Day's code From Mr John Lidstone Sir: Stephen Glover (Media
studies, 12 August) referred to Robin Day as the pio- neer of adversarial television interviewing. That may be true, but I am sure that he was horrified by the standards — if what they do can be dignified by that word — demon- strated by his successors.
When I was writing my guidebook, Face the Press, for those who had to do so as part of their job, Robin Day kindly allowed me to reproduce his 'Code for Television Inter- viewers', originally published in 1961 and reprinted in his memoirs published in 1989.
It consists of ten pieces of advice and I will reproduce the first and last of them: 1. The television interviewer must do his duty as a journalist, probing for facts and informa- tion.
10. He should remember that a television interviewer is not employed as a debater, prosecutor, inquisitor, psychiatrist or third- degree expert, but as a journalist seeking information on behalf of the interviewer.
By the standards of these two codes alone, few of those we hear on radio and television begin to measure up.
John Lidstone
Fleet, Hampshire
Previous page
