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Paxman slams 'fawning' BBC coverage of royals

07/10/2008

Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman has claimed the BBC is "fawning" in its coverage of the Royal Family.

The outspoken news anchor and University Challenge host suggested the BBC is confused over its tone in reporting royal matters.

Speaking on The Palace and the Beeb, a Radio 4 programme set to be aired later this week, Paxman said the corporation seems uncertain over whether it should "celebrate" or report newsworthy royal stories.

"While the BBC does report royal matters pretty straightforwardly, as it should, there is still a fawning taste, a fawning sense to the tone of voice it adopts when dealing with the heir to throne and his family," he said.

"They do not treat them in the way they would treat other members of the public, to which it might equally reply that they are not other members of the public."

He also said the BBC's coverage of the Queen Mother's death in 2002 exemplified its confused attitude towards the monarchy.

"It was unclear whether the BBC was announcing this as a piece of news or in its capacity as mourner-in-chief, really, and it got into a terrible muddle," he commented.

In response to Paxman's remarks, a BBC spokeswoman said he was "one of many voices" featured on The Palace and the Beeb.

The journalist and broadcaster is renowned for his headline-making views, having dismissed the TV licence fee as an anachronism, labelled Scottish poet Robert Burns' work as "sentimental doggerel" and argued middle-class white men should "give up all hope" of finding work on British television.

Writer Mariella Frostrup said that personalities such as Jonathan Ross and Paxman himself proved the latter was inaccurate.