Interview with a bbc Newsreader

BBC Host

Hello, and welcome to tonight's Live Chat with Philip Hayton WOW! Here's the first question. We're off...

Daniel

How long have you been a Newsreader?

Philip Hayton

Too long! I started doing news reporting and reading on a BBC Local radio station in 1968. I joined as a reporter on BBC Radio Leeds and at the time it was experimental, nobody was sure local radio would work. I was then asked to do other things and that's how I started my legitimate broadcasting. Before that, I was on pirate radio!

Daniel

What is the best part of being a newsreader?

Philip Hayton

I'm basically a reporter and that's more exciting than presenting. It's very exciting to be close to all these events happening in the world. It's rewarding because you're giving people information.

Sian

How does it feel if you have to present really sad news?

Philip Hayton

We're a bit like surgeons I think, we don't like sad news! But you're so busy preparing the news that you often don't think too deeply about how sad it is at the time. Later, when you see it yourself, that's when it hits me and it makes me feel sad. At the time, I'm just doing my job. The bigger or the worse the story, like the Twin Towers attack in New York, you're so busy keeping up with the story, you do forget the human consequences until you think about it later.

Nicholas Pope

Do you approve of pirate radio even though it breaks the law?

Philip Hayton

When I was a pirate, they were legal because they were broadcasting from outside British waters. The Government stopped British advertisers from advertising and that's when ours closed down. There was a need for pop music radio, which the BBC at the time weren't doing. Now there's plenty of choice and not much need for pirate radio. I think they had a very influential role in the change of the BBC. There were no commercial channels in Britain, and only three BBC channels. People had to listen to Radio Luxembourg to hear pop music and the BBC did react to that by setting up local radio and Radio 1.

Mark Smooth

Do you think regional news deserves a full half hour slot the same as the length of time the National and International news gets?

Philip Hayton

It's very difficult to say, it depends where the news is coming from. Clearly today with the funeral of the Queen Mother, most of our news is national. Sometimes there isn't much national news and people want to find out more about what's happening locally. I think it's important to have a choice, if you want local news you can go to one particular station, if you want national news you can go to another.

David Meller

What is the most shocking news event you have ever covered?

Philip Hayton

As a reporter, I covered about 20 different wars, the famine in Africa, and they had a very big impact on me. As a presenter I remember the attack last September in New York where I was on the air for five hours non stop. That was the biggest story of the last 30 years, the most disturbing single day in the life of the world for a generation.

James Laidler

What sort of salary can someone expect to receive when starting as a broadcast assistant and how much does it increase by as one progress through "the ranks"?

Philip Hayton

It's a long time since I started, so I'm not an expert. I started at £5 a week, it was a summer job on the local radio station. If you were starting a proper BBC staff job, I think it would be about £15,000 a year depending on where you were working. Then it would go up by maybe £1,000 a year as you gained experience.

Mark Smooth

Do you think that the structure and look of news programmes will change in the future?

Philip Hayton

I think it probably will because of developments like the internet. Soon it will be really easy for people to choose what news they want. A lot of people don't like politics so they'll pick reports about sport and showbiz. There will be fewer people watching the news on BBC1. When I presented the 9 o'clock news there were 12 million, now it's down to about 5 million because there's more people can watch. It needs to change its agenda, to keep viewers watching.

Alastair Williams

What happens when there is a word you can't pronounce or find difficult to say.

Philip Hayton

The BBC has a pronunciation unit and the people in there spend their lives trying to pronounce things. You just do your best or ask everyone in the studio if you can't get to them. We usually have a pretty good guess at it. It's unusual that names come completely out of the blue. What you see of a news presenter on air is the tip of the iceberg. All the real work is done outside the studio, keeping abreast of everything, reading the papers etc.

Robert Cunningham

What is the most nerve-racking situation that can arise whilst on air?

Philip Hayton

One of the most nerve wracking was when I broke the news on News 24 of the death of the Queen Mother. This was because we had no information, I had to ad lib for 3 or 4 minutes, but it felt like 15 minutes, just off the top of my head. That's very unusual, usually we have information available but on that day we didn't.

Phal

When did you know that you wanted to be a presenter?

Philip Hayton

When I was about 10, I was brought up in the US and I used to watch the TV news there and I enjoyed that. It looked great and that's what I then wanted to do it. I suppose it is glamorous, but when you do it day in and day out, it doesn't seem like it to you. Compared to some other jobs, I suppose it is glamorous.

Nicholas Pope

What is ad lib?

Philip Hayton

It comes from Latin I think, it means you have to say something off the top of your head, without a script.

David Meller

What were you like at School?

Philip Hayton

I was pretty ordinary. I never worked hard enough I don't think to make the most of my academic career. I was very ambitious and was always looking forward to getting past school and looking forward to my job as a reporter.

Megan Thompson

Did you ever have any doubts about your career?

Philip Hayton

No, none whatsoever. My first broadcasting job was when I was 18 and I found it so exciting. Then moving to the BBC and getting into News as an international reporter, that was the most satisfying part of my career. That's what I always wanted to do.

Robert Cunningham

Do you prefer presenting bulletins of a fixed time, or rolling news like BBC News 24?

Philip Hayton

I very much enjoyed, 1, 6 and 9 at the time, but now I think I'd find them rather dull as they're very predictable. They don't cover as much breaking news, which I do on News 24, which is terribly exciting. You don't know who you're going to be talking to next. It's challenging, exciting, it's rough and ready because of the nature of it. On the main news, you can polish things a bit better, research interviews and things like that.

Nicholas Pope

Have you had any hilarious moments that have ended up on one of Terry Wogan's silly shows?

Philip Hayton

Yes, I often seem to be on Auntie's Bloomers! I'm just trying to think of one now .... I meant to say excitement about pigeons and I said excrement instead! I said internment instead of interment regarding the Queen Mother recently, which was a bit of a mistake! I didn't realise I said it until my co-presenter mentioned it to me about five minutes later, when it was too late to correct. I said Kurdish Turds instead of Turkish Kurds! That's about it for the moment!

Mark Smooth

Do you have to know everything about everything in the news or is there a strong behind the scenes crew that feeds you information when you are on air?

Philip Hayton

We have a strong team and they try to feed you information, but actually it's quite slow. We have a computer on the desk in the studio and often we get the news faster than they do. We spend time going through and looking at the latest reports and trying to keep up with it. That's our main source of information. Usually, we get info about people popping in for interview with about 3 minutes notice - you're on your own there really! Quite stressful, but that's part of the fun and excitement!

Megan Thompson

Whose shoes would you like to be in for today?

Philip Hayton

I'd like to go back to reporting, do that for a day. I'd like to be on the front line, reporting on what's happening.

Sam Keep

What qualifications would you need and who at the BBC I would need to contact to start a career as a newsreader?

Philip Hayton

There are no hard and fast qualifications as far as I know. You need to be intelligent, well educated, aware of the world, ambitious, be able to get on with people and be experienced. Generally, the BBC won't hire reporters that can't report. You need to get the experience before you join the BBC. A lot of people still work on Hospital Radio and get experience that way and do a bit of reporting. During a school holiday maybe. Or you could make your own radio programme and see what the BBC think about it. Otherwise, there are these media courses in universities around the country. I would recommend a more general background rather than spending three years doing media studies.

Adrienne

Did you ever want to be an actor?

Philip Hayton

No! I got into news presenting really by accident. I wanted to be a news reporter. To be a presenter, it's helpful if you've been a reporter so that's why they generally appoint presenters who've been reporters. You do have to develop some of the skills of an actor but it's not what I wanted to do.

Rosemary Clifton

How time consuming is your job?

Philip Hayton

I'm in the BBC for about 6 hours, I spend about 2 hours before the programme starts getting the make up on, discussing the programme with the editor and co-presenter and then going through the newspapers ... and reading the reports from correspondents. Then four hours on the air. In a sense, the most important work is when you get home as you've got more time available to watch the broadcasts and read the papers. I look at all the papers but I wouldn't say I read them all! It's a good way to judge the opinions of the nation.

Del

Do you ever get nervous before the news goes out?

Philip Hayton

Yes, I do and I rather like it Obviously being on air for four hours at a time you haven't got enough butterflies to last that long, but I do like the original excitement. You're always apprehensive. Once the programme starts, you tend to forget about your nerves because you've got too much to do.

Gerrie

Do you think you need to be good looking to be a news reporter? Is there more pressure on the women to be attractive?

Philip Hayton

Yes, I think there is pressure, but I don't think you have to be especially good looking. You need to have a reasonable voice, personality and smile as well as a journalistic background. It's only one part, but increasingly TV news is becoming more glamorous. Don't let it put you off, it's certainly not the be - all and end - all, and it's surprising what you can do with make up, haircuts and nice clothes!

BBC-Host

That is all we have time for. Here's Philip Hayton with a final word...

Philip Hayton

Keep watching TV news. It's so important you understand what's going on around you. It's also important to the way our country is run. Do watch the news with questions in your mind and compare the news coverage that you get between TV and newspapers so you can make up your own mind...

BBC-Host

Thanks to our guest Philip Hayton, and to all of you who logged on tonight. Sorry if your question didn't get answered - there just wasn't enough time to cover them all.