Emma Barnett wins Interviewer of the Year

[WinterTrees]

At the British Press Awards last night.

twitter.com/Emmabarnett/status/1468719809537916929

Brilliant news, and so well deserved. I was really unsure how it was going to play out on WH at first, but I think that's part of her skill. She keeps her cards close to her chest before drilling down points (as beautifully demonstrated in the Nancey Kelley interview) and has proved herself to be an incredible advocate for women this year.

Congratulations Emma, and thank you!

Oops!! Ignore the quote - not sure where that came from!

I like Emma Barnett and well done to her. However isn't it correct to say that she has only been able to really ask important questions since there has been a change of policy at the BBC. Jenny Murray had to leave because she was silenced due to BBC policy.

Let's face it, it's easier to ask tough questions when you know you're going to be supported.

EB has found her ovaries off the back of other women having theirs stomped all over. She was bloody lame on the matter of gender until a turn around, post the JKR's essay, when the wider public started realising what was going on, and it was no longer being sneaked upon us Denton style. The first time EB pushed back at all was when she interviewed Joanna Harper about their successful campaign to change the rules on TW in female sport. That was just before the Olympics in July, not that long ago. Let's not forget WH would not interview Maya after her victory, did not interview Dr Emma Hilton about the Olympics despite contacting her and keeping her hanging on, and nobody should forget their treatment of Jenni Murray. And let's also not forget the fawning of WH's Anita Rani over Paris Lees and the attacks she made on twitter against GC women pushing back. As far as EB and WH are now inextricably linked, her award gives credibility to a programme that has all but told biological women to go fuck themselves. Other female journalists - and males, cf, Justin Webb - were being brave about gender issues a long time before EB.

Her award wasn't just for her work on Women's Hour though. I thought she was great at the last election, she really grilled those politicians she interviewed.

Wasn't it? Do you mean the 2019 election? From her tweet, it is her work in 2021 that is being rewarded, and specifically her work on Radio 4's WH, which she took over in September 2020.

^Genuinely so thrilled. What a way to end the first year at the helm of
@BBCWomansHour and what a year it’s been. Huge thanks to our listeners, the producers, my editor and the whole of @BBCRadio4^

I think she is an extremely good interviewer. However, she's standing on the shoulders of giants on the topic of gender politics. The groundwork was done for her by other women who have lost their livelihoods, their reputations as decent people, and who live with daily threats.

From the website for the awards:

To qualify for inclusion, work must have been published between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021.

awards-bja.pressgazette.co.uk

@TedImgoingmad

EB has found her ovaries off the back of other women having theirs stomped all over. She was bloody lame on the matter of gender until a turn around, post the JKR's essay, when the wider public started realising what was going on, and it was no longer being sneaked upon us Denton style. The first time EB pushed back at all was when she interviewed Joanna Harper about their successful campaign to change the rules on TW in female sport. That was just before the Olympics in July, not that long ago. Let's not forget WH would not interview Maya after her victory, did not interview Dr Emma Hilton about the Olympics despite contacting her and keeping her hanging on, and nobody should forget their treatment of Jenni Murray. And let's also not forget the fawning of WH's Anita Rani over Paris Lees and the attacks she made on twitter against GC women pushing back. As far as EB and WH are now inextricably linked, her award gives credibility to a programme that has all but told biological women to go fuck themselves. Other female journalists - and males, cf, Justin Webb - were being brave about gender issues a long time before EB.

This is so very mean spirited. I'm immensely grateful to Emma for giving voice to the GC point of view on WH.

Yes of course others have gone before her. Does that mean we should all give up & go home, unless we are prepared to throw ourselves under the hooves of horses? Don't be silly.

And show some sisterly solidarity! 🤍💚💜

@Changemusthappen

I like Emma Barnett and well done to her. However isn't it correct to say that she has only been able to really ask important questions since there has been a change of policy at the BBC. Jenny Murray had to leave because she was silenced due to BBC policy.

Let's face it, it's easier to ask tough questions when you know you're going to be supported.

Yes of course the change of attitude in the BBC isn't all down to EB. But what a forensic questioner she is showing herself to be. Smart, articulate & well prepared. Perfect for challenging the "no debate" crew. Loving it!

Oh give over with the be kind rhetoric. "Sisterly solidarity" does not include fan girling over someone being lauded with accolades at a point where she had nothing much to lose, and when both she and the programme she works for are extremely late to cotton on to what is happening to women, and have indeed suppressed their voices. This same woman was practically sneering at a GC women on one of her early episodes of WH, when she sent in a comment along the lines of GC views being suppressed.

Yes of course others have gone before her. Does that mean we should all give up & go home, unless we are prepared to throw ourselves under the hooves of horses? Don't be silly.

She's a journalist. It's her job to ask the difficult questions. If she, WH, the BBC et al had remotely been doing their jobs, for which they are paid handsomely out of the public purse, during the last 5-6 years, then we might not be in the shit we are in now. She didn't have to throw herself under the metaphorical hooves at all nor give up, so this is just more silly, emotive rhetoric. All she and the BBC had to do was cover the news. And they did not. Not by a long way. They have barely touched the surface of the biggest threat to women's rights in decades. I'll save my "sisterly solidarity" for all the women who, day to day, for years and years, have been doing their bit and not getting anything other than grief for it.

@TedImgoingmad

Oh give over with the be kind rhetoric. "Sisterly solidarity" does not include fan girling over someone being lauded with accolades at a point where she had nothing much to lose, and when both she and the programme she works for are extremely late to cotton on to what is happening to women, and have indeed suppressed their voices. This same woman was practically sneering at a GC women on one of her early episodes of WH, when she sent in a comment along the lines of GC views being suppressed.

Yes of course others have gone before her. Does that mean we should all give up & go home, unless we are prepared to throw ourselves under the hooves of horses? Don't be silly.

She's a journalist. It's her job to ask the difficult questions. If she, WH, the BBC et al had remotely been doing their jobs, for which they are paid handsomely out of the public purse, during the last 5-6 years, then we might not be in the shit we are in now. She didn't have to throw herself under the metaphorical hooves at all nor give up, so this is just more silly, emotive rhetoric. All she and the BBC had to do was cover the news. And they did not. Not by a long way. They have barely touched the surface of the biggest threat to women's rights in decades. I'll save my "sisterly solidarity" for all the women who, day to day, for years and years, have been doing their bit and not getting anything other than grief for it.

I most definately didn't say "be kind"

Why shouldn't we be happy about the wins hmm?

It's great that this topic has gone mainstream. I think we should encourage it & celebrate it 🎉🥳🍾

I don't think EB could have changed the entire culture and ethos of WH as soon as she arrived. This was the programme that had steadfastly ignored the issue FOR YEARS, and when it did host a discussion (e.g. with Sally Hines) it was short and so tense and couched about with nervous apologies from Jane Garvey that it gave the impression that the woman representing the GC side was like a tiger temporarily released from her cage, to be prodded from a safe distance with a long stick. I'm sure it was only a few weeks before she left (i.e.. this time last year) that I heard JG do a hasty interjection when FPFW was mentioned, saying that some people considered them a transphobic hate group. And let's not forget that it was ALWAYS Jane Garvey who had to host those conversations because Jenni Murray had been gagged from doing so, because of her unapologetically woman-centred view.

So no, Emma Barnett did not move into the WH chair and immediately stick her Sex Matters posters up on the walls and drink her coffee in a Magdalen Berns mug. At the beginning I remember thinking she was going to be another libfem man-appeaser. But I've noticed this in her interview style: she tends to start out from a position of neutrality and ask a fairly broad range of uncontroversial questions, dotting about from one topic to the next before really homing in. It's very effective.

I don't think she found her ovaries off the back of others being stomped over. I get the impression she has always been aware of the issue, but she couldn't go in and force such a massive change of ideological perspective overnight. She joined WH at a key time, when the narrative was starting to shift thanks to all sorts of different forces - JKR, Maya, the Nolan podcast, Kiera Bell, Laurel Hubbard etc etc but she has played a part in that change, rather than passively riding it.It won't have been her decision not to interview Maya Forstater - in fact, I imagine she was the one putting pressure on to get that on the agenda, which was why that weasely producer contacted Maya to provisionally book her if the case was successful. EB certainly can't be condemned for Anita Rani's silly fawning and subsequent tweet.

The programme has been an appalling failure in representing women's interests and voices in the past, but this year there has been a massive change. It's LONG overdue, but very welcome nonetheless, and I think Emma Barnett has played a very significant part in it. It's not very long since women like Janice Turner and Susanne Moore were losing their jobs in the media for talking about this, so it does still take courage to resist the 'why can't we just be kind' line that Rani has taken. I'm glad she's been recognised for doing that.

Ps: Happy Christmas! 🎄✨✨✨

Lol @WinterTrees at the image of EB drinking her coffee in a Magdalen Berns mug 🤣

Yes, you have pretty much asked me to be kind. You've called me mean spirited and demanded I celebrate a win for the BBC when they have been shit. For this is a win for the BBC, EB might be the named recipient, but they and the WH producers get to bask in the glory. And they do not deserve it.

It's great that this topic has gone mainstream.

It's never not been mainstream. It just has not been covered by the BBC with anything resembling a critical eye until the last 6 months or so.

I actually don't have any problem with EB per se, I like her interviewing style too, and she came aboard WH when she did. However, this is as much an award for WH as it is for EB. The two are inextricably linked. What I do find objectionable is the giving out of awards and the fawning, when what WH has done is far too little and far too late, and basically covered the bare minimum of the gender shit show. The damage has already been done, and is being done daily with barely a murmur from them.

EB did not have to hang her GC credentials on the WH coat peg when she walked through the door, or go softly with the producers. Both she and they just had to cover the news affecting women on a current affairs programme supposedly about women and what is happening in the news that is affecting them. None of that should have required a change of culture or a pioneering gender critical voice, only a fair, free and impartial one doing their job in a public service broadcaster.

Anyway, that is the last from me on this.

Fantastic, and well deserved.

I do get where you're coming from, @TedImgoingmad. EB's first few WH interviews were driving me mad with her lack of punch.

I suppose I'm pleased she got there in under the time it takes the earth to orbit the sun.

But yeah, EB getting plaudits for stuff another older woman (or women) weren't allowed to do ... harsh for those others. Yet deserved and welcome for EB after a slow burn.

State of the BBC though.

She's brilliant and has really transformed woman's hour for the better.

I'm equally baffled SpindlesAdventWhirl. To me it looks like EB being judged because she cannot atone for the sins of the father.

How can she have any validity when she can't make the bad things of the past go away?