There's an increasing tendency to hear ad-lib paper reviews on the Today programme, and it has risks. The Saturday show, as it winds down to 9am, appears to allow the presenters free rein to pick and praise their favourite stories, themes and writers. The risks - not many of the presenters are very good at 'just talking' (note how they 'um' and 'er' and meander, as opposed to gabbling their way through properly written paper summaries) and their selections can show a little too much of their prejudices.
It's why other shows, starting with Frost On Sunday, developed the school of outside guest reviewers, now followed by almost every morning tv news and current affairs outlet - it gives a needed distance, especially when we have a narrowing range of opinions in the papers themselves. BBC News presenters are asked to think carefully before re-Tweeting things that might show too much of their opinions; the same is true of reading stuff out from the papers.
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