Caught in a Snowstorm

Jon Snow has lambasted rival newsreaders for their lack of journalistic experience.

The veteran Channel 4 news presenter said he was dismayed and alarmed at the number who had spent little or no time reporting in the field.

In the past, TV bulletins were fronted by experienced journalists - such as Sir Alastair Burnet, Michael Buerk, Jeremy Bowen and Sandy Gall, he said. But today's newsreaders tended to have little understanding of reporting and a fear of stepping outside the comfort of the studio.

Although Snow, 58, did not name names, the steady rise of attractive presenters over grizzled newscasters has been evident across all the major networks.

Newsreaders such as Natasha Kaplinsky and Darren Jordon on BBC1 and Mary Nightingale and Katie Derham on ITV have seen their careers take off.

Earlier this year, veteran BBC reporter and newsreader Philip Hayton quit after apparently becoming fed up having to work alongside the glamorous - and younger - Kate Silverton.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society on Monday night, Snow said: 'We are seeing the rise of a generation of anchors who have never been in the field.

'They've never been told to drop everything and get on a story, get out of the office and to the airport. They've never been part of a reporting team on the ground.'

Snow, who travelled to New Orleans to report on Hurricane Katrina, said he and ITV1's Mark Austin were among the 'last generation' of newsreaders who had got their hands dirty covering major international stories.

Of the newer presenters, he said: 'There are people now who are saying "sorry, I don't do that" and "I don't know how to do that" - and as a result never left the studio.'

His comments echo criticism of newsreaders' huge salaries earlier this year by the BBC's former political editor Andrew Marr and Today programme presenter John Humphrys.

In what was seen by some as a dig at fellow BBC presenters such as Huw Edwards and Fiona Bruce, Marr said they were paid too much money for simply 'reading an Autocue', while Humphrys said their jobs required 'no brain'.