Paxman packs it in

JEREMY PAXMAN has announced he will leave BBC flagship programme Newsnight in June, bringing to an end his 25-year association with the show.

The 63-year-old explained: "After 25 years, I should rather like to go to bed at much the same time as most people.

"This was a decision I reached - and informed the BBC of - last July. I shall work out the remainder of my contract and will not seek another."

Certainly, the BBC can be thankful to Paxman for sticking around. Had he departed last summer, it would have dealt another blow to a programme which had only just begun to recover its reputation.

That reputation had been severely soiled in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal when a report into the paedophile's misdemeanours had been controversially dropped, only for the story to surface later on ITV.

Newsnight then compounded its error with a separate report on the subject which wrongly implicated Tory peer Lord McAlpine in abuse allegations.

Ofcom upheld the complaint from the peer as, although he was not named directly in the report, internet speculation had made him easily identifiable.

The regulator also criticised programme makers for not contacting Lord McAlpine prior to the broadcast, and the crisis cost BBC Director General George Entwistle his job after just 54 days.

Paxman almost quit then as well - but felt that "loyalty commanded [he] stayed".

Another 18 months down the line, though, he has called it a day - to the huge sounds of relief from politicians representing all hues.

At his best (or his worst, depending on your perspective), Paxman was gloriously insatiable, like a dog with a bone in holding Westminster into account.

Of course, still his most famous interview was in 1997 with Michael Howard, the former Home Secretary in the John Major government.

The story concerned a meeting between Mr Howard and Derek Lewis, the head of Her Majesty's Prison Service about the possible dismissal of the head of Parkhurst Prison.

And the exchange achieved notoriety when Paxman asked Mr Howard if he had "threatened to overrule" Mr Lewis on no fewer than 12 occasions.

Paxman later explained he had only continued to pursue the question because he had been made aware that the videotape for the next story was not ready.

Nevertheless, his place in British television news history - and that of Mr Howard - was effectively assured.

As well as being a consummate interviewer, Paxman - in his latter days especially - has become a rather independent observer of the machinations of the BBC, happily criticising his employer for some of its excesses.

But, if that also shows perhaps just how disenchanted Paxman has become, nothing will quite match the complete disdain he had for an editorial decision in 2005 to replace news of the financial markets with a weather forecast. 

Paxman was at his scathing best in delivering the reports, introducing the first, as follows:

"Now, on the theory that while some people are interested in the markets, everyone's interested in the weather, here it is - shorn of the usual folksy nonsense about clouds bubbling up and advice about wearing woolly socks: eastern parts will mainly avoid the rain except for those that don't. Western areas will be cloudy with rain, except in those places that don't have rain."

A second forecast, which he sarcastically stated was "by popular demand", was a lot more pithy: "Take an umbrella with you tomorrow".

And, in a third example, he greeted the map by saying: "It's a veritable smorgasbord. Sun. Rain. Thunder. Hail. Snow. Cold. Wind. Almost worth going to work."

Finally, showing a map full of sunshine and showers, he simply stated: "It's April - what do you expect?"

All is well that ends well for Paxman, though - news of the markets were restored after just 10 days.

He will continue in his role as host of University Challenge.

Paedogeddon gets out of hand

BUMBLING BBC boss George Entwistle apologised today after a Newsnight report wrongly implicated a Conservative peer in the ongoing child sex abuse scandal.

The report, which was broadcast on Friday 2 November, featured an interview with victim Steve Messham who identified former Tory treasurer Lord McAlpine as his alleged abuser.

It has since emerged, however, that Lord McAlpine was a victim himself - of mistaken identity, after Mr Messham realised his error having been shown a different photograph of the peer.

Mr Messham has apologised to Lord McAlpine but the peer is understandably more angry with the BBC for letting the botched report go ahead.

Lord McAlpine's solicitor Andrew Reid has confirmed the peer will take legal action, and it is almost certain that he will win his case.

For, while he was not actually named in the report, he does not have to be in order to pursue a successful writ for defamation.

All that Lord McAlpine will need to prove is that he could reasonably be expected to be identified by the report, which has happened, and that it has harmed his reputation.

It is another blow for former Newsnight editor Mr Entwistle who has only been in the top job at the BBC for 54 days. Already he looks way out his depth, and he has been constantly one step behind throughout this saga.

Astonishingly, Mr Entwistle has said that he was only aware of the episode of Newsnight after it had been broadcast.

And that really is quite unbelievable following the recent controversies which have dogged the Corporation's flagship news review show.

Newsnight has been on the ropes for weeks now and it is already under investigation for its reporting, or lack of reporting, of abuse by former presenter Jimmy Savile.

On that occasion, the BBC effectively did the opposite to what has happened now to Lord McAlpine, dropping a report last year into Savile, only for ITV's Exposure documentary to pick up the story from freelance journalist Mark Williams-Thomas last month.

Yes, some time ago, there was actually some legitimate journalism going on. How and why Savile had got away with what he had done for years was still a story worth telling, particularly from the victim's perspective, despite the perpetrator's death last year.

Quite why Newsnight editor Peter Rippon felt it necessary to drop the report due to an apparent clash with a planned Christmas tribute to Savile remains unclear. It was, in my view, a truly proper piece of journalism, and it should have been screened.

However, the media has now largely moved from Savile, and it is now gorging itself in its own inimitable, sensationalist style, making it difficult to decipher the hard facts from the hearsay.

This was no less in evidence than in the Thursday edition of ITV's daytime television show This Morning, on which Prime Minister David Cameron appeared.

Far from the expected cosy chat on the sofa, presenter Philip Schofield confronted Mr Cameron with a list of alleged paedophiles which he had found on the internet.

Schofield has since apologised for his utterly reprehensible approach but the damage to his credibility has already been done and his interview with the PM is just the latest example in how this story has now gone too far.

Of course, sections of the media getting itself in a tizz over paedophilia is nothing new - but engaging in sensationalism simply does not help the situation.

You only have to recall when the late and unlamented News of the World ran its nefarious campaign against paedophiles after the rape and murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne.

In fairness to the News of the World, many praised its campaign for a change in the law which has proved to be very popular among the population at large.

However, the newspaper articles also, infamously, caused a mob from a Welsh estate to daub graffiti on the front door of the house of... a paediatrician, in another case of mistaken identity.

Never one to miss a trick, satirist Chris Morris brought back his mock investigation show Brass Eye which took the approach of the News of the World and applied it to broadcasters.

And now, just over a decade down the line, life is once again imitating art. You would think the likes of BBC and ITV would really be more careful but that is perhaps expecting too much.

*Update: George Entwistle has resigned as Director General of the BBC.