Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel to leave BBC to launch podcast and host LBC show

Image source, Global

BBC journalists Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel have announced they are leaving the corporation to launch a new podcast and host a radio show together on LBC.

Newsnight's Maitlis and outgoing North America editor Sopel have signed a deal with LBC's parent company Global.

Details haven't been revealed but Maitlis called it a "major new podcast" and Sopel said "opportunities like this just don't come along very often".

They follow Andrew Marr, who moved from the BBC to Global at the end of 2021.

Sopel and Maitlis worked together as co-hosts of the BBC's Americast podcast, which launched in 2020. Maitlis also made headlines and won awards for her 2019 interview with Prince Andrew.

On Twitter, she described the new daily podcast as an "amazing opportunity", adding that she and Sopel "are so thrilled Global is giving us this opportunity to be big and ambitious with this project".

Image caption,

Maitlis has also covered many live events including elections and the EU referendum

She added: "Nevertheless, it will be a wrench to leave the BBC after 20 phenomenal years. I am so grateful for the opportunities I've had there."

Sopel tweeted: "Opportunities like this just don't come along very often. But am sad to leave the BBC which has been home for so long."

He described it as "a wrench" to be leaving the BBC after almost four decades.

"I leave with nothing but good feelings towards the Corporation, and wish all the best to my colleagues and friends there," he wrote.

Global said full details of the pair's new podcast would be announced later this year.

There's a lot to unpick in this announcement that two more of the BBC's big hitters are departing the corporation.

There'll be claims that this is yet another example of the BBC's inability to hold on to its talent. Andrew Neil and Andrew Marr have already left (the latter for LBC, where he may soon be bumping into Emily and John in the lift). Marr said he was "keen to get my own voice back", away from the BBC's impartiality drive. That may be, if not a factor in the pair's decision, at least an added bonus.

But while some will read the loss of these high-profile names as a sign about the BBC's stability going forward, it may say as much about the more competitive media landscape that exists, and the companies with big pockets putting tempting offers on the table.

It's also a sign of the increasing importance of podcasts. That a big player like Global is making such a huge investment in the form may be the first time a commercial radio station has signalled so overtly what podcasting means to its brand.

The Maitlis/Sopel pairing will also do an LBC radio show and other analysis, but the podcast is front and centre of what's been announced today.

That's in large part down to the talent involved. Maitlis brings a cachet very few others offer (and what more was there to achieve at the BBC after her Prince Andrew interview?), and the combination of her and John Sopel on Americast has brought a hugely loyal and dedicated following.

In Dino Sofos, the "powerhouse" as she describes him, who was head of BBC news podcasts before recently starting his production company, they have an executive producer with a brilliant track record.

What the podcast will actually contain is being kept under wraps for now. Perhaps there are clues in the press release. Maitlis says it will "build on everything we've achieved with Americast" and Sopel calls it an "innovative news podcast". My reading is that whatever they create, it's unlikely to be solely focused on America.

'Brilliant journalists'

James Rea, director of broadcasting and content at Global, said of Sopel and Maitlis: "They are both brilliant journalists and presenters and I know we're going to build something hugely exciting together."

Jonathan Munro, interim director of BBC News, thanked the pair for their work at the corporation.

He said in a statement: "We'd like to thank both Emily and Jon for their many years of sterling service to the BBC and wish them the very best in their new endeavours at Global."

Image source, BBC Sport

Image caption,

Sopel has been a familiar face outside the White House in recent years

In June last year, Maitlis was reprimanded for breaching the BBC's impartiality rules by retweeting a "clearly controversial" post by Piers Morgan about the government's response to the pandemic.

That came after the BBC ruled that a monologue by Maitlis on Newsnight about the row over former Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings' trip to County Durham had breached impartiality guidelines.

Sopel started his career at the BBC in 1983 and went on to become chief political correspondent for BBC News before spending four years as the broadcaster's Paris correspondent.

His reporting has taken him across the globe, covering stories such as the Israel-Lebanon war and the 2004 tsunami from Sri Lanka before he later became North America editor.

He had a famous exchange with President Trump at a 2017 press conference, and found himself in the spotlight again in 2018 following a controversial off-air conversation with Radio 4 presenter John Humphrys about the BBC and equal pay.

He stood down as North America editor at the end of 2021.

Maitlis joined the BBC in 2001 and went on to present the news bulletins on BBC One as well as presenting the news channel, then known as BBC News 24.

She also presented BBC Breakfast before joining Newsnight and has also fronted many live BBC News specials including election nights and the EU referendum.