The Voice of Kelner broadcasts peace and goodwill

Kelner's View

Very early yesterday, I was talking to the world. In fact, before 8am London time, I was big in Kazakhstan and Kenya. I've done a fair bit of broadcasting in my time, but this was the first time I'd been on the BBC World Service, speaking peace from one nation to another, as their motto goes.

I was there to talk about the launch of The Journalism Foundation, which I am sure you all read about in yesterday's i. In case you didn't, its purpose is to promote journalism as a force for good, and as an essential function of a free and open society. I know, I know. It's not exactly the perfect time to be persuading people in far-off lands that a British journalist knows best when all they've heard, day after day, are revelations of bad behaviour and skulduggery from the Leveson Inquiry.

Oh, I get it, you can imagine someone in Tunis saying, you're coming over here to teach us how to hack phones, pay policemen and appropriate an individual's medical records. Thankfully, the World Service presenter didn't articulate this thought: that was left to Adam Boulton on Sky News a few hours later.

Boulton is one of the more combative of interviewers – remember his ding-dong with Alastair Campbell? Pure TV gold – so it was no surprise that he challenged robustly all my assertions. This stood me in good stead for my next jousting session, with Richard Bacon on Radio 5. I have appeared on Bacon's show a few times, and I am acutely aware of his approach. He begins with a bit of joshing: prior to my spot, he did a little routine with Robert Peston in which he claimed the BBC's business editor uses fake tan (an interesting story, no doubt, but one which, in the interests of fairness, Peston strenuously denies).

Just when he's put you at your ease, he'll slip in a couple of curve balls. It's a very clever technique, and one which makes you sound shifty for no other reason than you've had to change gears very quickly. Anyway, yesterday's interview was going all right until we had to break for President Sarkozy's press conference. Afterwards, Bacon turned to me and asked my learned opinion on the future of the eurozone.

Now, I don't claim to be an eminent economist – I never bothered, as Tony Hancock might have said – but one thing I have learnt is that, if you ask 10 economists a question, you get 10 different answers, so who's to say my opinion is wrong. We then continued our tour d'horizon of journalism, discussing the Leveson Inquiry, phone-hacking, and self-regulation.

On and on it went, punctuated only by apologies to Lady Caernarvon, who was kept waiting for her slot on the show. At the end of our marathon session, Richard asked me which newspaper I'd like to edit. "Actually," I replied, "I've always fancied my own afternoon radio show. Although it seems I've just fulfilled that ambition."

Simon Kelner is chief executive of The Journalism Foundation.

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