'You can start a conversation': what's the point of critics?

Everyone who likes his reviews on Radio FiveLive would have wanted Mark Kermode, the gobby critic who is well known for having seen just about everything. But he claims that he didn't want the job. And who knows if he'd have got it? Jonathan Ross's replacement as BBC One's resident film critic is Claudia Winkleman.

The announcement has been greeted with whoops of joy almost nowhere. Or nowhere in the critical fraternity (or whatever the collective noun is). But hell, at least there's still a television programme on a mainstream channel that thinks exclusively about film. At the Movies, American TV's film review show which once starred duelling critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, has been given the thumbs down. It is to close at the end of its current run. This event has prompted AO Scott, one of its current presenters, to muse on the future of criticism in the New York Times, who are his other employers.

"You can start a conversation": that, he argues, is finally the critic's job. Just not his job any more, or not on television. And not many others' job either. At theartsdesk, we naturally ponder these matters more than most. Feel free to ponder them with us in the comment box.