Emma Barnett

[ProvincialLady2024]

What do we think?

I'm finding her interviews difficult to listen to.

I'm hoping she'll settle into the role.

I agree with every bit of this. I thought she was awful when she started on Woman's Hour but she did eventually settle down and showed she's capable of the kind of insightful, measured interviews that Mishal Hussain does brilliantly.

So far I've found her interviews difficult to follow - questions too rambling and a lot of umming and erring. This leads to quite rambling responses from the interviewees or they start responding then switch to their agenda and that's when they need pulling back on track. It's frustrating to have to try to listen to and make sense of.

Mishal is much more incisive. I still find Amol irritating. Not only does he often sound smug, I find him disingenuous when he overdoes the empathetic statements and platitudes.

"So a Govt that wrecked the economy and many peoples lives, should be trusted to have another 5 years in power?"

It was Truss that wrecked the economy.

Covid & Ukraine did their but, but they would have made things difficult for any Government.

"Yes Hunt should and was allowed to talk about his tenure in No 11 but he should also be questioned on subjects he doesn't like"

But he wasn't allowed to talk about it. Emma B did most of the talking. I wanted to hear what JH had to say, and feel I didn't get to hear it.

"If they can vote in Truss as PM, whats to stop them from voting in another lunatic? At least Labour have changed the rules so that another Corbyn can't get become leader, the Tories have done no such thing... another Truss can become PM."

I do agree with this. It's too easy for nutters (or deliberate disrupters) to join the Conservative Party and influence the leadership. If they have a spell in opposition, hopefully they will use the time wisely and resolve this.

But he wasn't allowed to talk about it. Emma B did most of the talking. I wanted to hear what JH had to say, and feel I didn't get to hear it.

She actually didn't - worth listening again

People should listen to the actual programme to decide who did most of the talking.

Hunt's initial answer went on quite a bit.

@koffykup Tory MPs backed her and allowed Truss to become leader.

She didn't act alone and plenty in the current Govt supported her, my former local MP is a whip, he backed Truss, as did my current MP, luckily still a back bencher.

Hunt spoke plenty but unless interviewers interject, politicians will just keep talking and talking.....

Its important ministers are challenged, especially when they say we are all starting to feel better off.... Hunt of course is, because he has increased rents and his investments, like Sunaks, have boomed.

I enjoyed her interview with Hunt so much I played it to dd later and she also enjoyed it.
She shook up the usual political interview style so that he found it difficult to say the usual prepared lines. She is awesome .

I’ll reserve judgment on Emma, the election will certainly be a challenge (for all presenters).

I don’t like inviting people to email or text in as part of Today. If it was going to be a change should be all the presenters. It feels like Emma just changing things when it is a choice by the producers as it happened more than once so not her forgetting that doesn’t happen on Today.

I want informed interviewers with facts to put to politicians. That will cover the experience of groups (though not specific individuals). so
“X people used the food bank in Y city and a question” rather than
“we have had a call from Jane who has to rely on Y food bank then a question”

There is a place for that such as question time or phone ins.

You could not be more wrong.

Only have to listen to Robinson interviewing Sunak on Today, very weak, Sunak dominating the interview and not answering questions, just his own PR.
Sunak is talking non stop, i'm sure he is some sort of AI creation.

Love EB

I don’t care about vox pops or viewers calling in either , however I think there was absolutely a place for it in that interview with Hunt. The point is the Tories are so divorced from reality. I work with struggling families and the situation at the coal face is horrendous at the moment, absolutely unacceptable. And there they are swanning around with their money and public school confidence with no clue how it feels to be living hand to mouth. That’s why she was so good yesterday - she told him how it was. And a lot of that is down to her previous role as she interviewed so many people in difficult circumstances, so she gets it.

I actually walked past Hunt the other day and he gave me that smug smile of his and I actually wanted to punch him. Ugh.

The fact is that emails from struggling individuals are not particularly relevant to an interview about inflation being brought under control, except as a reminder of the reasons why inflation needed to be brought under control.

Hopefully EB understands that reduced inflation doesn't mean reduced prices. It just means that prices aren't rising as quickly as they were a year ago.

a little grace for her perhaps ffs she's just joined - I would imagine anyone in a new job doesn't come out the gate at full speed

She understands that very well, it’s the Chancellor who seems to be struggling.

She is highly experienced and knows exactly how slimy politicians are... News Night presenter, Woman's Hour and now with Today.

I doubt those criticising her now will be when she gives Labour politicians a hard time too.

She’s going to have a ball over the next six weeks. What a brilliant time to start that job.

This. Hunt is busy telling the nation that we are all richer. She had to give him the truth. We are not all richer.

👏👏👏

She's just read out three listeners' experiences of using the Royal Mail in an interview with a union General Secretary.

So has Today turned into a phone-in style programme, or just the days when Emma's on?

Did she take calls from listeners while they talked at length about their experience? No, so it's not a phone-in, is it?
Or is she using he experience of people listening to gather some lived experience for the stories she's talking about so that people in authority don't just get away with lies?

I think she's doing fine. I get that she might not be to everyone's liking.

Yes, phone-in is the wrong term. "Email-in-and-read-out-comments"?

"Gathering lived experience" in such a manner is just anecdotes. And unverifiable anecdotes at that.

People have a variety of experiences - well no shit Sherlock. Don't need them read out individually by name.

Admittedly Today did feature the results of some listeners postal experiments a while ago, but that was a summary of the results after the event, not a random announcement that Nick from Sheffield has let us know it took 16 days for his delivery to arrive.

You just don’t like her, do you @Plexie? It’s OK, I don’t like Nick Robinson for a whole variety of reasons but he’s good at his job.