now, bbc media editor amol rajan interviews the outgoing director general tony hall, looking back at in the role. tony hall, thank you for talking to bbc news. in preparation for this interview i have spoken to many present and former colleagues of yours, senior figures in tv and politics, and i should say in the spirit of transparency that the consensus among them is that of you were a highly effective dg someone who had probably the hardestjob ofany dg. but there was one common criticism that many made, and i think you know what's coming, and it's about the deal that you struck with the government back in 2015 to take on the cost of tv licences for the over—75s, something which you now say the bbc cannot afford. it looked like a bad deal back then, why did you agree to it? let me take you back to 2015. against everyone's expectations you had an incoming majority conservative government, so the lib dems and their break on the government in the past, the coalition had gone, you had a government which was full—on austerity, a feeling that the bbc needed reform. i think it was a really

amol rajan, bbc news.the second night of the republican national convention. among the speakers are present in's children and his wife. let's talk again to our correspondence. the democratic national convention last week heard from michelle 0bama and fromjill biden. heard from michelle 0bama and from jill biden. is there any surprise that no fewer than six members of the trump family are addressing the convention? no, this is the trump show, and in all respects we know that donald trump himself as he is his own best spokesperson and cheerleader and his family go with the package. so we are hearing from melania trump tonight, she is really the highlight of the trump family speakers if you like. she is of course the first lady. very relu cta nt course the first lady. very reluctant first lady, though, and it will be interesting to see how she delivers this speech, what tone she will set. have been told she has been rehearsing because she is a confident speaker, she doesn't like appearing in public and it wil

lord hall has been speaking to our media editor, amol rajan.ver be dropped from the last eight of the proms? my view about the proms is that it is a miracle that the team have done something which i think is so important, which is to have two weeks of music at the end of the proms of light music. you know what i'm getting at here, there's been a huge amount of noise and social media, the cultural secretary has made a point about it, was there a discussion at the bbc about dropping those songs over at the british colonial past? the whole thing has been discussed by david and his colleagues, of course it has. the point is they have come to the right conclusion. it is very hard in an albert hall which takes over 5,000 people to have the atmosphere of the last eight of the proms and to have things were a whole audience singalong. it is hard creatively and artistically to make that work. they have decided to include it instrumentally and who knows what will happen next year, i expect it will happen next year, i expect it will be back. on the questio

but amol messi —— messi understands that the season is ending now which is why he sent a letter saying as of the two positions. they are saying, legally, everything is on the table. so in this case, with messi not playing for the next few months, or they reach an agreement where barcelona puts price that they are willing to p5y~ puts price that they are willing to pay. but we are not there yet. at the moment, don't go. well barcelona are trying to convince messi to stay, they say they want to build a team around him but with his mind apparently set, it looks like this could be a transfer saga that runs on for a while. plenty of clubs would love to have messi in their team — but realistically where could he end up? that's a very good question. well, even if he does manage to leave for free — like he hopes to do — only a handful of clubs could actually afford him. so, where would they be? he's reportedly on 50 million euros a year — after tax — at barcelona. now paris saint germain certainly have the finances and the idea of teaming up with neymar again would appeal to messi. perhaps the

the family has discovered a cooking up today vegetarian walk amole are on the menu. but no smartphones off the table during the meal. today school children will eventually grow up and adult sized problems perhaps bigger than the ones we've ever know how to look. for vast sums of being spent to bail out the ravaged economies hundreds of billions of euros in germany. in india. in china. sandeman united states trillions. governments have to borrow most of this money but who will pay the debt back. today's elderly for today's young. much public debt only comes to you decades later that means today's young will carry the can in many countries. there is already a shortage of jobs and training opportunities higher taxes and spending cuts are quite likely in the future so are today's millennial as the main losers in the coronavirus crisis. not necessarily they might also stand to benefit if investment is focused on shaping the future. education digitalisation. environmental protection. if firms are kept going through the crisis jobs should become available again holders of g

lord hall reflects on his time as the bbc‘s director general, in conversation with our media editor, amolews. in preparation for this interview, i have spoken to many present and former colleagues of yours, senior figures in tv and politics, and i should say in the spirit of transparency that the consensus among them is that of you were a highly effective dg someone who had probably the hardestjob ofany dg. but there was one common criticism that many made — i think you know what's coming — and it's about the deal that you struck with the government back in 2015 to take on the cost of tv licences for the over—75s, something which you now say the bbc cannot afford. it looked like a bad deal back then, why did you agree to it? let me take you back to 2015. against everyone‘s expectation, you had an incoming majority conservative government, so the lib dems and their break on the government in the past, the coalition had gone, the coalition had gone. you had a government which was full—on austerity, a feeling that the bbc needed reform. i think it was a really, really perilous time for the b

yeah, but these were deals which were done, to be honest with you, amol, and i'm not passing any blamee, but these were done before my time. but that's interesting, because i don't think this has been discussed enough in public. to what extent did you feel, as someone who is again sorting out something of a mess, that your hands were tied by contractual negotiations, by legal obligations from before your time? a lot, to be frank, and i think all of us felt we were sorting out problems which were a generation old. why did it take so long to sort out carrie grace's pay? i think the organisation responded too slowly, i completely agree with you on that. but, you know, iwish we could have done that faster, but that is a very specific example and i don't really want to go much further than that. let's look at the talent management problem that you inherited, and that isjeremy clarkson. why are you laughing? i likejeremy a lot, i think he is actually a real talent and that was a very hard decision, and... he was...a very special sort of person at the bbc. but look, you go back to your values

rust is one of what swann is best known heavy metal bands their hits hate amole is an anthem against social pressure to conform rust believes metal music encourages an independent attitude. to give you the balls and the courage to just see it as it is this individual is that nature of its aggressive music and you just don't understand why somebody doesn't get it. just realize you know what i'm just there in the gate i'm not going to do whatever. society dictates and they're going to conform to this rule i'm just going to be a fearless machine and just go on and listen to no one seek my own path and that's it. when rust takes to the stage the crowds excitement is palpable. although heavy metal has a relatively small following in botswana the country has a reputation for its passionate fans and a unique cowboy style like stocks the fans believe their powerful music and pawn shop for dr clothing is often misunderstood as evil. people and we care more. about what. we don't ask and that. people believe mentality it's great if people sometimes people so that's where the uniqueness comes in

arabic amol is from lebanon it's good to have you back on this program with us tonight were you satisfied with the message from the prime minister today. that's a tough question to answer as many have been means not satisfied with this resignation we've seen the protests this evening following the prime minister's resignation the protesters are saying this is not enough their resignation does not saturate the demands of the people they want to hold accountable those responsible for the blast and those responsible for years and years of neglect and mismanagement of the whole system and lebanon of the whole government so this resignation comes on the brink of an already boiling country with various crises and there's a big fear that this will only create more turmoil in this country. is bigger than the street bigger than even the political elite. but he said nothing really about how to change their absolutely and he said nothing about how he discovered that i mean that's definitely not new information for that have been these people they have witnessed the corruption in the state and its va

here's our media editor, amol rajan. # rule britannia. ..# the promenade concerts, or proms, are amongstt staged in 1895, the glorious climax includes the songs land of hope and glory and rule britannia. the lyrics of the latter include the assertion that britons never, never, never shall be slaves. proudly sung for over a century, the lyrics hark back to the era of naval conquest in which they were written. the rules... over the past few months, many broadcasts, including the bbc‘s, have adapted because of the pandemic. is it not time to let people make the decision... but with no audience in the albert hall and just a few socially distant singers, the bbc says that for practical rather than philosophical reasons, the words will this year be dropped. was there a discussion at the bbc about dropping those songs because of their association with britain's imperial past? they've come to the right conclusion... so, there was a discussion? the whole thing has been discussed by david and his colleagues, of course it has, but the point is they have come to the right conclusion, which is it's v

time spent on subscription streaming services also doubled during april. 0ur media editor amol rajanmarkable. in the past four months during lockdown 12 million subscriptions to streaming services were taken up and a quarter of those from people who had never taken out a subscription before so remarkable growth. and it suggests that this revolution will be televised! it is a revolution not just in media but in our attention spans as we are living in an attention economy and when information and entertainment is super—abundant then attention becomes the scarce resource. in terms of what we are watching the companies and services have become adept at grabbing our attention and they did not exist a few years ago. disney plus just launched a the uk, amazon prime very new. these are mostly american services and sadly for many uk broadcasters such as itv, channel 4 and channel five who are funded by advertising they have not been able to turn these eyeballs into revenues because advertising has fallen off a cliff. so we must watching extreme stuff and before the before the metternich the c

and 55% of adults say they'll continue to watch this much after lockdown. 0ur media editor amol rajanrategy and research. very striking numbers in this year's report. what have you discovered? the way we are watching tv is unrecognisable from ten or even five years ago, and lockdown has really accelerated those changes. at its peak, we were watching a whopping 6.5 hours a day of tv and doubling the amount of time we spent watching streaming services like netflix and disney+ — which attracted more than 12 million new subscribers. 6.5 hours every day. what exactly are people doing in that time? that six hours and 25 minutes is a combination of traditional tv viewing — so, public service broadcasters and other channels — and then also online viewing, which will include the streaming services and other forms of online video like youtube. we've spoken in the past about the deep, underlying trends towards streaming services. has that accelerated during lockdown? i think the predominant effect we're seeing is very much an acceleration of the trends that were already there, and so, year—on—ye

and 55% of adults say they‘ll continue to watch this much after lockdown. 0ur media editor amol rajanon new subscribers. 6.5 hours every day. what exactly are people doing in that time? that six hours and 25 minutes is a combination of traditional tv viewing — so, public service broadcasters and other channels — and then also online viewing, which will include the streaming services and other forms of online video like youtube. we‘ve spoken in the past about the deep, underlying trends towards streaming services. has that accelerated during lockdown? i think the predominant effect we‘re seeing is very much an acceleration of the trends that were already there, and so, year—on—year, we‘ve been seeing a decline in traditional tv viewing and a rise in viewing to the subscription streaming services. so, streaming services — with their vast libraries of content — are a real hit with people of all age groups. and i think my third observation would be that the pandemic has shown public service broadcasting at its best, delivering trusted news and bringing the best of british content, which v

i think amol harris, unfortunately -- i used to be a democrat for 20 years. trump was the first time i voted republican. it is because the democratic party has turned into a party of optics. i think that's all they do anymore. kamala harris is another example of this. of thought or diversity of past, that it is ray's politics now. i don't like that. i think it is divisive and it hurts the country. i think he was pigeonholed into this decision. he needed to pick a woman, and asked to be a woman of caller. here is someone that for 10 years opposed legal -- marijuana legalization in california. when she becomes a presidential candidate, now she comes out for. i don't think she has a strong reputation of integrity. i think she was just a token, just offensive. i don't see it going well for the democrats. ryan in the pennsylvania. tom out of new york, line for democrats. what did you think of the pick? harris.i like kamala she was a great pic, because it is about time we have a woman. colo hasr anything to do with it. she has a reputation as a strong woman. she ha

and 55% of adults say they‘ll continue to watch this much after lockdown. 0ur media editor amol rajan the public service broadcasters and other channels and then also online viewing, which will include screening services and other online audio such as youtube. we have spoken in the past about the deep underlying trend toward streaming services. has that exhilarated? i think the predominant effect we are seeing is very much an acceleration of the trends that were already there. so year on year we have been seen a decline in traditional tv viewing and a rise in viewing to the subscription streaming services. so streaming services with their vast libraries of co nte nt services with their vast libraries of content a re services with their vast libraries of content are a real hit with people of all age groups. and i think my third observation would be that the pandemic has shown public service broadcasting at its best, delivering trusted news and bringing the best of british content, which viewers really value, so we have seen a real peak in news consumption in the early part of lockdown.

i think amol harris, unfortunately -- i used to be a democrat for 20 years. the first time i voted republican. it is because the democratic party has turned into a party of optics. i think that's all they do anymore. kamala harris is another example of this. of thought or diversity of past, that it is ray's politics now. i don't like that. i think it is divisive and it hurts the country. i think he was pigeonholed into this decision. he needed to pick a woman, and asked to be a woman of caller. here is someone that for 10 years opposed legal -- marijuana legalization in california. when she becomes a presidential candidate, now she comes out for. i don't think she has a strong reputation of integrity. i think she was just a token, just offensive. i don't see it going well for the democrats. ryan in the pennsylvania. tom out of new york, line for democrats. what did you think of the pick? harris.i like kamala she was a great pic, because it is about time we have a woman. colo hasr anything to do with it. she has a reputation as a strong woman. she has done a l

he sat down with our media editor amol rajan to discuss his time in the role and the challenges facinge hardestjob of dg -- he had probably the hardestjob of dg —— any dg. and there is a common criticism, about the deal you struck in the government back in 2015 to ta ke in the government back in 2015 to take on the cost of tv licence for over 75 switch is a the bbc cannot afford. why did you agree to it? let me take you back to 2015. against eve ryo ne me take you back to 2015. against everyone because my expectations you had an incoming majority conservative government, —— everyone's expectations. the lib dems and their break on the government in the past, the coalition had gone, you had a government which was full on austerity, a feeling that the bbc needed reform, ithink austerity, a feeling that the bbc needed reform, i think it was a really, really perilous time for the bbc. move forward to monday morning where not suspecting this was going to happen, then secretary of state rings me and says, it was thenjohn witting dale, he says, i have tried over the weekend, but it hasn't work

amol rajan, bbc news. britain is facing the worst wheat harvest for a0 years, because of the past year's weather. now there are warnings the price of flour is likely to rise, meaning basics like bread could become more expensive, too. here's our chief environment correspondentjustin rowlatt. this is the last thing a wheat farmer wants d does eventually lift, 955:— ~‘::'": {55:55'15‘; lg; 523,52” — — —————— matt, when you look at this (rim; what do youseel ,, ,,,

now, bbc media editor amol rajan interviews the outgoing