Katy Searle, former BBC director of news programmes and current affairs on Russell Brand, news cuts, Ofcom and GB News

Katy Searle has recently left the BBC after a long career in news – over three decades. She was in charge of all of the BBC’s political output for 8 years up until last year, during which time huge savings had to be made. More recently Katy was director of news programmes and current affairs. We discuss the Russell Brand scandal, Ofcom's decision on GB News, impartiality and the impact of cuts on the organisation."If you look at how long the Brand's investigation took, they spent two years doing that. Now, I wonder whether that's something that the BBC would be able to do, to devote that time. Of course, it's got some brilliant successes in the past, but it's vital that the BBC continues to do that and makes that a real focus."Please become a regular supporter of the podcast by signing up here Find all our podcasts here @BeebRoger@[email protected]: [email protected] Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.