Roy Greenslade: Celebrity interviews are a sham

Janice Turner on The Times wrote on Monday about her interview from hell with the actor Rhys Ifans.

He eventually walked out after declaring he was "bored". Could the traditional celebrity interview be past its prime?

Sam Delaney, former editor of Heat magazine, told the Today programme: "A ring of steel is formed around Hollywood actors by trumped-up publicists who look very nervous as soon as you go off a pre-agreed script."

He added: "No-one is interested in PR-endorsed interviews."

Roy Greenslade, Professor of Journalism at City University, said: "It's always been a charade but it's moved to the point now where everyone is so media savvy that what you get in the end is a pretty synthetic article which is a sham.

"It's demeaning to everyone. The star doesn't want to do it, the journalist is straining to get something, and in the end the reader is getting very little."

First broadcast on the Today programme on Wednesday 5 June 2013.