What’s next for BBC news? Promise of freedom lures away more ‘big beasts’

The departures of Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel for Global, which operates LBC, are part of a wider talent drain as other broadcasters offer more independence

Oh!" said Emily Maitlis's jumper. You have a feeling that the producers of Newsnight might be saying something stronger. Last Tuesday a photo showed the jumpered-and-jeaned Newsnight lead presenter Maitlis alongside her fellow Americast host, BBC North American expert Jon Sopel (suit, no tie), in a radio studio. Nothing unusual there... except that behind them was a Global logo, instead of a BBC one. That was a surprise. And the tweet that accompanied the picture, announcing that Maitlis and Sopel are joining Global to host a new podcast and a show on LBC? Well, that was a complete shock. Not just to the public, but to BBC management. Everyone was completely blindsided," says a BBC source. It's a massive blow."

It is. Both Sopel and Maitlis are BBC big beasts": high profile, highly experienced, strong personality-ed political journalists. Maitlis, best known for presenting the BBC's flagship news analysis show, Newsnight, has been a star for a while, but she became even more so when she pulled in the no sweat" 2019 interview with Prince Andrew. Sopel was the BBC's well-respected North American editor for eight years, and considered to be one of the frontrunners for the BBC political editor job when Laura Kuenssberg steps down in April. Both had established a strong following for their Americast podcast, launched to cover the last US elections and continued afterwards, due to its popularity.