Maitlis has missed an opportunity with a glib and generalised memoir

Emily Maitlis with Donald Trump: the BBC presenter fails to evoke any sense of the US president as a person

Broadcasting: Airhead: The Imperfect Art of Making News, By Emily Maitlis, Michael Joseph, €24

It’s May 2018, and BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis is about to interview Steve Bannon in the basement of a palace in Prague. The mastermind behind Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential victory, Bannon co-created the executive order that banned travel to the US from seven majority-Muslim countries.

It’s the hardest Maitlis has ever worked to secure an interview, but just ...