IN response to Robert Readman’s letter to Have Your Say (Daily Echo October 13), I would like to re-assure him that he is not alone at being irritated by the questioning techniques of television interviewers.

While I accept it can be necessary sometimes to challenge replies from politicians, especially if they begin to ‘hedge’ and avoid direct answers, surely this can be done in a politely persistent manner rather than an aggressive, confrontational attitude. It seems that some presenters get carried away with power; often noticeably by those with limited political reporting experience.

Do they not realise that as communicators on current affairs, their attitude pervades the whole of the watching/listening public and soon becomes the normal way to question other people’s viewpoints. This, in my opinion, contributes to the increase in rudeness and aggression so prevalent in our society today.

I also agree that the BBC is developing and increasingly left wing bias (thus I no longer watch Question Time). This is to the detriment of what should be an impartial reporting on facts. The BBC’s own programme ‘News Watch’ seems to bear this out. When a member of the public criticises the presentation of a news item I have never heard an apology, only a defence of said presentation. Presumably the BBC feels it is above such criticism.

JUDY OLDERSHAW

Queens Park Avenue, Bournemouth