The Telegraph can’t help getting a sneering dig into broadcasting even as it remembers Charles Wheeler:
Sir Charles Wheeler, the BBC foreign correspondent who has died aged 85, was the last working member of the stylish post-war school of television reporting and was one of the few British television journalists to whom the term distinguished could properly be applied.
Wheeler inspired Martin Bell, Stewart Purvis, Gavin Esler and probably anybody who loved broadcasting and ever watched him report.
My own favourite Wheeler moment was him talking to some American voters in a bar in the perfectly named town of Lost Nation, during the Iowa primaries. The voters voiced their whines and political platitudes.
“If the primaries didn’t happen here,” grumbled one, “nobody would care what we thought.”
Wheeler nursed a cigarette, before looking the man in the eye.
“No,” he said, “they probably wouldn’t.”
The timing and response, perfect. Like all great artists, he reserved the real steel for himself.
He was, of course, the antithesis of impartial BBC journalism. He editorialised. He wasn’t afraid to take sides. Of course, foreign affairs reporting is a more forgiving arena than British politics, as John Simpson, Justin Webb and Matt Frei can all attest.
It worked for me, but then people who think that sympathy for the weak amounts to liberal bias probably would probably disagree.
Important, too, that he carried on working right up to his death in his 80s. He did some fantastic radio documentaries in recent years, keeping alive issues like war reparations.
Wheeler’s life is a reminder to editors and managers to stick with the difficult but talented. It’s a tribute to the byzantine workings of the BBC that it managed to keep on finding a home for his work.