Who COULD she imply! Former Today programme star Mishal Husain makes use of first interview since BBC exit to decry ‘bombastic’ character journalism and presenters who speak about themselves

Former Today host Mishal Husain has criticised ‘bombastic’ presenters, following concerns that the BBC Radio 4 programme has become more personality-focused.

The comments, which could be perceived as a veiled swipe aimed towards current presenters incuding Amol Rajan and Emma Barnett, were made in an interview with Vogue.

Husain, 52, was asked about the changes at the flagship Radio 4 breakfast show and its push towards personality-driven media, but did not mention her former colleagues directly.

She said: ‘Personality-focused journalism doesn’t have to be bombastic. It doesn’t have to be about the presenters centring themselves. 

‘Hopefully, if they’re a personality with journalistic integrity, journalistic values, then they can be a conduit to the news for people.’

When the broadcaster was asked if she was comfortable with the changes she said she always reminded audiences that she was part of a wider team, and not the sole personality.

She said: ‘What was true to me was that I would very rarely use the word ‘I’, actually on air.

‘I would quite often say: “We’ve talked to so and so, because you’re always part of a team.” ‘From the booking of guests, the deciding to go down a certain route, the writing of a brief – broadcasting is a team effort.’

Former Today host Mishal Husain poses for Vogue as she criticises ‘bombastic’ presenters

Mishal Husain left the BBC after a 26-year career when she stepped down from the Today programme last year

There have been tensions beween current Today programme presenters Nick Robinson and Emma Barnett

‘So I would always say “we” and very rarely use the word “I”. That’s just what came naturally to me.”

Husain has moved to front a new interview series at Bloomberg, following her departure Today after 11 years at the helm and more than two decades at the BBC.

Rajan was recruited by the Today programme bosses in 2021 and promised to ‘bring his trademark insight and flair’ to the show.

While Woman’s Hour presenter Barnett was billed as bringing ‘energy and verve’ when she replaced longstanding Today host Martha Kearney in 2024.

Later that year, Husain announced she was leaving the corporation.

The show is down 112,000 listeners in the last report of weekday audience figures, to a low of 5.7 million.

Husain also revealed that before her departure from the corporation, she had applied for the Sunday morning show slot vacated by Andrew Marr, which later went to Laura Kuenssberg, and was overlooked for the News at 10 job following the Huw Edwards scandal which was later filled by Clive Myrie.

The mother-of-three used it as an opportunity to teach her children about failure.

Husain joined the BBC as a producer before becoming a presenter on BBC World News in 2001

When Husain departed Today, Radio 4 invited former colleagues into the studio and played some of Husain’s career highlights as the BBC paid tribute to their star presenter

Amol Rajan was recruited by the Today programme bosses in 2021 and promised to ‘bring his trademark insight and flair’ to the show 

Husain made her comments in  the latest edition of Vogue, featuring Billie Eilish on the cover 

 ‘When I went for that Sunday morning job and I didn’t get it, I talked to [my sons] about it because I thought, “Not getting jobs is going to be part of their life. 

‘It’s important to show them, on every level, that you have to be willing to put yourself out there and some things will work out and some won’t”, and I’m not immune to those pressures.’

Last November, Husain said in a speech that she had faced more racism then ‘at any point’ in her career.

Asked if she was ready to talk about the abuse she had endured. Husain said: ‘I don’t know when, or if, I will be ready to talk about that in detail publicly. Partly because it’s painful and partly because it shook me, you know, to the core, in quite a deep way.

The British Muslim presenter also said this period of life in Britain now feels ‘worse’ and ‘more febrile’ than the month immediately after 9/11.

She said: ‘Racism is a part of many people’s everyday experience and people are at the sharp end of prejudice in many different ways as part of their daily experience, so I don’t think that what I’ve felt myself in the past year is, sadly, anything special or notable. It’s just that this past year was the moment where it came home to me.’

‘People should know that someone like me is not immune. I’m very privileged. I’ve had an incredible career. I’m hoping to go on to do other exciting, hopefully important things. But it doesn’t mean I operate in a world where these issues don’t touch me.’

It comes after The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this month that Emma Barnett had lodged a complaint about Today Programme veteran Nick Robinson, calling him ‘overbearing’, when she joined the show in April last year.