Reply to Laura Trevelyan's accent

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[quote=Anonymous]I was researching a way to write the BBC to comment on this very matter when I came upon all the comments below, which frankly didn't surprise me. So here's my take as a British ex-pat! Ms Trevalyan has several strikes against her as a presenter of news verbally.  One is the rasping timbre of her voice, another is the unfortunate way she reads the sentences off her teleprompter, and yet another is the apparent lack of understanding or empathy for what she is telling her audience. Her "accent" which most of Americans have difficulty with is entirely understandable, but I would suggest it is mainly because she does not seem to know where to put the correct emphasis in any sentence. She does in fact have a fairly non-descript "dialect", if one can call it that, and along with her rather rasping tonality the whole package is very hard on the ear.  I am astonished that the venerable BBC puts her alongside such anchors as Jane O'Brien and Katty Kay who I understand Americans are fairly happy with, as am I, since their voices are both empathetic and softer, as well as showing they they really understand what they are reportedly saying.
One thing in favor of Laura. She asks good questions of her guests, but with that awful sounding voice (British or American) the BBC needs to apply her otherwise good reporting skills elsewhere in the field.  Besides her voice Laura has other things going for her, and the BBC would be well advised to use them.  
A caveat. I have been a voice coach for British and Irish accents and dialects in local theatre, and have read poetry and some of Shakespeare's famous speeches on stage prior to my retirement from business, so learned to become more sensitive to the nuances and timbre of voices in the public arena.
Hope the above observations are helpful to some.  Also I think a word to the Beeb would be a good next move by a number of people, if that has not already been done.

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