What is Boris Johnson’s strategy for engaging with the media? Over the weekend reports emerged that the Johnson government’s media strategy would omit Radio 4’s flagship current affairs programme. No. 10 director of communications Lee Cain is said to have told aides that the Today programme is a ‘total waste of time’. He’s not alone. Johnson’s most senior adviser Dominic Cummings also appears to feel little in the way of warmth towards the show – reportedly telling colleagues that he didn’t listen to it once during the EU referendum campaign when he was campaign director for Vote Leave.
So is the government at war with the BBC already? It’s a little more complicated than that. It’s certainly true that the new regime takes a different stance towards the corporation than its predecessor. When Theresa May was PM, her director of communications Robbie Gibb found himself accused of BBC bias – reportedly for giving the lion’s share of interviews with the then-prime minister to the BBC.
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