Jeremy Vine: BBC stars who share their views are ‘less interesting'

Daily Mail​

4 hours ago

Jeremy Vine has become the latest BBC broadcaster to take aim at colleagues who disregard the corporation's impartiality rules, warning that presenters who express personal views on air become 'much less interesting'.
Speaking to Radio Times, the 60-year-old presenter said neutrality was the 'price of the ticket' for having what he called 'the best job in the world', referring to his work on Radio 2 and Channel 5.
'I'm there to facilitate,' Vine said. 'There's a cadre of presenters and you know what their views are on everything. But once you start to put your views on the table, you become much less interesting as a presenter.'
His remarks follow the high-profile departure of Gary Lineker, the former Match of the Day host, who left the BBC after repeated controversies over his political posts on social media.
In one instance, Lineker shared a pro-Palestinian video featuring a rat emoji - an image historically associated with Nazi propaganda used to dehumanise Jews.
He later apologised, stating: 'I would never consciously repost anything anti-Semitic - it goes against everything I stand for.'
However, the row escalated after Lineker gave an interview in which he not only criticised Israel but also took aim at his BBC boss.
Despite his long-standing status as the BBC's highest-paid presenter, the broadcaster ultimately severed ties, having 'run out of patience' with his outspoken political commentary.
Vine himself has previously been found in breach of the BBC's impartiality guidelines, after posting in favour of low-traffic neighbourhoods on social media in 2022.
At the time, the BBC clarified that the finding did not apply to posts where he expressed personal enthusiasm for cycling, a topic he is well known for championing.
He recently announced he would stop sharing his viral 'near miss' cycling videos, captured via a 360-degree helmet camera, due to online trolling.
'The trolling just got too bad,' he admitted. 'They have had well over 100 million views, but in the end the anger they generate has genuinely upset me.
'My aim was only to get all of us who drive to think about the dangers of trying to move around cities on a pushbike. I know I've sometimes got a little cross when a driver has, say, pulled out without looking, but I only ever uploaded the film to show the danger.'
Vine's comments echo concerns raised by other senior broadcasters over the direction of BBC journalism.
Her comments follow similar concerns raised by former Today presenter Mishal Husain, who left the Radio 4 flagship show in 2023. She shared her concern about 'personality-focused journalism' and the rise of ego in broadcasting
Kirsty Wark, who stepped down from Newsnight last year after three decades, criticised the trend of opinion-led broadcasting in an interview on The Spectator's Women With Balls podcast.
'We are not the story,' she said, calling for the BBC to remain a 'trusted friend'. Wark stressed the importance of maintaining impartiality: 'What it is, is just straightforward basic journalism - do the journalism, act like a journalist.'
While she did not name individual colleagues, Wark warned against presenters editorialising on air or inserting themselves into stories.
'Our job is to winkle that information out of other people. Our job is not to give our own opinion to the audience - absolutely not to editorialise,' she said.
'Be more straightforward. It's not about us. We always should remember that - it's not about us.'
Her comments follow similar concerns raised by former Today presenter Mishal Husain, who left the Radio 4 flagship show in 2023.
Speaking to British Vogue, Husain expressed concern about 'personality-focused journalism' and the rise of ego in broadcasting.
'It doesn't have to be about the presenters centring themselves,' she said.
'Hopefully, if they're a personality with journalistic integrity, journalistic values, then they can be a conduit to the news for people. What was true to me was that I would very rarely use the word 'I' actually on air.'