for them.
Paxo’s relationship with his employers has been particularly strained of late.
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