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Comment by whyleyc | Hacker News Reader

The host is something of a legend here in the UK :)

Not least for this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00r2912

I think I would go less with "legend" and more with "notorious twat". Can't stand that aggressive style of interviewing myself, especially because now every half-wit newsreader thinks they're the next Paxman by interrupting the interviewee every 5 seconds.

Paxman can be quite aggressive, and I would say justifiably, with politicians trying to avoid answering a question. For another side of Paxman see this interview with Christopher Hitchens - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00r2c42

I summarised his technique a few years ago like this:

JP: Jon, don't you think it's morally inexcusable that you molest young boys?

Jon: Jeremy, it's not true that I molest young boys, that's misrepresented by the...

JP: I asked you whether you think it's morally inexcusable that you...

Jon: That's not the point, I haven't done it in the first p....

JP: Please answer the question, is it morally inexcusable or not that....

Jon: If I molested young boys it wouldn't morally justifyable that....

JP: Is it or isn't it morally inexcusable, Jon?

Jon: argh

In what way was he being a twat in that interview? The MP kept responding to his question as if he hadn't heard it, so Paxman repeated it, many times, even apologizing for repeating it, and eventually giving up.

Some years later, Paxman admitted he was just stalling for time because the next segment in the program wasn't ready yet.

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