John Humphreys and and his minions on the Today program.  The brilliant Any Questions on R4 and Question Time on TV.  And PM (and even Women's Hour) have been known to go all bulldog-like on politicians who are trying to defend the indefensible.

Andrew Marr's book "My Trade" is fascinating on this subject - apparently the Today program was not very important until Thatcher let it be known that she listened to it every morning - and suddenly it became a rite of passage for politicians to go on and get bludgeoned.  I heard Humphreys ripping Jack Straw a new one the other day about refusing to hold an inquiry into the War in Iraq and it made me all warm inside.

I have a theory that it all stems from PMQs.  Do you think if the President had to answer a half hour of direct questions, live and televised, every Wednesday lunchtime, the US would have a more active media landscape?  Ok, half the questions at PMQs are meatballs - but all the ones from the Tories and LibDems are great.  And occasionally you get a Labour backbencher with a spine too.