BBC presenter Jeff Randall has hit back at criticisms in Sir Alan Budd's report into the impartiality of the corporation's business coverage.
The former BBC business editor said he could not believe an interview he conducted with BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch on Radio 5 Live's Weekend Business was described as "sycophantic" by the report.
During the interview, broadcast on Five Live on December 3 2006, Mr Randall, now the Daily Telegraph's editor-at-large, asked Mr Murdoch a question about the future of new technology, such as high-definition television.
Mr Murdoch replied with a list of Sky's achievements - prompting Mr Randall to congratulate him sarcastically on giving a great sales pitch for Sky and a free advert on the BBC.
However, Sir Alan's report saw things differently: "Weekend Business on Five Live has an important role in opening up the inner workings of business to the wider public and gives a rare opportunity for listeners to email their questions to a variety of business leaders.
"However, the interview with James Murdoch (December 3 2006) also appeared sycophantic when the presenter congratulated Mr Murdoch's pronouncements about the future of his company as the best sales pitch he had heard."
Mr Randall said he could not believe his comment had been taken seriously.
"That was a sarcastic comment. I can't believe the listeners would have failed to spot it," he hold MediaGuardian.co.uk.
"I was having a pop at an interviewee who failed to answer the question," Mr Randall said.
A BBC Trust spokeswoman said that Sir Alan and his fellow panelists had listened or watched all the programmes they criticised in their report, not just taken extracts from transcripts.
"Obviously management will have a chance to respond and have until the end of July to do so," she added.
However, she declined to comment on whether the panelists had a sense of humour.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332.
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
