Five nights a week, Britain turns to the most trusted news programme for the facts. "Newsnight" is about the same age as MTV, but it's hard to imagine a media landscape without it. Unlike other news programmes, "Newsnight" specialises in investigative magazine segments, deep dives that pull no punches as they provide audiences with the unadulterated facts, even if they may be heartbreaking. With such a talented investigative team at its disposal, it should be no surprise that "Newsnight" interviewers go into their interviews better prepared than almost any journalists. Politicians, businessmen and cultural figures have gone on "Newsnight" only to be eviscerated by an interviewer who has done their homework and gives no quarter.
A successful visit to the "Newsnight" studio must involve several factors, not all of them under one's control. First, the interview subject must know what they are getting into. Second, they must not have any skeletons in their closet the interviewer might bring out during the interview. Third, they must be prepared for the worst, both with a strategy and with responses to pointed questions. Finally, they must be able to keep their cool, because nothing turns a soundbite into a meme like an interviewee having an on-camera meltdown. Do you think you could survive a grilling on "Newsnight"?
BBC
One must be newsworthy. For what reason would "Newsnight" have you on?
I'm a minor figure in the government who has been tied to the post as a sacrificial lamb.
I'm coming out with an amazing film for which I will win a BAFTA at the very least.
I'm the leader of a political party.
I'm a businessperson who has been thrust into the public spotlight by circumstances beyond my control.
Let us assume you need to have a lot of figures at your disposal for your "Newsnight" appearance. Are you capable of holding them in your head while metaphorically under fire?
I'm terrible with numbers.
I have a decent memory for numbers, yes.
I don't bother with them because none of them are good for me.
Not that I am aware of, though I would like to get back to talking about the reason I'm here in the first place.
Of course I have! Nothing serious though, of course.
I gave a full account of the dismissal of Derek Lewis to the House of Commons select committee and to the House of Commons itself in a debate that took place!
No, as I am not in the business of making public statements.
Sometimes the only framing that can get you out of trouble is the moral frame. How easily would you be able to take the moral high ground, under sensitive questioning?
I'm not clever enough to just turn practical matters into moral ones!
In my trade, morality is something one wrestles with every day. I could do it, easily.
Well, I could try to, but my reputation as a louche blackguard is too well established.
I would simply claim that my position was moral on the grounds that I had my ethics team look into it.
As I said all along, I did that, and I'm proud of it.
You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's going to do it? You, Lieutenant Weinberg?
I think the real question is how we came to this pass in the first place!