The BBC is making a grave mistake axing HARDtalk, says host Stephen Sackur

The BBC, in its wisdom, is closing the show known throughout the world for its unflinching willingness to hold power to account. Citing cost cutting, they’re ending Hardtalk, which has, since its launch in 1997, given us an insight into the minds of some of the most consequential and compelling leaders of my lifetime.

Mikhail Gorbachev, Shimon Peres, Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelensky, even Donald Trump (when he was just a real estate guy) have all subjected themselves to Hardtalk interrogation. Some of those minds will feature in our final show, a compilation of our biggest names, on 27 and 28 March on the BBC News channel.

I fear the BBC is throwing away a precious asset at the worst possible time. From the systemic disinformation peddled by states like Russia, to the potential reality-distortion of AI and the Muskification of social media platform X, we need journalism we can trust more than ever.

In a digital media environment increasingly dominated by the relentless churn of live and breaking news, where viral clips and shouty opinions are engaged in a 24/7 battle for clicks, Hardtalk remains fact-based and forensic.

Stephen Sackur. Richard Bord/Getty Images

It’s a fallacy to believe – given the tens of millions of viewers and listeners the show has on the BBC’s international news channels – that there is no longer an audience for serious, long-form journalism prepared to speak truth to power.

Ironically on the very day, in October last year, that BBC management announced the closure of Hardtalk, the director-general Tim Davie made a heavily promoted speech trumpeting the BBC World Service as a vital expression of democratic soft power. I would politely point out to the DG that Hardtalk has been a pillar of the World Service schedule for decades.

A few years ago, this very magazine ran a story about the amazing global reach and reputation of Hardtalk. The Radio Times headline read: “Do you know who I am?”

Far from being a blow to my ego, I loved it. It captured both the importance of the show as a journalistic flagship for the BBC around the world, and a simple truth about the Hardtalk approach – that it was never about bigging up the presenter but digging deep into the record of every incoming guest, whether they be despots, elected politicians or influential figures from the worlds of culture, business or sport.

Today, independent, truth-telling journalism is under attack not just from dictators and openly authoritarian regimes, but from elected leaders in some of the world’s most powerful democracies. President Donald Trump has long branded journalists he doesn’t like “enemies of the people”. When independent news organisations expose his lies he dismisses their reporting as “fake news” and threatens them with legal action. Intimidation seems to work – just look at the emasculation of The Washington Post. The Post’s current owner, billionaire “tech bro” Jeff Bezos, has befriended Trump and banned dissenting voices from its opinion pages.

In recent years the Post has carried a masthead message declaring “Democracy Dies in Darkness”. But right now, it feels like lights are going out across the world. Which brings me back to the closure of Hardtalk. I know I am not alone in thinking the BBC’s bosses are making a grave mistake. Many in our worldwide audience thank us for “asking the questions our own media cannot ask”.

As disinformation and media manipulation make it ever harder to distinguish truth from lies, there’s never been a greater need for journalism that holds power to account. Asking the right questions matters, now more than ever.

The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here.