Victoria Derbyshire has called out a BBC boss who hailed the corporation for its "original journalism" after her own programme was axed due to cuts.
The presenter told BBC News’ editorial director Kamal Ahmed to “reconsider the decision to close our programme then” after he tweeted his praise for a Newsnight investigation.
He had shared a post about a probe by the flagship current affairs programme that had resulted in the Government announcing measures to ban putting children under the age of 16 in unregulated accommodation.
Ahmed wrote: “Investigations matter. Original journalism matters.”
Derbyshire, 51, previously said that she was "devastated" to discover that her show was being axed as part of a string of cuts when it was reported in a newspaper - before an official announcement was made last month.
She has since made her feelings known about her programme’s cancellation, and has condemned the BBC’s claims that it pulled the show off air because it had failed to grow its live audience.
During a briefing to BBC staff about the cost-reduction cuts two weeks ago, Derbyshire tweeted: “we were NEVER asked to grow the linear Tv audience. Ever. We were asked to grow our digital audience – we did – our digi figures are huge (our successful digital figures appear to be an inconvenience to those making the decisions).”
She added: “Our remit when we were set up: 1. Original journalism 2. Reaching underserved audiences 3. Growing the digital figures We achieved all 3.”
Derbyshire’s show began in 2015 and broadcasts live on BBC Two and the BBC News channel every weekday from 10am.
The programme won a Bafta in 2017 and Derbyshire was nominated for the RTS News Presenter of the Year for the fifth consecutive year last month.
Her response to Ahmed came after he apologised to BBC staff for accepting a £12,000 fee to speak at a banking conference last week.
With reporting by Press Association
