Can a new image save Newsnight?

In a move which will certainly have curled the lip of Jeremy Paxman, Newsnight is being subjected to the ultimate Blairite indignity: a makeover. But does the programme need more than a Botox injection to ensure its long-term future?

The BBC's top brass insist that the coming redesign, a new set and logo to be launched a week on Monday, is "cosmetic", the last injection of the money earmarked two years ago for the corporation's overhaul of all its news services. But the departure of Jeremy Vine, who in January is expected to slip prematurely into the slippers of the retiring Jimmy Young, gives an added piquancy to the changes.

On the record, BBC executives say Newsnight is at the top of its game. They single out last month's Blair interviews, claiming the programme is still basking in the reflected glory of having secured the biggest fish of them all. "Get-ting Tony Blair to do Newsnight was a very important coup," says the programme's (relatively new) editor, George Entwistle. "And, hopefully, it will encourage more high-profile politicians to come on the programme."

Entwistle says he is confident that the Blair interviews will set a precedent. Viewing figures for the three interviews were between

1.5 million and two million viewers, while Newsnight's average viewing figure hovers at just over one million. And, judging by this week's maulings of Richard Haass and Iain Duncan Smith, Paxo is still up for a fight.

But Entwistle admits that News-night has been through a rather sticky period. "If you go back six months, people were saying 'they never get the leader of the opposition, they never get people from the US administration'. We don't have that problem any more." He is upbeat about the future, but there is consensus that, for whatever reason, under its previous editor, Sian Kevill, the programme lost some of its bite.

While Newsnight shows no evidence of the kind of audience-share decline that has plagued the BBC's main evening news bulletins (the 10 o'clock news lost approximately eight per cent of its audience figures last year), there is a perception that it has lost its crucial role as an agenda-setting programme.

BBC insiders concede that many politicians say they prefer Channel 4 News. Entwistle implicitly concedes this when he says his task is to "re-emphasise the point of News-night, of getting high-profile inter-views". Taking over the running of the programme on 11 September, Entwistle won plaudits for his handling of this hottest of hot potatoes, and is respected by his colleagues. He now has a major task ahead of him.

Part of the problem with News-night is that, along with other heavyweight news programmes, it doesn't fit in so well with New Labour's news management strategy. Given Tony Blair's preference for the GMTV sofa-and-soft-furnishings over the harder edges of Paxman and Humprhys, it's often overlooked by the Millbank headline planners, says Sky's political editor, Adam Boulton.

"Alastair Campbell makes no secret of the fact that it's too late to make the next day's papers, so it's often not really worth it," says Boulton. "While Westminster holds it in high regard, it is less important to the New Labour planners."

Other BBC sources claim that Campbell's studied disdain for Newsnight is disingenuous. But there is certainly a sense of "what's the point traipsing over to White City at 10 o'clock at night to be roasted by Paxman", in the words of one insider. Cynics claim that the Blair interview was a one-off - something that the Prime Minister simply couldn't put off any longer, rather than a new direction in New Labour's media strategy.

But it is true that New Labour's approach to media management has changed the dynamics of News-night. The hand-to-hand combat that the last Tory government underwent with Paxman on the programme, peaking so memorably when he asked Michael Howard the same question 14 times, is far less frequent these days.

Entwistle's most pressing concern, in the short term, will also be to replace Jeremy Vine. The appointment of a journalist respected enough to balance Paxman and Kirsty Wark, presentable enough to carry off high-profile interviews and discussions, yet - crucially - without making Paxman feel he has a young pretender snapping at his heels (Paxman is reported to have described Vine as a "mini-me") is an unusu-ally tricky one.

Officially, Entwistle denies reports of an imminent "beauty contest". But, sources say, the programme's regular stand-ins, including Gordon Brewer, News 24's Gavin Esler, political editor Martha Kearney and diplomatic editor Mark Urban will be "tried out" over the summer in the run-up to Vine's departure early next year. There is also speculation that after the successes of Andrew Marr and Jeff Randall, Entwistle may look to the world of print journalism for a quirky, distinctive candidate with some existing profile.

Two more urgent succession battles, to replace Michael Buerk and Jeremy Bowen, may put the decision off temporarily. But the appointment is crucial to the success of the programme. Newsnight's popularity revolves around Paxman; his presence or absence on the programme directly affects viewing figures, and there is no pressing need to replace Vine immediately.

But the Paxman Factor is also a potential Achilles heel for the programme. If, as some observers suspect, he plans to "do a Dimbleby" in the long term, eschewing Newsnight for the kind of standard-bearing programmes that are the stock-in-trade of Britain's broadcasting dynasty, Newsnight will be left with a much more substantial hole.

Speculation that the programme, which is not ratings-driven, may eventually be shunted to BBC4 along with much of the BBC's other highbrow fare, are roundly denied, and Entwistle says there is absolutely no pressure to deliver ratings. But he does have to start getting the programme back onto the news agenda - and not just when the Prime Minister decides to drop in.