Airhead: The Imperfect Art of Making News

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Yet the BBC’s troubles go well beyond any one individual. The corporation is buffeted by forces it cannot seem to grip; a chilly commercial climate, a post-truth political culture where even categorical denials from No 10 can no longer be believed, but also rising tensions with some staff who see neutrality as uncomfortably close to complicity in the current climate. The basic journalistic principle of divorcing your own feelings from the story sits increasingly uneasily with a younger generation of reporters, and perhaps also viewers, raised to “call out” what they believe to be wrong and to prize authenticity. It will take more than a revised set of corporate guidelines to reconcile all this with the still timeless need for trusted news free of bias. But if the BBC can’t square the circle then its stars will keep leaving, each time declaring that they want the freedom to say what they think. Only Maitlis, however, has so far used it to say what actually needed saying. The news has never been more prominent - but are we getting the full story? Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis gives us a behind-the-scenes look at some of the biggest news stories and interviews of recent years

Emily Maitlis on why Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview is Emily Maitlis on why Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview is

She comprehends the agenda of the politician or celebrity and why it isn’t always possible to elicit the answers she desires. But she still beats herself up if she feels she has been overtaxing or too soft in her questioning. Emily Maitlis is a particular hero of mine . . . I know I'm in for a treat with Airhead * Gaby Huddart, Editor-in-chief, Good Housekeeping * Hunter-Johnston, Dipal Acharya, Lucy (8 March 2013). "All about our mothers... Shingai Shoniwa, Emily Maitlis and Dan Snow". Evening Standard . Retrieved 28 April 2023. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link) In the run-up to an interview with the former US president Bill Clinton, she agonises over whether to quiz him about Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern with whom he had an affair, in light of a recently published Vanity Fair piece in which Lewinsky described her treatment at the hands of future employers, feminists and the press. The meeting is due to take place in rural India where Clinton is campaigning about HIV and – of all things – women’s rights, but, on Maitlis’s arrival, a presidential aide informs her that Clinton has had a “funny turn”. Suddenly her main concern is not the Lewinsky question but whether he will drop dead with the cameras rolling. “One thing I learnt in that split second: the belief that you have any control is mythical,” she reflects. “Like those children’s books where you choose your own adventure but ultimately end up at the same place whatever you do.” She is very funny on her interview with the Dalai Lama, whom she slowly comes to realise will not give her a straight answer to any question she asks. It is, she reflects, just like talking to any blustering politician.

Emily has a style that would make you enjoy her report on the end of the world. Absolutely irresistible * Jeremy Vine *

Emily Maitlis | Used | 9781405938341 | World of Books Airhead By Emily Maitlis | Used | 9781405938341 | World of Books

As it happened: Prince Andrew's Interview". BBC News. 16 November 2019 . Retrieved 16 November 2019. Overall, this was disappointing. TBF, I didn't really know anything about Emily Maitliss before reading this, but I guess I assumed that since she's a journalist covering stories of national and international interest and extremely serious cases this book would be analytical and informative.

The book, as a series of short, fast, mostly disconnected chapters reflects the subject of the book; as Maitlis details how fast-paced and often chaotic the whole process is, as when she was given ten-minutes notice before interviewing then Prime Minister Theresa May in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy. I’m almost certain I wouldn’t have been a journalist if I hadn’t hit the ground at that moment and [amid] that extra­ordinary febrile atmosphere of tension and excite­ment and heat, all coming at the same time,” she says, over a flat white in a bar in London’s Leicester Square. Elections, Donald Trump and Brexit have brought such presenters more to the forefront despite the frustration that political interviews and programmes drone on about stuff we find altogether boring. Hong Kong “taught me how to be brazen and to find my voice”, she says. It is somewhere “I have always felt I owed”. She relishes memories of “gay clubs with gay friends in ridi­culous gold lamé – being told you looked great when you looked atrocious!” Maitlis is married to investment manager Mark Gwynne, who is Catholic [36] [37] and whom she met while working in Hong Kong. [4] She proposed to her husband while on holiday in Mauritius in 2000. [ citation needed] They live in Kensington, London and have two sons, Milo and Max. [4] [37] [38] [39] Maitlis is a keen runner [4] and a WellChild Celebrity Ambassador. [40] She speaks fluent French, Spanish and Italian, and some Mandarin. [41]

Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the

Giving us the inside scoop on her interviews with everyone from Emma Thompson to Russell Brand, and Donald Trump to Tony Blair, as well as covering news stories such as President Clinton's affairs, Boris Johnson's race to PM, Grenfell, #MeToo, and that interview with Prince Andrew. A significant amount of the book is just fluff - asking Simon Cowell about his ex-girlfriends or Jon Stewart about his father issues. A fair amount of it is self congratulation for the amazing value and impact of her interviews. And some of it is personally offensive to me - discussing what good friends she is with Piers Morgan, or inexplicably describing Jeremy Clarkson as "profoundly anti-establishment". Grierson, Jamie (5 September 2022). "Emily Maitlis stalker jailed for eight years over letters sent from prison". The Guardian. London . Retrieved 6 September 2022. Maitlis, Emily (7 May 2006). "My week". The Observer. London. Archived from the original on 27 June 2006 . Retrieved 27 April 2007.Wilson, Benji (1 May 2023). "Andrew: The Problem Prince, Channel 4, review: who convinced him that Newsnight was a good idea?". Telegraph.co.uk . Retrieved 18 May 2023. He also offered no apology to the victims of Epstein’s crimes and made a number of statements protesting his own innocence over claims made by Virginia Giuffre that she was forced to have sex with him when she was 17.