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BBC'S Newsnight: Who Could Replace Jeremy Paxman As Host?

The Huffington Post UK     First Posted: 05/10/11 13:44   Updated: 05/12/11 10:12

Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman has come under fire for his recent performance on the BBC's flagship current affairs show.

Last week when an EU Commission spokesman stormed off after being branded "that idiot in Brussels" by Peter Oborne all eyes turned to host Paxman.

Having built a reputation as a hard-nosed, no nonsense operator, some commentators thought it strange that he didn't stop guest Oborne's relentless jabs at Euro representative Amadeu Altafaj Tardio.

Now some are asking why Paxman didn’t step in before the knock-out blow was delivered.

"For a few minutes the BBC's flagship political programme seemed as though it had been taken over by the shock-jock values of Fox News," wrote Andrew Anthony in The Observer at the weekend.

"Yet what was most striking was the presenter's almost comical indifference to Tardio's plight, as if he were some kind of joke figure, Fawlty Towers's Manuel recast as a hapless Eurocrat," he added.

On Tuesday he again came under fire on Twitter after a bizarre interview with London Mayor Boris Johnson who managed to turn the agenda away from the serious issues, instead talking about how he’d turn Paxman into a PM.

Newsnight has suffered stiff competition from rolling news and the Internet. New talent has been tested on the late night show to make it more appealing and also to deal with the prospect of Paxman moving on.

As Andrew Anthony concluded in his Observer piece: "Without a fresh challenge there is a danger that Paxman will become bored."

So if Paxman did decide enough was enough – who would replace him? Bookmakers William Hill have now started to offer odds on possible new lead hosts to succeed him.

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Mike Gourlay
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15:51 on 13/10/2011
this is such nonsense. Anyone who watched the programme saw that Paxman tried to reason with Oborne a few times and even reprimanded him for his borish oversimplication and impoliteness. It's simply not true to suggest otherwise, programme is still on iplayer if you want to check.

And the piece with Boris was funny, the exacerbation felt by Paxman was plain to see and actually made for good television, a welcome relief from a Tory Party Convention short on talking points.
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see biography
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15:13 on 13/10/2011
"Who Could Replace Jeremy Paxman As Host?"
Jon Stewart, via satellite link. The only problem. Finding participants who won’t do a runner, before he’s enticed them into contradicting their own pronouncements.
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