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Newsnight

For the CNN programme see NewsNight with Aaron Brown

Newsnight is a British daily news analysis, current affairs and politics programme broadcast between 22:35 and 23:20 on weekdays on BBC Two.

The programme's current main presenters are Jeremy Paxman, Gavin Esler, Kirsty Wark and Emily Maitlis.

Newsnight also has a semi-separate arts slot known as Newsnight Review. On BBC Two Scotland, an opt-out slot, Newsnight Scotland, presented by Gordon Brewer, replaces the final twenty minutes of Newsnight from Monday to Thursday.

History

Newsnight has been running since 30 January 1980 with theme music composed by George Fenton; various different arrangements have been used over the years.

The programme's start was delayed for four months by the Association of Broadcasting Staff, the trade union which then represented BBC staff, who feared for a loss of jobs as Newsnight was the first programme to be made by both the News Department (then at Television Centre) and Current Affairs (then at Lime Grove).

Among former presenters of the programme are Peter Snow, who was a regular presenter for 17 years, John Tusa and Charles Wheeler. In the early years the programme had a second presenter, pejoratively the "'Newsnight wife' syndrome", who read the news headlines and introduced minor items, a symptom of the programme's original split between two BBC departments. Olivia O'Leary was the first female 'senior presenter' in 1985; the programme has had a single presenter since 1987, and is now wholly managed by BBC News.

Newsnight also appeared (in repackaged form) on BBC World Service Television and its successor, BBC World, until 1999. Starting 29 February 2008, a "best of" edition of Newsnight will air weekly on BBC America and BBC World News.

Until the beginning of 1988, the start time of Newsnight in the BBC2 schedule was flexible, in order to allow the channel to show a film at 9:30pm (the time the main BBC1 news programme then finished). The move to a fixed time slot of 10:30pm was made despite the known objections of the then Managing Director of BBC TV, Bill Cotton, who was supposed to be in charge of all scheduling decisions. The announcement was also made without informing him first, and caused a massive and widely reported internal row within the BBC, with one person saying it would "destroy the BBC".

Interviews

Newsnight remains the UK's flagship television news and current affairs programme and regularly breaks major stories, such as the fact that the leader of the London suicide bombers (7 July 2005) had been monitored by British security services. The programme also features interviews with high-profile figures both from the UK and abroad.

One of Newsnight's most famous interviews took place on 13 May 1997, between Paxman and Michael Howard, who had until 13 days earlier been Home Secretary. Howard was questioned regarding a meeting with Derek Lewis, the head of the Prison Service, regarding the potential dismissal of John Marriott, the governor of Parkhurst Prison, following a well-publicised jail-break. Lewis had argued against dismissing Marriott. During one continuous sequence Paxman put the same question — "Did you threaten to overrule him?" — twelve times (not fourteen as is widely believed) to Howard, who on each occasion gave a qualified or evasive answer, such as "I did not overrule him". It was revealed during Newsnight's 20th anniversary special programme that after Paxman introduced the next report and the film started rolling, he politely asked Howard, "Was that okay?". Howard, whilst disconnecting his microphone, rhetorically replied, "Well, what do you think?"

This was later revealed to be a stalling strategy by Paxman on being told that the studio was having technical trouble with one of the reports which was to follow. In 2004, Paxman broached the subject with Howard, who was then Conservative leader. Again, Howard laughed the question off, but did say he "didn't" threaten to overrule the Head of the Prison Service. The clip was voted the best Newsnight moment ever by members of the show's production team.

Newsnight Review

On Friday evenings, Newsnight gives way at 23:00 to Newsnight Review, a 35-minute slot looking at cultural developments across the board, from literature (including occasionally children's novels) to opera via the latest contemporary art exhibitions to prime-time TV programming. Past presenters have included Tom Sutcliffe and Tim Marlowe, though Mark Lawson was the programme's original presenter in its Late Review format as part of BBC Two's The Late Show strand. He continued to chair the critical discussion among the panel of guest reviewers frequently since its becoming Newsnight Review in 2000, but in December 2005 retired from the lineup. The programme is currently presented by Kirsty Wark, Martha Kearney, John Wilson, Kwame Kwei-Armah or Hardeep Singh Kohli. Regular contributors to the panel discussion include Mark Kermode, Tom Paulin and Ekow Eshun. Bands have also played on the programme, albeit recorded.

Stock market update vs. Weather

Traditionally at the end of the programme there is a short stock market update. In 2005, Newsnight's editor, Peter Barron, replaced it with a 30-second weather report, arguing that the market data was available via the Internet and that weather would be more useful. However, the change brought a flurry of complaints. On one occasion, Jeremy Paxman said in his usual sarcastic tone, "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." Other occasions saw him quip, "It's April, what do you expect?" and "Take an umbrella with you tomorrow." Nonetheless, he claimed he was happy presenting the weather. Gavin Esler also joined in, announcing "...as for the Spring, you can forget about that until further notice."

Consequently, Newsnight conducted a telephone poll. Michael Fish, a former weather forecaster, was seen arguing in favour of the weather report, while Norman Lamont (former Chancellor of the Exchequer) campaigned for the market update. 62% of viewers voted in favour of the market update, and as a result it returned on Monday, 18 April 2005.

Taking up another populist cause, for a week at the end of January 2006, Newsnight played out its closing credits accompanied by the Radio 4 Theme which was facing the axe from BBC Radio 4. Continuing the motif, the 24 April 2006 edition played out with the signature tune of the soon-to-be-cancelled BBC sports programme, Grandstand.

International Edition

Newsnight is also being shown though the BBC's American Service, BBC America and on its international news service, BBC World News, but in a shortened weekly version.

Newsnight via other media

Newsnight is now available via broadband for viewing up to 7 days post-broadcast on BBC iPlayer. It can be found on the official newsnight website or via a search for 'Newsnight' on the BBC iPlayer site

Current Newsnight presenters

Jeremy Paxman (Joined 1989)
Kirsty Wark (Joined October 1993)
Gavin Esler (Joined January 2003)
Emily Maitlis (Joined March 2006)

The programme's political editor has been Michael Crick since April 2007 when he replaced Martha Kearney who was also an occasional presenter on the programme until she left to present The World At One on BBC Radio Four.

Former Newsnight 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)
Sarah Montague (1998-2001)
Sue Cameron
James Cox
Donald MacCormick
Fran Morrison
Francine Stock
Charles Wheeler
Jeremy Vine (1999-2002)
Martha Kearney (joined Newsnight in 1994 and was political editor from 2000 to 2007)

Newsnight editors

George Carey (1980 - 1981)
Ronald 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)

Many former editors of Newsnight have now gone on to a career as a senior executive in the BBC. It was announced at the end of July 2008 that Peter Barron is taking up an appointment at Google from September.