Sky News’ Live at Five anchor, Jeremy Thompson, has announced that he is retiring after 23 years at the broadcaster.
Having spent 50 years in the business this is no shocker, but his reasoning is interesting – he wants to “make space for burgeoning young talent”.
Just to let you know I'm retiring from @SkyNews at the end of the year. After 23 years at Sky & 50 years as a journo, time for a gap year!
— Jeremy Thompson (@JTSkyNews) September 6, 2016
Thompson’s case should be assessed by other veteran news presenters and commentators in broadcasting, especially considering that women seem to be excluded from this exclusive group of veteran commentators.
The men of pensionable age who we see frequently on our screens and hear on our radios provide reassurance when we see their faces and hear their voices – Andrew Neil (67), David Dimbleby (77), David Attenborough (90), Jon Snow (68), Jonathan Dimbleby (72), John Humphrys (73), John Simpson (72).
We know that they are knowledgeable. They can draw upon decades of experience – more than 50 years’ worth in some cases.
However, there is a problem.
There are younger people trying to make their way up the ladder, vying for a coveted position – yet they find their route to the top is clogged with these men who never seem to retire.
Yes, it is admirable that they continue to provide us with their services – but at the same time, they are depriving younger presenters and commentators the chance to show their talent. There may be many other equally capable individuals waiting for their break – but until the likes of Humphrys and Simpson follow Jeremy Thompson’s admirable example, we won’t know who they are.
Sir David Attenborough, wearing Converse and playing with an otter (1970s) pic.twitter.com/CPlg4VQhDB
— Old School Cool (@MyOldSchoolCool) August 25, 2016
The BBC in particular seems to foster a culture which allows these grey-haired men to remain on huge pay packets. David Dimbleby – who will turn 78 in October – has recently signed a new deal to host Question Time.
Meanwhile those, like Simpson or presenter Alan Yentob (69), who are on the BBC’s staff will have substantial pensions to fall back on. They are not working because they are afraid they will end up on the breadline as pensioners, applying desperately for their winter fuel allowance. They work because they love to work, and because the popular perception among the BBC’s top brass is that the public loves them back.
But isn’t it remarkably selfish that by hanging on, they are depriving younger talent of the opportunities they themselves enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s, when they first rose to prominence?
Meanwhile the gender gap in this area is staggering. I can name very few female presenters who are over the age of 60 and still working in such prominent news and current affairs posts. Kirsty Wark of Newsnight is a rare exception at the age of 61.
To some extent this may be because fewer women were as likely to climb the ladder as expertly as their male counterparts decades ago, leaving us with a deficit of older female representation on our screens today.
It will be interesting to see how long today’s prominent women broadcasters – such as Victoria Derbyshire, Kay Burley and Laura Kuenssberg – choose to remain in situ.
The fact is that those men in their 60s and 70s who are still at the top of the tree represent perhaps the luckiest generation ever to live.
As well as the wonderful opportunities (and decent money) offered to them through their work they have also enjoyed a golden age of opportunity – free university education; a property boom which will have made them all paper millionaires; a far lower UK population for most of their lives; a free NHS; and gold-plated pensions. And they still cling to their jobs.
Surely it is time they all took a leaf out of Thompson’s book and made way for younger talent – many of whom are now entering their 40s, so are not that young at all.
