David's World

May 15, 2006

The real Slim Kewney -- random visitor instead of internet expert in BBC interview

Guy J Kewney, internet & wireless journalist, was scheduled to give an interview on the BBC, when he found himself represented on TV by a nice gentleman speaking broken English. The BBC crew dragged the other Guy in front of the camera, to give a short life interview about music downloads and the recent win of Apple Computers over Apple, the Beatles' recording label. Guy #2, reportedly either Guy #1's cab driver or a recent IT graduate from Congo applying for a job at the BBC, played along, and it's a hilarious catch.

I'm not surprised that something like that can happen. The editors that prepare the shows rarely spend much time on getting just the right interview partner - a 10-20 minute phone call is enough to make sure the guy you're eyeing speaks fluently and has something interesting to say.
I don't have experience with TV, but I've done just that job at various radio stations. It's quite likely that the person scheduling the interview on the day before isn't the one running the production of the show - so whoever is in charge of greeting the interview partner (for instance, an assistant producer) will just quickly check that the name in the books matches the visitor's name, and that's it. It's a tough business, things happen quickly (such an interview takes a minute or two!). Mind you, the presenter itself doesn't usually know what's going on - they've been briefed before the show.

The real Guy J Kewney, by the way, can laugh about the whole story.