In the past week Richard and I have been unpacking various exciting boxes of kit in the newsroom in our continuing quest to make the Centre for Journalism the most convergent operation in the land. One of these new toys journalism tools we’ve been messing about with conducting rigorous test upon, and which second year students will be using from September, is the autocue machine. So how hard can it be to use? Fortunately, Sir Terry Wogan is on hand with the answer.
In a book to be published next week he takes a swipe at an unnamed BBC newsreader (the Telegraph thinks he means Philip Hayton) and explains that it’s “not something to get self-important about”.
“Get your good suit and tie on, a quick dab in make-up (in Fiona Bruce’s case, the lippy is going to take a tad longer), make yourself comfy and here comes the six o’clock news, all written nicely and clearly before your very eyes.
“Read it clearly and distinctly, ask the reporter the questions you have written down in front of you.”
“And before you start with the ‘fair play old boy, there’s more to it than that’, I was a radio and TV newsreader and there isn’t.”
