Fiona Bruce did not deserve to be pilloried over Stanley Johnson Question Time storm, says Christa Ackroyd

So dare I say it, in my opinion to host a one hour controversial topical debate show with both guests and audience deeply divided in their views and keep it fair, balanced and on track is far more difficult than hosting a football programme where, let’s face it, for the majority of the time it is a case of handing over to the already recorded highlights of someone playing sport to someone else’s commentary. Not without its jeopardy perhaps, but hardly in the same league. For more than 20 years I wore an earpiece on live TV. It is the one part of my job which not only fascinates people but fills them with horror. How did you concentrate ? How did you just not stop talking when they were talking to you ? And, more importantly, what do they say ? Firstly, you simply get used to it. It’s a bit like driving a car. When you are learning every change of gear is thought through. When you have experience you don’t even think about it, you just do it because your brain has learned how to. Secondly, let me explain who ‘they’ are. And why even a single headed news programme is always a team effort.

A TV gallery, as it is known, can be made up of anything from two to more than a dozen people. And they can, and do, all talk at once, which means it can get very loud and very hairy, especially when things go wrong, or potentially wrong. You learn to filter it out and take in what you need to. A presenter say of light entertainment which is almost always pre-recorded, can choose to have closed or open talkback. Closed being you hear nothing unless the producer or director presses a button and wants to give you some instruction. Open talkback means you hear everyone from the technical operators instructing the camera person on their next shot to the production assistant who counts down constantly to the end of the programme. The director is in charge of how the programme looks as it goes out, cutting between shots and pre empting where he is going next. You hear his direction. The producer is in charge of the content, what is planned beforehand and what goes out during. And may I say here and now the very nature of live TV sometimes means the two are often very different .

I always worked on open talkback, even when things got very loud and very precarious. Knowing what was going on, good or bad, as it was happening was my security blanket. If the satellite failed I knew it long before the decision was made as to whether we could cross to a live link. Because I had heard it. If a piece didn’t make in time I was forewarned the running order may change or I may have to fill in until it did. But more importantly the producer was there as back up, to listen from afar and make usefully suggestions about where we should go next. The role was far from clerical. Sometimes he or she made the difference between being sued or not, it is that crucial. And that is exactly what happened to Fiona Bruce.

The row exploded after a discussion when panelist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown said Mr Johnson’s alleged history of violence was “on record” and he was a “wife beater”. Bruce interrupted, telling journalist and panel member Ms Alibhai-Brown and the audience: “I’m not disputing what you’re saying, but just so everyone knows what this is referring to, Stanley Johnson’s wife spoke to a journalist, Tom Bower, and she said that Stanley Johnson had broken her nose and that she’d ended up in hospital as a result. Stanley Johnson has not commented publicly on that. Friends of his have said it did happen but it was a one-off.”

So what was she doing ? She was not making light of domestic abuse. She was not trivialising any incident or the affect on any victim. She was merely repeating the facts as were probably given to her in her earpiece in order that firstly they were true, secondly they were fair and thirdly that the programme didn’t get sued. That Refuge, a women’s abuse charity which Bruce had supported for 25 years, subsequently accepted her resignation saddens me. They said in their statement that survivors had found the whole situation devastating, as they would. Any talk of domestic abuse will trigger awful memories for many women brave enough to flee. But why did Refuge acknowledge that her words were ‘a legal obligation and not Ms Bruce’s own’ and still accept that resignation? Which means they and women sufferers have lost a dedicated advocate who did so much to keep their vital work to the fore for 25 years. The BBC have said Fiona Bruce was not expressing her views, which of course as a news presenter she would not be allowed to do. Friends and former colleagues have suggested she will be devastated at the fall out from the programme, which is exactly why I wanted to explain in this column what happens in an earpiece in precarious moments in TV news.

Here in newspaper opinion columns the world is very different. I can largely say what I like about what I like because that is my role. And with that comes the acceptance that not everyone will agree with me. Or can I ? No I cannot. I can’t make things up. I should never be cruel though I think some columnists are. And as on TV I have to be aware of the laws of libel, which means I have to be sure of my facts and get them right. But I don’t have to be balanced. I also have the opportunity to read and reread and rewrite if necessary several times. But everyone has checks, even columnists. My editor will read this and question and ask for clarity if I get it wrong. And I sometimes do. We are all human. But we are not live. We are not on television. I am not presiding over a lively debate and I do not have a dozen or so people in my ear while trying to do so. Fiona Bruce has made it to the top because she is a consummate professional. That she remains there is important for all women pursing a career in television, particularly for older woman. I hope she continues to do so for a very long time to come. Just as I hope every victim of domestic violence finds the strength to seek help and get out.