Summary of complaint
We received complaints from people who felt that Emma Barnett was rude or aggressive in her interview with Jeremy Hunt.
Our response
Following the news that inflation has fallen closer to the target level of inflation, Emma spoke with the Chancellor of the Exchequer about the UK’s economic prospects and the impact on members of the public.
Seasoned politicians are very used to robust interviews, and Emma challenged Mr Hunt on a number of points on his economic brief, including putting to him the experience of some listeners where they were felt to reflect the economic data.
It was unfortunate that at one point in the interview we lost the connection to Mr Hunt. This did interrupt the flow of the interview and resulted in some occasions of Emma and the Chancellor talking over each other. Interruptions are sometimes a necessary intervention during an interview, due to time constraints, and if an interviewer feels a specific question is not being responded to. However, when Mr Hunt made it clear that he wanted to finish answering a question Emma made sure he had enough time to do so.
We don’t agree that Emma was rude or aggressive in her line of questioning. We consider that she challenged Mr Hunt fairly and in line with other political interviews our audience regularly hears on the Today programme.
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