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The attitude of BBC leadership and Tim Davie reminded me of what happened with Andrew. He had his new BBC Wednesday evening political show established – a longform interview – which they then axed and instead offered him some sort of unfixed, occasional slot. Rob Burley (born 1969) is an English television producer, formerly the BBC's editor of live political programmes. He was the editor of The Andrew Marr Show, Politics Live, Newscast on television, Newswatch and The Westminster Hour. a b Blanchard, Paul (18 February 2016). "Rob Burley". Media Masters (Podcast) . Retrieved 18 March 2022. Burley, who is now a producer at Sky News and makes interview shows fronted by its political editor, Beth Rigby, said his book was intended to entertain, while also “making the argument about the value of lengthier interviews”. Wilson, Amy (15 February 2018). "Rob Burley named Editor of Live Political Programmes at the BBC". ResponseSource . Retrieved 7 December 2019.
Farber, Alex (24 February 2022). "Rob Burley reunited with Andrew Marr at LBC". Broadcast . Retrieved 28 February 2022. Congratulations to Rob Burley on the publication of Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?, out today from Mudlark, an imprint of HarperCollins. a b c Walker, James (28 January 2019). "BBC Politics Live boss Rob Burley says balancing every show across political parties would be 'really boring' ". Press Gazette . Retrieved 7 December 2019.
On the claim, detailed in his book, that Gibb, a No 10 aide to Theresa May, had tried to divert him from investigating the government’s claims about the financial benefits of Brexit, Burley added: “I was quite straight about it in the book, and I don’t believe that Robbie has contradicted my version. In fact, he has repeated his line that it was important to ‘move on’ and not to just re-litigate Brexit.” At the time of the referendum Gibb was editor of the BBC’s live politics programmes. Burley grew up in the 1970s and 1980s and was interested in politics from a young age. He obtained a degree in American studies from the University of Nottingham. [2] At the same time, many of those politicians who are crying about the loss of local radio journalists are the same people who pushed for the original BBC funding cuts in parliament.”
In 2021, HarperCollins secured Burley's book, Why is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?, due to be published in February 2023. In it, he humorously describes his experiences with British politicians and focuses on 12 political interviews over a 25-year period. [10]
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Burley’s candid new book Why is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me? revealed last week that BBC board member Robbie Gibb had told him to step away from investigating the promises made to the electorate by Brexiters. He began his career as a researcher for the Labour Party member of Parliament Paul Flynn. He joined ITV in 1996 and rose to become editor of its political shows The Sunday Edition and Jonathan Dimbleby. He also worked on Tonight, hosted by Trevor McDonald. [2] He joined the BBC in 2008 [4] and became executive editor of Question Time, deputy editor of Newsnight and assistant editor of BBC Breakfast. In 2018, he became the BBC's editor of live political programmes, [5] succeeding Robbie Gibb. The role was based in Westminster and led Burley to take responsibility for the programmes Daily Politics, Sunday Politics, This Week, The Westminster Hour and Newswatch. [6] When Daily Politics ended in 2018, Burley became editor of Politics Live, and later editor of The Andrew Neil Show and executive producer of the podcast Brexitcast on television. Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?: 25 Years of Searching for the Truth on Political TV ( HarperCollins, 2023) ISBN 978-0008542481
In this unique book Rob Burley sets out to explore the state of democracy and accountability in an era when voters have come to expect untruthfulness from their leaders. Taking us inside the negotiations, intense preparations and tense encounters between heavyweight interviewers and politicians, Burley reveals why those who lead us are so reluctant to speak the truth and how they try to – and often succeed in – getting away with it. The Online Safety Bill, now going through the Lords, will make all this far worse by threatening huge fines for Silicon Valley firms that publish anything deemed to be “harmful” and visible to children. What does this mean? It’s unclear: so the censorship bots will work overdrive just to be safe. Sir Keir Starmer may tighten things further as prime minister, forcing newspapers to accept state regulation. Those who refuse would be forced to pay the fee of anyone who sues, win or lose. It is a key part of a democracy and the BBC has pretty much thrown it away,” he said. “They seem to have lost a lot of those people, as well their faith in the idea. They don’t believe viewers want it.”Brexitcast was renamed Newscast after the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union on 31 January 2020. The final edition of Brexitcast was released on 1 February 2020, with the first edition of Newscast airing on 6 February. Mayhew, Freddy (6 November 2019). "Claim Question Time put BBC editor's son in audience as Brexit supporter debunked as hoax". Press Gazette . Retrieved 7 December 2019. Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying To Me? – a question famously asked by grand inquisitor Jeremy Paxman – is Rob Burley’s deliciously irreverent and gossipy insider’s account of 25 years working at the very top of British political television – and the unique insight he’s gained on the country’s politicians on the way. Lyons, Kate (4 September 2018). " 'Zero shame': Politics Live editor defends all-female line-up on new BBC show". The Guardian . Retrieved 7 December 2019. Clearly things have been very badly handled,” said Burley. “They’ve lost a lot of good political presenters. I don’t know if there is much BBC expertise along those lines left in the building. The funding cuts are real and hard decisions have to be made, but Tim Davie doesn’t really understand journalism, in my view, and so has waved through lots of these cuts.