Lewis Goodall

Last updated

Lewis Goodall
Born (1989-07-01) 1 July 1989 (age 35)
Birmingham, England
Alma mater St John's College, Oxford
Occupation(s)Journalist, television reporter, author
Employer(s) BBC
Sky News
LBC
Spouse
Tone Langengen
(m. 2023)

Lewis Goodall (born 1 July 1989) is a British journalist, broadcaster and author. He worked as a journalist for Granada Studios before becoming a political correspondent for Sky News. He later became policy editor of the BBC's flagship current affairs programme Newsnight .

Contents

In 2022, frustrated with their editorial policy, he quit the BBC alongside colleagues Emily Maitlis (Newsnight) and Jon Sopel ( Politics Show ) to launch The News Agents podcast. [1] His first book "Left for Dead?: The Strange Death and Rebirth of the Labour Party" was published in September 2018.

Early life

Goodall was born on 1 July 1989. [2] He was raised on a council estate in Longbridge; he attended Turves Green Boys' School and completed his A Levels at Cadbury Sixth Form College. His mother gave birth to him at the age of 17. His father was a welder at the nearby Rover Company factory. [3] He studied at St John's College, Oxford, graduating in 2010 with a degree in history and politics. [4]

While at Oxford, he spent time in the United States as an intern to the Democrat House Representative Diana DeGette. [5] He later became an Entente Cordiale scholar, spending time learning French in Paris [6] and Mandarin Chinese at Beijing Normal University. [7] He was the first in his family to go to university. [8] Goodall was a volunteer for a member of the Labour Party whilst at school. [9] [10]

Career

Granada and the BBC

After graduation, Goodall worked for Granada Studios as a question writer for the quiz show University Challenge . [4] He then worked for the centre-left think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research. [11] At the IPPR, he was the main researcher for the "Northern Economic Futures Commission" think tank. [12] He began his career in journalism as a producer and reporter at the BBC in 2012, where he was a producer on the Daily Politics. He later become Economics and Business Analyst for BBC News. [13]

In 2014, he joined BBC Newsnight as a political researcher, briefing presenters for major interviews before becoming an occasional reporter for the programme as well as wider BBC output, including Victoria Derbyshire and BBC Radio Four. [4] In 2015, Goodall reported from both the Charlie Hebdo shooting and November 2015 Paris attacks. Goodall conducted the last interview with Labour Party politician Denis Healey before the latter’s death in October 2015. [4]

Sky News

Goodall left the BBC in 2016 to join Sky News as a political correspondent. He became known for his coverage of the Brexit crisis and the strife within the Labour Party, and in 2019 was named a MHP Communications '30 under 30' young journalists to watch. [14] That year, he presented a documentary on the rise of Nigel Farage and the Brexit Party. [15] He became known for his election and data analysis and became a main presenter on Sky's election programmes in 2017 and 2019. His first book, an analysis of New Labour and Jeremy Corbyn titled Left for Dead?: The Strange Death and Rebirth of the Labour Party was published in 2018. [16] [17]

Return to Newsnight

He returned to the BBC in January 2020 as Newsnight's policy editor. [18] [19] He went on to become one of the most prominent faces of the BBC's reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic, especially its impact on schools, care homes and the death rate. In August 2020, he reported extensively on the A-level grading scandal, [11] credited with changing government policy over which grades would be given to students in that year's exams, for which he was nominated for an Orwell Prize in 2021. [11] In 2022, he reported from the western Ukrainian border on the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War and the resultant refugee crisis in eastern Poland. [20] That year, he presented a Radio Four documentary "What is a Tory?" on the evolution of Conservative political thought. [21] Goodall featured in the BBC's election night coverage and was called a "rising star" of the corporation. [22]

Goodall later stated that the BBC had not protected his editorial freedom from criticism by former Conservative Party communications chief, Robbie Gibb, who was appointed to the BBC board in May 2021 and should not have had direct editorial involvement. Editors had instead warned him to "be careful: Robbie is watching you." This in part led to his decision later to leave the BBC. [23]

The News Agents

In June 2022, Goodall announced he was leaving the BBC to join media company Global Media & Entertainment to make a daily podcast ( The News Agents with Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel). [22] He stated on Twitter he would be remaining at Newsnight for "a while yet". [24] The News Agents was launched on 30 August 2022, [25] and was named "Best Daily Podcast" in 2023. He also became presenter of a Friday politics show for LBC. He was named as the sole presenter of the investigative documentary series “News Agents Investigates” in the same year. In spring 2024 he was named as the presenter of LBC's flagship Sunday political show, Sunday with Lewis Goodall. In November 2024 he made a return to Sky, as an election night presenter for their US election coverage.

Goodall writes for the New Statesman and other print and online outlets. [26]

Personal life

He married Tone Langengen, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's senior climate and energy policy advisor, in August 2023. [27] [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Paxman</span> English retired journalist, author and broadcaster (born 1950)

Jeremy Dickson Paxman is an English former broadcaster, journalist and author.

<i>Newsnight</i> BBC Television current affairs programme

Newsnight is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. It is broadcast weeknights at 22:30 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel; it is also available on BBC iPlayer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Marr</span> British journalist (born 1959)

Andrew William Stevenson Marr is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and presenter. Beginning his career as a political commentator at The Scotsman, he subsequently edited The Independent newspaper from 1996 to 1998 and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 to 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Miliband</span> British politician (born 1969)

Edward Samuel Miliband is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2010 to 2015. Alongside his brother, David Miliband, he served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Mair</span> Scottish broadcaster

Eddie Mair is a Scottish former broadcaster who was a presenter on BBC radio and television. He presented his show on LBC between 4pm and 6pm every weekday until his last one, on 18 August 2022, after which he retired from broadcasting. He also hosted BBC Radio 4's daily news magazine PM, the Radio 4 Saturday iPM, and NewsPod. He occasionally presented Newsnight and Any Questions. Mair became a stand-in presenter for The Andrew Marr Show following Marr's stroke. Mair left the BBC in August 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Maitlis</span> British journalist (born 1970)

Emily Maitlis is a British journalist and former newsreader for the BBC. She was the lead anchor of the BBC Two news and current affairs programme Newsnight until the end of 2021. She has since been a presenter of the daily podcast The News Agents on LBC Radio.

Mark Mardell is a British journalist, formerly the presenter of The World This Weekend on BBC Radio 4. He had previously served as BBC News's Europe editor, and provided coverage for each United Kingdom general election between 1992 and 2005, before he became North America editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Sopel</span> British journalist (born 1959)

Jonathan B. Sopel is a British journalist, television presenter and podcaster. He was formerly BBC News's North America editor; chief political correspondent for the domestic news channel BBC News; a presenter on the Politics Show on BBC One and the BBC News channel; and from 2013 to 2014, the main presenter of Global on BBC World News. Since 2022, he has been presenting the Global daily news podcast The News Agents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iain Dale</span> British radio broadcaster (born 1962)

Iain Dale is a British broadcaster, author, political commentator, and a former publisher and book retailer. He has been a blogger since 2002. He was the publisher of the Total Politics magazine between 2008 and 2012, and the managing director of Biteback Publishing until May 2018. Since September 2010, he has hosted a regular discussion show on the radio station LBC. He was named Radio Presenter of the Year at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards in 2013 and 2016. On 28 May 2024, he announced that he was quitting his LBC roles to run as an MP in the 2024 United Kingdom general election, only to abandon his campaign three days later. He returned to his usual LBC slot on 3 June.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James O'Brien (broadcaster)</span> British radio presenter, podcaster, author

James Edward O'Brien is a British presenter and writer. Since 2004, he has hosted a weekday morning phone-in discussion for talk station LBC.

Sky News has about 600 staff, of whom about 50 speak on camera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Mason (journalist)</span> British journalist

Paul Mason is a British journalist. He writes a weekly column at The New European and monthly columns for Social Europe and Frankfurter Rundschau. He was Business Correspondent and then Economics Editor of the BBC Two television programme Newsnight from 2001, and Culture and Digital Editor of Channel 4 News from 2013, becoming the programme's Economics Editor in 2014. He left Channel 4 in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Kuenssberg</span> British journalist, former Political Editor of BBC News (born 1976)

Laura Juliet Kuenssberg is a British journalist who presents the BBC's Sunday morning politics show. She was succeeded as Political Editor of BBC News by Chris Mason.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Media & Entertainment</span> British media company

Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysalis Radio, GCap Media and GMG Radio. Global owns and operates seven core radio brands, all employing a national network strategy, including Capital, Heart, Gold, Classic FM, Smooth and LBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Jones</span> British journalist and activist (born 1984)

Owen Jones is a British newspaper columnist, commentator, journalist, author and political activist.

Sir Robert Paul Gibb, known as Robbie Gibb, is a British public relations professional and former political advisor and broadcast journalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Barnett</span> British broadcaster and journalist (1985)

Emma Barnett is a British broadcaster and journalist who presented Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 from 2021 until 2024.

Rob Burley is an English television producer, formerly the BBC's editor of live political programmes. He was the editor of The Andrew Marr Show, Politics Live, Newscast on television, Newswatch and The Westminster Hour.

This is a list of events taking place in 2022 relating to radio in the United Kingdom.

<i>The News Agents</i> British news and current affairs podcast

The News Agents is a British daily podcast produced by Global Media & Entertainment. It is presented by Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel, and Lewis Goodall. It launched on 30 August 2022, with episodes released every weekday afternoon.

References

  1. Waterson, Jim. "Lewis Goodall joins exodus from BBC amid impartiality drive". The Guardian, 20 June 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2024
  2. Goodall, Lewis [@lewis_goodall] (1 July 2019). "I celebrated my 30th birthday in the only way appropriate: I went to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library" (Tweet). Retrieved 13 January 2021 via Twitter.
  3. 49 | Lewis Goodall & Megan Goodall | Relatively, 28 June 2022, retrieved 8 March 2024
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Lewis Goodall". greeneheaton.co.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  5. "Book Lewis Goodall - Contact speaker agent". JLA. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  6. "Author". HarperCollins Canada. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  7. "Mary Greenham NewsPresenters - Lewis Goodall Agent". www.marygreenham.co.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  8. Goodall, Lewis (19 August 2020). "The schools scandal". New Statesman. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  9. Evans, Joe (21 August 2020). "BBC Newsnight editor accused of 'off the scale' bias after New Statesman cover story". The Week UK. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  10. "Lewis Goodall". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 April 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 Singh, Anita (20 August 2020). "BBC impartiality row: Newsnight policy editor accused of 'off the scale' bias". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  12. "If the Chancellor is serious about "rebalancing" the UK economy we need serious investment in regions outside of the greater South East". British Politics and Policy at LSE. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  13. "UK v rest of G7: How's our driving?". BBC News. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  14. Gladdis, Keith (28 March 2023). "'Golden age of journalism ahead' says 30ToWatch journalism awards chair John Ryley". Press Gazette. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  15. Special report: Farage - A New Populism? , retrieved 8 March 2024
  16. Maguire, Patrick (19 September 2018). "Lewis Goodall's Left for Dead? asks if Labour can win again". New Statesman.
  17. Bennett, Asa (28 September 2018). "Left for Dead? review: a rip-roaring history of New Labour's rise and fall". The Telegraph.
  18. Mayhew, Freddy (2 September 2019). "Sky's Lewis Goodall to join BBC Newsnight as policy editor". Press Gazette.
  19. Goodall, Lewis (25 January 2020). "Surge in Labour membership amid leadership race". BBC News. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  20. On the Polish-Ukrainian border as tens of thousands flee - BBC Newsnight , retrieved 8 March 2024
  21. "BBC Radio 4 - What's a Tory?". BBC. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  22. 1 2 Waterson, Jim (20 June 2022). "Lewis Goodall joins exodus from BBC amid impartiality drive". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  23. Thorpe, Vanessa (21 July 2024). "BBC failed to defend me during Tory witch-hunt, says Lewis Goodall". The Observer. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  24. Goodall, Lewis [@lewis_goodall] (20 June 2022). "Should say I'm sticking around at Newsnight for a while yet!" (Tweet). Retrieved 21 June 2022 via Twitter.
  25. "Details of Emily Maitlis & Jon Sopel's new Global podcast revealed". Radio Today. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  26. "Writers". New Statesman.
  27. Prince, Rosa (14 August 2023). "Health of the nation — and a postcard from Barry". Politico. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  28. "Tone Langengen". Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. Retrieved 2 September 2023.