Who is BBC journalist James Clayton?

SOMETIMES an interview can be a journalist’s creation and bring him directly into the public eye.

This has been the case for many over the years, but also for BBC reporter James Clayton after he had the chance to interview tech billionaire Elon Musk.

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Who is BBC journalist James Clayton?

In April 2020, James Clayton was appointed as the BBC’s technology reporter in North America.

Based in San Francisco, Clayton has previously been published by outlets such as The Telegraph and Yahoo.

As a tech journalist, he wrote about companies like Amazon, Google and Apple.

He also covered Apple’s 2021 trial with gaming company Epic Games.

Prior to his current role, Clayton also worked at BBC Newsnight.

Because of his location, he has also covered natural disasters from the California storms of January 2023 to the 7.2 magnitude Haiti earthquake of August 2021.

When did James Clayton interview Elon Musk?

On April 11, 2023, James Clayton managed to interview tech mogul Elon Musk in a hastily arranged interview.

The Twitter owner said he took the opportunity to discuss things with the network as it was “busy” and it seemed like a good point to address some of those things.

Clayton opened the interview by addressing a label on the BBC’s Twitter page that said the company was “government-funded”, belying the network and calling for the platform to be changed.

In the interview, Elon Musk stated that they wanted to change this to indicate that the company was publicly funded.

James Clayton addressed many contentious points during his conversation with Musk, resulting in a must-watch.

He asked the Twitter owner about his purchase of the platform, sleeping in the office, the decision to lay off a large number of employees and the social media giant’s ongoing health.

How can I watch James Clayton’s interview with Elon Musk?

In many parts of the interview, Elon Musk tries to turn the tables on James Clayton, but asks more questions of the interviewer than of himself.

Musk became particularly defensive when it was implied that more hateful content would appear on the platform.

The interview is available in full on BBC iPlayer, although short films of various parts of the interview are also available on their website.

Clips of the interview have been shown in conjunction with articles written by many different channels, but the entire broadcast can be viewed here.