Mr Thompson faced questions for two-and-a-half hours

Chairman Michael Grade and director general Mark Thompson were quizzed on Tuesday by the House of Lords select committee on the BBC's Charter Review.

Committee member Lord Kalms complained politicians were "not given sufficient respect and are often disparaged".

Mr Thompson said the public enjoyed "the rather adversarial approach".

The peers' comments follow criticism of Mr Paxman's conduct during a recent Newsnight interview with Health Secretary John Reid, in which he called the politician a Labour "attack dog".

Objections

In a subsequent interview with the Sunday Times, Mr Paxman said "a sort of Scottish Raj" was running the UK - prompting 20 Scottish MPs to sign a Commons motion condemning the presenter.

Mr Paxman called Health Secretary John Reid an "attack dog"

"Do you have a policy on the way Jeremy Paxman treats politicians?" said Lord Kalms on Tuesday.

"Several of your very excellent reporters [disparage politicians] almost as a matter of practice."

"John Reid was absolutely right to have a go at Paxman," added Lord Maxton, who also raised objections over Michael Parkinson's weekend show on BBC Radio Two.

""It's a wonderful radio programme, but every so often Michael Parkinson or someone he is interviewing makes a totally off-the-cuff remark about politics or politicians," he said.

"It's unnecessary, it pervades everything you do [and] you should be above it."

"This controversy is not a new thing," said Mr Thompson, who drew comparisons with the way Sir Robin Day interviewed politicians in the 1960s.

John Humphrys speaks more than the person he is interviewing. It is not good broadcasting Baroness Gibson

"You have to strike a balance between proper discussion and scrutiny in the traditional British adversarial way... and the danger of overstepping the mark into negativity and rudeness.

"Generally we get the balance right, much of the time."

But Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen disagreed, criticising Mr Humphrys' interviewing style on BBC Radio Four's Today programme.

"John Humphrys speaks more than the person that he is interviewing. It is therefore not good broadcasting," she said.

'More heat than light'

Mr Humphrys was censured in November, after being accused of "hectoring" a government minister.

The BBC upheld three complaints that Mr Humphrys interrupted home office minister Hazel Blears too much on the Today programme on 28 June 2004.

The BBC upheld complaints against John Humphrys in November

Mr Thompson said on Tuesday that when "a politician has a point he is desperate to make [and] the interviewer is trying to get across a question of real substance... you get a clash and more heat than light.

"Maybe there is a lesson for BBC journalists and also for politicians."

The discussion formed part of the committee's examination into the Government's proposals on the BBC's future, outlined in a green paper published on 2 March.