Monday 13 March 2017

It isn't what Sky Pol Corr Beth Rigby says - it's the way she says it that grates

Many years ago, the BBC hired a very experienced newspaper business correspondent to work on its new daily breakfast-time business programme on BBC One, which I joined shortly afterwards as a producer. She (the journalist) was hugely knowledgeable and ever so nice - but she was just plain wrong for television. The problem was mostly her voice: her accent was very upmarket - nothing wrong with that, of course - but she spoke through her nose, as if her jaws had been permanently wired shut. The effect was so striking that it was impossible to concentrate on what she was actually saying. We all wanted her to succeed - but no matter what we tried, it just didn't work. (I won't name the poor woman, because she fell ill a few months into her BBC stint, and died soon afterwards. I just remember hoping that the stress of not succeeding in a new medium hadn't contributed to her illness - whatever, it certainly can't have helped.)

Having an unappealing voice isn't always a bar to success. Derek Jameson, a tabloid newspaper editor, went on to enjoy a remarkably successful broadcasting career, despite a Radio 2 producer describing him to me, accurately, as "an ugly man with an ugly voice." Two minutes of Russell Harty's camp Northern tones always left me wanting to smash the TV set: ditto Chris Evans aggressively shouting unfunny things at his audience. And dear old Trevor MacDonald drove me round the twist talking about the "gummint".  I'm also deeply opposed to continuity announcers with regional - or foreign - accents. Their voices should be pleasing but unexceptional, and their accents should be received pronunciation: they shouldn't be "personalities". (Yes, Dead Ringers turned veteran Radio 4 continuity announcer Brian Perkins into a personality, but that wasn't his fault.)

I'm more forgiving when it comes to newsreaders. I have a fondness for grumpy Northern men of a certain age, especially if they look and sound as if they have a bit of a hangover. It tend to make them sound sceptical and slightly exasperated about everything some credulous, over-educated, soft Southern editor - quite possibly female - is forcing them to read out.  Scottish accents also work well. As for correspondents and reporters, I don't really care about their accents as long as they're identifiably British: one of my favourites is ITV News's Charlene White,  a black Londoner who sounds it. What I can't abide - in either reporters or newsreaders - is a verbal tic, mannerism or oddity, especially if it crops up all the time. There was a political TV presenter/correspondent/interviewer called Llew Gardner back in the '70s who drove me nuts by constantly droppin' his "g"s. Let me be very clear: I have absolutely no problem with friends and acquaintances doing this - couldn't care less. And it isn't a class thing: Llew Gardner, Sir Alf Ramsey, Lord Peter Wimsey - whoever does it, it's maddenin', because it diverts one's attention from what the blighters are (or were) sayin'.

I was reminded of my "dropped g" obsession this morning when I read this tweet:
I'm a fan of Stephen Pollard, but he's plain wrong on this issue. A stranger in the street isn't being paid by a broadcasting company to tell us what's happening in the world. If you pursue a career as a performer in television or radio - or opt to do any job which involves broadcasting to the public - you're setting yourself up to be criticised by members of the audience. 

Beth (or Beff, as she probably pronounces it) Rigby is the former deputy political editor at the FT and media editor at the Times, so her appointment as a senior political correspondent at Sky News last year doesn't seem that odd. Here's a sample of her style: 


She might be an excellent journalist - but I'm never going to know because she appears to be allergic to pronouncing the letters "ing" in the accepted fashion: they always comes out as "in". She also has an unfortunate habit of pepperin' her reports - her live two-ways in particular - with words ending in "ing": politicians are always runnin' the risk of somefin or uvver, and they're always facin' problems that aren't goin' away, and, of course, Theresa May is on the verge of triggrin' Article 50. She also speaks rather ponderously: she has managed to make the most exciting period in British politics since the Thatcher era sound slightly dreary.  Whatever her merits as a print journalist, she just isn't right for television. Presumably Sky gave her screen tests, and thought that, with a bit of coaching, they could get her up to speed. Well, not so far, they haven't. Leaving her lack of oomph aside,  I suggest they do what some tweets have suggested and send her for some very intensive elocution lessons. Because, unless she locates those missing gs, I - and, I'm sure, many others - will continue to flinch every time she drops one. As it were. 

Everybody who has anything to do with broadcast news must have seen the excellent 1987 film, Broadcast News, in which a second-rate journalist, played by William Hurt, becomes a hugely successful anchor because he looks and sounds great, he's perfectly at home in front of the camera, and, while he knows next to nothing about anything, he has a red-hot producer (the delightful Holly Hunter) feeding him vital information via his ear-piece. Meanwhile, a would-be rival (Albert Brooks), who's a far more accomplished journalist, fails to make it as a presenter because his brain seizes up in front of the camera, and he sweats like a pig - "more than Nixon ever sweated" - under studio lights. I'd only been working in TV News for a short while when I first saw the film, but I'd already been surprised to discover that one of our "star" newsreaders was pretty much as thick as a brick - but great on air. Unfair, I know - but that's just how it is.

41 comments:

  1. How I agree with you re Beth Rigby never pronouncing the 'ing' of word endings; it drives me mad & I switch channels because of it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What is constantly driving me mad is the fact that so many people are incapable of saying "nuclear". So often it is pronounced at "nucular". Can't anyone tell them, and insist they get it right? It does seem that any word with two vowels side by side absolutely throws them and they just can't cope. The best example I can give is someone who said "I hope your plans come to furition".

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amongst my particular bête noires are "sektree" and "gummint" - but the one that's becoming universal is putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable in terms such as "fire-FIGHT-er" and "ambulance DRIV-er" - nobody talks this way in real life, so why do reporters and news presenters do it? As for almost every member of the public on TV starting every declarative sentence with "so" ("So, I've made you a tarte tatin...", "So, I'd just turned into the road when..."), this seems to have become as ubiquitous as sticking the word "like" randomly in every sentence and turning statements into questions ("So, I've made you, like, a tarte tatin, yeah?"). It's almost a relief when the news READ-er comes on.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am bothered by the fact that so many Americans give "tourist" and "terrorist" exactly the same pronunciation. How are we to discern the difference and, more importantly, how are they?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suspect George W. Bush's War on Tourists worried a lot of people!

      Delete
  5. I did send a twitter to her asking her to pronounce ing, but it came accross as a class thing and of course was not meant as that. I have nothing against regional accents but they should pronounce the words correctly whilst using their natural accent.

    ReplyDelete
  6. why has no-one mentioned the infuriating Peston and his contorted speech ?
    For perfect delivery go back to Tomorrow's World and the easy charm of Raymond Baxter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed. Most annoying speech mannerisms EVER. Incredibly painful to listen to. You might enjoy this:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktYwuw9Mnjo

      Delete
  7. Thank you Scott: Beth seems lovely but her loss of ngs completely distracts us. We always think of Martin Jarvis doing "Just William", and have a good laugh.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I thought it was just me. Glad I'm not alone in my thinkin' about Beff Rigby.
    Don't get me started on C4's continuity announcers with impenetrable accents, speech impediments - or Tourette's syndrome!
    "Diversity" means common sense has been thrown away, with well-meaning but idiotic people asking me "what's wrong with that?"

    ReplyDelete
  9. I share the view of the writer on Beth Rigby, she is obviously a talented journalist, but missing the ing off words is grating and I can't listen to her for long.

    It was interesting that the replies to the Twitter query attempted to turn it into class discrimination and a criticism of non-etonian accents, when it is purely a criticism of lazy pronunciation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never hear her reports because I am listening for the in words. It is incorrectly spoken English and could be correct3d with very little effort. The final straw today was Roman charges for mobile phones. Not class discrimination just a wish to hear my language cirr3ctly spoken.

      Delete
    2. I find the waving of Beff Rugby's huge hands very distracting as well.

      Delete
  10. I find myself changin' channels when she starts talkin' I'm afraid.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beth Rigby's truncated gerund is a political signal that she supports lower standards for lower classes.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's not her accent. It's her obvious political bias against brexit and "populism" is the will of the "common" people who don't have a university degree and are obviously inferior to her and her colleagues.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. Also her not accepting the answers given in a interview. Makes it hard to follow very frustrating to listen to.

      Delete
  13. When Beff appears I flick channels, you'd catch me runnin to the BBC. Her cockney fishwife styles just isn't right for the weighty topics she is charfed with. Not the best at communicatin is our Beff

    ReplyDelete
  14. Why don’t her employers do something.?, they must not care!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good question. It's been a while since I worked in TV News, but what struck me at the time was how unwilling management was to deal with this sort of self-created problem. I remember once sitting down with a well-known presenter, running through a tape of the previous night's show, and pointing out what I felt were areas for improvement. I'd expected him to react badly -
      instead, he thanked me, saying it was the first time in his 25 years on television that anyone had offered him any sort of feedback whatsoever! Rudely questioning the competence and suitability of elected officials is fine - but questioning the competence or suitability of one's own employees evidently comes hard to TV News execs. Weird.

      Delete
  15. Beff Rigby. The most annoyin presenter incapable of pronouncin the beautiful English language. Switchin channels regularly when I know she's goin to be on.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I can't bear to listen to her. Her dropping the g interferes with the news she's supposed to be delivering. Take her off!!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I couldn't agree more about Beth Rigby! I am someone else who immediately does the switchin' channels the minute she appears; get to grips with the 'g's' Beth! I wonder if she has a 'g' phobia?

    ReplyDelete
  18. I feel like throwing a house brick at the TV when Ms.Rigby shows up on screen. Looking at a Twitter stream regarding her grotesque inability to pronounce "ing" words (in which she participated), it appears that she wears this speech impediment as a badge of honour.
    I am surprised that her TV producers haven't intervened in order to address this issue.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am constantly exasperated by her. She can say ‘ring’ ‘bring’ ‘thing’ so WHY does she insist on saying ‘meetin, sayin, discussin, promisin’ I am convinced she does it deliberately to prove she’s a real Londoner! The most annoying person TV.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Unfortunately for most of the stuck up haters on here Beth has far more intelligence than most of them put "togevver". So who's "fick" now then

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your assumptions about the people who posted the warranted criticism here shows only YOUR lack of intelligence.
      Beth has a voice for newspapers.

      Delete
    2. No one has called her thick !! Obviously she's very intelligent! The point was made she is, but the irritating problem is she's bein distractin lay lazy wiv her gerunds ! I can't stand it either, and change channel. She's clearly intelligent and articulate enough to to fix it for TVs, but as she hasn't clearly pronounces and absence of it as a transparent anti establishment gesture , because obviously she's wiv the common people right? Cos working class awl tawlk wiv no gs right. And why should it change ? Just because I'm reading the news to the whole country? If you don't like it you must be an ignorant posh snob right ?( And no middle class person - backbone of news agenda - would ever want to be thought of as such. Worst thing ever.

      Delete
  21. I certainly do not want appear overcritical or rude, so first of all I'd like to say that Beth Rigby seems to be intelligent and very pleasant. However, I find that I cannot concentrate on her reports as all I do is wait for her to drop her next g! Very 'annoying'

    ReplyDelete
  22. She's still doing it! So annoying. She knows what she does and makes no attempt to revtify it. Sack her!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I think it is important that accents/tics and such like are not discriminatory factors in their employment policy. While I noticed and was mildly amused initially, I got on with listening to what she was saying as was obviously the case with those who employed her.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Clearly not fit for purpose.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I think it must be an affectation, to drop th gs. Pritti Patel also has the same issue, except that she leans on the n to emphasise the street cred thing, or whatever it is. Personally, i can’t stand it, and now its slippng in, or out, of common usage. Rigby is now Sky’s politcal editor. Maybe the exposure will yielld some public ridicule and she’ll snap out of it. At least she doesn’t say haitch, as in the haitch es 2 horror from some journalists lips.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Better than haitch, as in the horror of ‘h‘aitch es two that issues from some journalists’ mouths. But the affectation does drive me mad; she knows what she’s doinn. Pritti Patel has the same habit, except that she leans on the n, as if to say, yeah, i know what i’m doinnn, but this is my street cred. Now Rigby is head girl at Sky, perhaps this xposure will yield public rdicule and she’ll snap out of her nonsense.

    ReplyDelete
  27. This woman has been driving me to obsession because of her irritating Thames grunge

    ReplyDelete
  28. News: Beff Rigby is still ...!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Beff as Sky’s Political Editor should be more balanced and neutral. She shows her left wing leanings by her inappropriate questions and biased reporting. Sky should really consider carefully if they want to promote her again.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I’ve contacted Beffs boss at Sky John Reilly
    My concern was that as a teacher I impressed upon my students The dropped “g” is just a terrible example which should not by any a long mile be acceptable - I have to switch her off - at least she’s not using the rising inflection

    ReplyDelete
  31. Please will she find another news desk job she drives me to despair!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete