Birt moved from Granada to London Weekend Television in 1971. At LWT he was the founding editor and executive producer of the current affairs programme "Weekend World". He became head of current affairs at LWT and, later, controller of features and current affairs. With "Weekend World" presenter Peter Jay, Birt contributed a series of three articles to "The Times" on the topic of television journalism. They argued that most television news and current affairs contained a "bias against understanding": pictures had taken precedence over analysis. Instead they advocated "a mission to explain". Makers of news and documentary programmes were required to outline their finished product in writing before setting out with a camera crew. Such an argument, was not universally accepted. Years later, in 2006, Alasdair Milne, the former BBC Director-General, said he thought Birt's "bias against understanding" argument was nonsense.