BBC Reboots Emily Maitlis’ ‘Americast’ Podcast With New Hosts On the Same Day Her New Global Show Launches
K.J. Yossman It seems the feud between former “Newsnight” host Emily Maitlis and her former employer, the BBC, shows no signs of letting up. Less than a week after former Maitlis publicly excoriated the BBC during her MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival, the corporation has hastily rebooted its “Americast” podcast – which Maitlis first launched alongside then North America editor Jon Sopel in 2020 – with an introductory episode posted today, Aug. 30, the very same day Maitlis and Sopel’s new podcast series “The News Agents” launches at Global. The BBC announced this morning that Today presenter and former BBC North America editor Justin Webb would front “Americast” alongside Sopel’s replacement for the North America editorship Sarah Smith and disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring. The BBC’s North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher (known as “the Zurch”) also returns for the show.