A review of BBC current affairs coverage has compared interviews on Radio 4's Today Programme to a one-sided bout with a prize-fighter.

The report said listening to interviews on the show, which features veteran reporter John Humphrys among its regular presenters, "can be like witnessing what seems to be a big and healthy looking bloke getting into the ring with the fairground prize-fighter".

It added: "One is perfectly fit and looks as though he could take care of himself, but the other does it for a living; one has been schooled in the Queensbury rules, and the other is a pugilist. The result can be excruciatingly entertaining to witness, and no-one doubts that both sides need properly to be tested, but it is not always a fair display of the merits of each fighter.