Party conference season – this year aside – is a great time for speeches, but it is an equally opportune moment to indulge in the political obsessive’s other great guilty pleasure: the political interview. This year has been no different and because of their continued frequency it is easy to forget that the political interview is currently going through something of an existential crisis.
It has been going on for some time, ever since Jeremy Paxman stepped down from Newsnight in June. The departure of the most iconic interviewer of the modern age has led to some serious questions being asked about the future of political interviews. The most important being, does it even have a future?
Paxman’s former producer, Ian Katz, got the ball rolling last month in a piece titled ‘The death of the political interview’. In it, he rightly bemoans the self-perpetuating cycle of dullness that has come to characterise political interviews.
Of course it is easy to identify the cause of this crisis. For too long interviewers have treated politicians as if they are pathological liars, while on the opposite side politicians, wary of being caught out, have performed like robots created in a spin doctor’s shed – created for the sole purpose of periodically repeating party sound bites. Politicians and journalists alike, therefore, must equally share the blame.
The solution, however, is more difficult to identify than the problem. Mainly because it is not as simple as asking journalists to lay off politicians a bit in exchange for them being a bit more relaxed. We need the tough questions to be asked. It is vital that politicians and their policies are held to account and scrutinised for the public by an independent adjudicator. For better or worse we have decided that in a democracy a free press is best placed to perform that role. Having made that decision it is vital that they continue doing so.
Paxman’s replacement on Newsnight, Evan Davis, had a go by trying something a bit different when he interviewed David Cameron on Monday night. It is hard to know what the prime minister made of being asked questions such as ‘what weights should children be taught in schools?’ and ‘is it ok for two gay men to kiss in public?’ But it is fair to say that the reviews have been mixed.
Nevertheless while Davis might not have cracked it, I am optimistic that there is still life left in the political interview. First, because you only have to look at programmes like Piers Morgan’s Life Stories – and Parkinson in its prime – to see that millions of people will tune in to watch a good interview. We love them because when they work they show us who the interviewee really is and often we are surprised by what we discover.
Second, because politics is important and listening to someone talk about important moments in our country’s history is fascinating. Most of us will never hold high office or be witness to important moments in our history but we would like to know what it is like.
What we need to do then is give politicians the chance to actually talk to us. That does not mean interviews should get easier, but they do need to last longer than five minutes and really cover the issues in depth. If you are not convinced by the sound of that, then consider two of the finest interviews with politicians this year, both of which are well over 30 minutes.
The first was James O’Brien’s with Nigel Farage on LBC and the second was Matt Forde’s interview with Tessa Jowell last week. Both of them were interviews that did not shy away from asking tough questions, the difference was that they were respectful rather than adversarial.
The results were fascinating for different reasons. In Farage’s case O’Brien gave him enough rope to hang himself and he came away somewhat exposed. Jowell’s interview by contrast was revelatory. Not only does she give us a glimpse into life at the top of politics but she also shows that it really is possible to be a frontline politician and a decent human being at the same time. Both are compelling interviews in their different ways and neither could be accused of dumbing down.
So yes the political interviews of one type – the five minute shout at each other on Sky News, or the Paxman grilling – probably are dying, but we should not mourn their passing, we should celebrate and demand something better.
It is time for the revival of the political interview. I want to see politicians taking big swings at big subjects because I think we will find out something about them in the process. And what is more I think that is what other people want too. We might not just save the political interview, but we might save politics as well.
———————————
Rich Durber is a former speechwriter for a shadow minister and writes a fortnightly column for Progress. He tweets @richdurber
———————————
Progress is hosting a series of ‘In Conversation With …’ events this autumn. Open to all, each event will be hosted by a lobby journalist and will include questions from the audience. This series will give a platform to leading members of the shadow cabinet to discuss in detail their policy portfolio as we head into the new year and the general election.
———————————