Newsnight

Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades.

Several of the programme's editors over the years have gone on to senior positions within the BBC and elsewhere. Paxman's fellow presenters are Gavin Esler, Kirsty Wark and Emily Maitlis. The programme may, on occasion, have a different presenter, such as Eddie Mair, who has presented the programme on occasion; a regular presenter of the programme until her involvement with The World at One was Martha Kearney. Newsnight has been broadcast on BBC Two since 1980. It goes out on weekday evenings between 10:30pm and 11:20pm. Occasionally it may have an extended edition if there is an especially eventful event in the news - as happened on 7 July 2011, when closure of the News of the World led to an extended version which went on until 11:35 pm. Recordings are available within the UK via the BBC website. A weekly 26-minute digest edition of Newsnight is screened on the corporation's international channel, BBC World News.

History
Newsnight in its current format began on 30 January 1980, although a shorter news bulletin of the same name had run in its late-night BBC2 slot during the 1970s. Its launch was delayed for four months by the Association of Broadcasting Staff, at the time the main BBC trade union. Newsnight was the first programme to be made by means of a direct collaboration between BBC News, then at Television Centre, and the current affairs department, based some distance away at the Lime Grove Studios. Staff feared job cuts.

Former presenters include Peter Snow, a regular for 17 years, Donald MacCormick, Charles Wheeler, Adam Raphael and John Tusa, later boss of the BBC World Service. In the early days each edition had an auxiliary presenter, a phenomenon pejoratively known at the time as the "Newsnight's wife syndrome." It was her job (it was usually a she) to read the news headlines and to introduce minor items. This was the most visible symptom of the dual origin of programme content in two separate BBC departments. Olivia O'Leary in 1985 became the first female presenter in the strict sense. Editions of the programme have had one single presenter since 1987. Newsnight is today wholly managed under the aegis of BBC News.

Until 1988, the start time of Newsnight was flexible, so BBC2 could screen a movie at 9:30pm to dovetail with the conclusion of the main news on BBC1. The fixed time slot of 10:30pm was established in the face of fierce objections from the then managing director of BBC TV, Bill Cotton, otherwise in charge of all scheduling decisions. The very announcement was made without his even being informed. The affair sparked a widely reported row within the corporation. One protagonist said it would "destroy the BBC".

From Monday to Thursday on BBC Two Scotland the offshoot, Newsnight Scotland, presented by Gordon Brewer, replaces the final twenty minutes of the UK programme.

Newsnight's signature tune was composed by George Fenton. Various arrangements have been used over the years.

Interviews
Newsnight is one of the UK's most influential news programmes and often breaks major news stories.

On 13 May 1997 there occurred what became the programme's most notorious interview. Paxman pressed Michael Howard, Home Secretary, about a meeting with Derek Lewis, head of the Prison Service, about the possible dismissal of the governor of Parkhurst Prison. Faced with what he considered evasive answers, Paxman put the same question– "Did you threaten to overrule him?" (i.e. Lewis)– twelve times in succession. Later, during a twentieth anniversary edition of Newsnight, Paxman told Howard that he'd simply been trying desperately to string out the interview because the next item in the running order had failed to materialize. In 2004 Paxman raised the subject again with Howard, by then leader of the Conservative Party. This time, Howard laughed it off, saying that he had not threatened to overrule the head of the Prison Service.

Bias
In April 2001 the BBC's governors ruled that Newsnight's coverage of Peter Mandelson's resignation over the Hinduja affair had been politically biased. The governors criticised the programme for only featuring Labour Party supporters on the panel discussing the issue, and no opposition politicians appeared at any stage of the 45-minute episode. The broadcast attracted an outcry in the media with one critic describing it as a whitewash worthy of a "one-party state".

Newsnight Review
From 2000 until December 2009, on Friday evenings Newsnight gave way at 11:00pm to Newsnight Review, a 35-minute consumer survey of the week's artistic and cultural highlights. Mark Lawson was the programme's main presenter in its Late Review incarnation, which began life as a strand of The Late Show. He continued to chair the panel of guest reviewers when it reincarnated as Newsnight Review in 2000, up until December 2005. The programme has been presented by Kirsty Wark, Martha Kearney, John Wilson, Tim Marlow, Kwame Kwei-Armah and Hardeep Singh Kohli. Regular reviewers have included Mark Kermode, Tom Paulin, Ekow Eshun and Germaine Greer.

As part of the BBC's commitment to moving programmes out of London, Newsnight Review finished on 18 December 2009 with a special hour-long edition. The programme has been replaced by The Review Show, produced from Glasgow, which started on 22 January 2010. It has the same producer as Newsnight Review and is still presented by Kirsty Wark and Martha Kearney.

Frivolity
Traditionally, there is a short stock market update at the end of each edition. In 2005, Newsnight's then editor, Peter Barron, replaced it with a 30-second weather report, arguing that the market data was available on the internet and that a weather report would be more useful. The change provoked a flurry of complaints.

Paxman on one occasion adopted a sarcastic tone and announced: "So finally and controversially, tomorrow's weather forecast. It's a veritable smorgasbord. Sun, rain, thunder, hail, snow, cold, wind. Almost worth going to work." On other occasions: "It's April, what do you expect?" and, "Take an umbrella with you tomorrow." He claimed, nonetheless, that he was happy presenting the weather. Gavin Esler also joined in, announcing: "As for the spring, you can forget about that until further notice." The programme conducted a telephone poll. Michael Fish, a former weather forecaster, was seen arguing in favour of the weather report, while Norman Lamont, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, argued for the market update. 62% of viewers voted in favour of the markets, and the update duly returned on Monday 18 April 2005.

Other stunts include: for a week at the end of January 2006, Newsnight played over its closing credits the so-called Radio 4 UK Theme which was facing the axe; the 24 April 2006 edition played out to the signature tune of the soon-to-be-axed BBC sports programme, Grandstand.

Between January and June 2006 the programme included Gordaq, a spoof Stock Exchange index measuring the political performance of Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. The index started at 100 and moved up or down depending on Brown's political situation, finishing at 101 on 30 June 2006.

International edition and other media
Newsnight is available within the UK via broadband on BBC iPlayer for up to seven days after broadcast. It can be found on the Newsnight website or via a search for "Newsnight" on the BBC iPlayer. A weekly digest version of Newsnight is screened on the corporation's international news channel, BBC World News.

BBC America axed its US version of Newsnight as part of a series of changes that included dropping its daily three-hour block of international news. The BBC's commercial US channel, which is available in more than 63 million American homes via digital, cable and satellite, in the spring of 2009, dropped its daily simulcast from the BBC World News channel, which aired between 6am and 9am, because of disappointing ratings. It reinstated the three-hour block due to customer demand, and later expanded it to four hours. The special edition of Newsnight, which featured a roundup of the best stories from the UK programme and was fronted by Paxman, was dropped in November 2008.

KCET, a PBS affiliate in Los Angeles, broadcasts Newsnight and sponsors the programme for PBS stations throughout the US.

Current presenters
Newsnight announced via twitter on the 21 November 2011 that Allegra Stratton is to become the programme's Political Editor. Michael Crick was the programme's political editor from April 2007 until his return to Channel 4 in the summer of 2011. Crick succeeded Martha Kearney, also an intermittent presenter of the programme until her departure to present Radio Four's weekday lunchtime news programme The World At One.

Past presenters

 * Peter Snow, 30 January 1980 – 3 July 1997
 * John Tusa, January 1980 – 5 June 1986
 * Peter Hobday, 1980–1983
 * Olivia O'Leary, 17 June 1985 – 26 September 1986
 * Adam Raphael, 1987–1988
 * Gordon Brewer, 1993–1999, now hosts the Newsnight Scotland opt-out
 * Martha Kearney 1994-2010
 * Sarah Montague, 1998–2001
 * Sue Cameron
 * James Cox
 * Donald MacCormick
 * Fran Morrison
 * Francine Stock
 * Charles Wheeler
 * Jeremy Vine, 1999–2002

Newsnight editors

 * George Carey (1980–1981)
 * Ron Neil (1981–1982)
 * David Lloyd (1982–1983)
 * David Dickinson (1983–1985)
 * Richard Tait (1985–1987)
 * John Morrison (1987–1990)
 * Tim Gardam (1990–1993)
 * Peter Horrocks (1994–1997)
 * Sian Kevill (1998–2001)
 * George Entwistle (2001–2004)
 * Peter Barron (2004–2008)
 * Peter Rippon (2008–present)