All too often, news media are primed to back down, even apologise, to prove how fair they are. That can be exploited
- This is an abridged version of the MacTaggart Lecture, given by Emily Maitlis at the Edinburgh TV festival
This is not a post-BBC ex-employee rant. I had two decades of opportunity that could not be bettered. But it is an exhalation. A deep breath out. All the things that wisely could not be said then, can be said more easily now.
Things that for many decades were givens – the checks and balances on the executive, the role of the judiciary or the civil service, a media free from interference or vilification – now appear vulnerable.
