Evening Standard: The 'disco dons' in demand by the media
By David Rowan
MICHAEL Clarke may have the most sought-after mind in London. Since 11 September, Professor Clarke has been distracted from his job running the Centre for Defence Studies by constant requests to analyse events for the world's media. Does he think the Taliban are about to collapse? Will Western cities suffer further terrorist attacks? What will happen to Osama bin Laden?
From Vatican Radio to the Australian Financial Review, the calls - five over a typical lunchtime keep queueing at Prof Clarke's office, deep within King's College, London. So far, he has acceded to around 50 requests, from the Today programme to Channel 4 News, providing gravitas to debates otherwise mired in speculation. But after 20 years as a pundit, Prof Clarke is under no illusions about the academic's role: 'The media use us when they don't have more authoritative figures who are closer to policymaking,' he says. 'I advise my colleagues to be helpful when they can, but never to take any special trouble.'
At times like this, when shocking events demand expert interpretation, the lucid scholar is a hot media commodity. As broadcasters and editors struggle to explain history as it happens, the universities and think-tanks fill the void. Jonathan Eyal at the Royal United Services Institute; Lawrence Freedman at King's College, London; Zaki Badawi at the Muslim College; Mark Almond at Oriel, Oxford - all have filled op-ed pages or late-night discussion programmes in recent days.
For the academics, it can be a frustrating lesson in how complex ideas are reduced to a sound bite. The worst aspect is what Clarke calls the 'ABO' syndrome: when broadcasters want experts to say the Absolutely Bloody Obvious, and nothing remotely stimulating. 'It's not as bad as the Eighties, when they really did script you,' he says. 'But some still manoeuvre you into stating the obvious. We're not renta-buffer.' Media outlets have built their own databases of pundits.
Radio 5 Live, with plenty of airtime to fill, has employed a specialist researcher, Navid Akhtar, to find experts on the Islamic world. Rhian Roberts, editor of evening and overnight output, says the results have been 'fantastically useful'. 'As a 24-hour station, we can look into all aspects of the story in depth,' she says. 'We don't want the two-minute interview, and academics do like that.'
On Monday, the BBC began compiling an internal 'war list' to alert producers when guests such as Col Bob Stewart will be in White City, so that a variety of programmes might pitch for interviews. It is a competitive business. Over at ITV News, current favourites include the historian Gwyn Prins, Victor Bulmer-Thomas at the Royal Institute for International Affairs, and Gulf War pilot John Nichol.
'We have a small band whom we guard jealously,' says deputy editor Robin Elias. 'We're looking for someone who really knows their subject and can translate complex issues into language that people can understand, as well as cope with the demands of live TV.' When that rare combination is found, an exclusive deal may swiftly follow.
For newspapers, literary flair is a further demand. Current favourites on this paper include the writer Michael Griffin, policy analyst Francis Tusa and, in New York, Tony Judt.
Yet James Hanning, associate editor (comment) at the Evening Standard, laments the inability of many specialists to communicate clearly. 'The quality of writing is not always prized among academics,' he says. 'If you do write readably, it can be regarded as 'Journalistic' - and there's nothing worse for an academic than that.' Hanning is also looking for experts prepared to take a position.
'If you can find one who can get on a soapbox, people like Andrew Roberts, great. We call them the disco dons.'
(Evening Standard, October 17 2001)
MICHAEL Clarke may have the most sought-after mind in London. Since 11 September, Professor Clarke has been distracted from his job running the Centre for Defence Studies by constant requests to analyse events for the world's media. Does he think the Taliban are about to collapse? Will Western cities suffer further terrorist attacks? What will happen to Osama bin Laden?
From Vatican Radio to the Australian Financial Review, the calls - five over a typical lunchtime keep queueing at Prof Clarke's office, deep within King's College, London. So far, he has acceded to around 50 requests, from the Today programme to Channel 4 News, providing gravitas to debates otherwise mired in speculation. But after 20 years as a pundit, Prof Clarke is under no illusions about the academic's role: 'The media use us when they don't have more authoritative figures who are closer to policymaking,' he says. 'I advise my colleagues to be helpful when they can, but never to take any special trouble.'
At times like this, when shocking events demand expert interpretation, the lucid scholar is a hot media commodity. As broadcasters and editors struggle to explain history as it happens, the universities and think-tanks fill the void. Jonathan Eyal at the Royal United Services Institute; Lawrence Freedman at King's College, London; Zaki Badawi at the Muslim College; Mark Almond at Oriel, Oxford - all have filled op-ed pages or late-night discussion programmes in recent days.
For the academics, it can be a frustrating lesson in how complex ideas are reduced to a sound bite. The worst aspect is what Clarke calls the 'ABO' syndrome: when broadcasters want experts to say the Absolutely Bloody Obvious, and nothing remotely stimulating. 'It's not as bad as the Eighties, when they really did script you,' he says. 'But some still manoeuvre you into stating the obvious. We're not renta-buffer.' Media outlets have built their own databases of pundits.
Radio 5 Live, with plenty of airtime to fill, has employed a specialist researcher, Navid Akhtar, to find experts on the Islamic world. Rhian Roberts, editor of evening and overnight output, says the results have been 'fantastically useful'. 'As a 24-hour station, we can look into all aspects of the story in depth,' she says. 'We don't want the two-minute interview, and academics do like that.'
On Monday, the BBC began compiling an internal 'war list' to alert producers when guests such as Col Bob Stewart will be in White City, so that a variety of programmes might pitch for interviews. It is a competitive business. Over at ITV News, current favourites include the historian Gwyn Prins, Victor Bulmer-Thomas at the Royal Institute for International Affairs, and Gulf War pilot John Nichol.
'We have a small band whom we guard jealously,' says deputy editor Robin Elias. 'We're looking for someone who really knows their subject and can translate complex issues into language that people can understand, as well as cope with the demands of live TV.' When that rare combination is found, an exclusive deal may swiftly follow.
For newspapers, literary flair is a further demand. Current favourites on this paper include the writer Michael Griffin, policy analyst Francis Tusa and, in New York, Tony Judt.
Yet James Hanning, associate editor (comment) at the Evening Standard, laments the inability of many specialists to communicate clearly. 'The quality of writing is not always prized among academics,' he says. 'If you do write readably, it can be regarded as 'Journalistic' - and there's nothing worse for an academic than that.' Hanning is also looking for experts prepared to take a position.
'If you can find one who can get on a soapbox, people like Andrew Roberts, great. We call them the disco dons.'
(Evening Standard, October 17 2001)
posted by David Rowan at Wednesday, October 17, 2001
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