The Newsroom

New Meridian, BBC South & South East Thread

(July 2006)

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ST
Steve Founding member
Andrew posted:
Londoner posted:
Worth reading Robin Britton's blog post about how the new programme will work:
http://blogs.itvlocal.com/Meridian/2009/02/08/welcome-to-the-new-meridian-tonight/


A seperate 18 minutes doesn't seem *that* bad, when you exclude the weather, the pan-regional bit will only be 10 mins

The sub-regional bits was supposed to be only 15 minutes

The region is a strange shape though and weighted so 'west' is much much larger than east, what with the west being 3 former regions combined. Looking at that I wonder if it may have been better to either give the old Central South part back to Central or give the South East to London?

Creating 3 sub-opts would of course be better and would have been perfectly acceptable


But having the opening 18 minutes of a news programme pre-recorded (I presume this is the plan, unless I've missed something) is such a shame.

Will tomorrow, therefore, be the first time that news on the main terrestrial channels has been pre-recorded? (apart from the obvious hiccups in the past that brought fines!)
LO
Londoner
I think it will be just-about-OK so long as the technical side is robust.

The new arrangements across the country are so complicated I can see endless potential for broadcasting the wrong content to the wrong region.
AS
Asa Admin
Andrew posted:
A seperate 18 minutes doesn't seem *that* bad, when you exclude the weather, the pan-regional bit will only be 10 mins


Indeed. When I first read that I actually thought that it wasn't too bad either although I suspect the extra 3 minutes is actually the regional weather bulletin. Will certainly be interesting to see how it works technically and how many times the pre-rec crashes into the other region's live show (wonder who'll get the honours of have it live?) It'll be the other shows that suffer though, covering such a large area in short bulletins.

Couldn't agree more about the loss of Gemma - she was like the Bob Rust or Bob Johnson of Meridian! Simon Parkin really doesn't appeal - largely because I only can really see him as a Broomcupboard presenter, and didn't like him back then!
BE
Ben Founding member
The behind the scenes video on ITV Local seems interesting, you get a real sense that the workload for everyone is going to be immense. How long before the first technical cock-up?
ME
meridiantvfan
Asa posted:
Andrew posted:
A seperate 18 minutes doesn't seem *that* bad, when you exclude the weather, the pan-regional bit will only be 10 mins


Indeed. When I first read that I actually thought that it wasn't too bad either although I suspect the extra 3 minutes is actually the regional weather bulletin. Will certainly be interesting to see how it works technically and how many times the pre-rec crashes into the other region's live show (wonder who'll get the honours of have it live?) It'll be the other shows that suffer though, covering such a large area in short bulletins.

Couldn't agree more about the loss of Gemma - she was like the Bob Rust or Bob Johnson of Meridian! Simon Parkin really doesn't appeal - largely because I only can really see him as a Broomcupboard presenter, and didn't like him back then!


Er had to google these names, not sure how you can compare with GH ?! Have to find out what's happened with her. Parkin is awful from the best to to the worse weather presenter IMO
IS
Isonstine Founding member
Steve posted:
Andrew posted:
Londoner posted:
Worth reading Robin Britton's blog post about how the new programme will work:
http://blogs.itvlocal.com/Meridian/2009/02/08/welcome-to-the-new-meridian-tonight/


A seperate 18 minutes doesn't seem *that* bad, when you exclude the weather, the pan-regional bit will only be 10 mins

The sub-regional bits was supposed to be only 15 minutes

The region is a strange shape though and weighted so 'west' is much much larger than east, what with the west being 3 former regions combined. Looking at that I wonder if it may have been better to either give the old Central South part back to Central or give the South East to London?

Creating 3 sub-opts would of course be better and would have been perfectly acceptable


But having the opening 18 minutes of a news programme pre-recorded (I presume this is the plan, unless I've missed something) is such a shame.

Will tomorrow, therefore, be the first time that news on the main terrestrial channels has been pre-recorded? (apart from the obvious hiccups in the past that brought fines!)


Not to mention the fact that 3 regions are being merged into 2. On top of this, how many stories will be shared in the name of "overlap" and in a years time end up being cut down to 10 minutes so they can cover more "issues that affect the whole region"?

Interesting times and fair play if it all comes off without any problems - it's certainly a technical minefield that any team would be proud to achieve. But I have my doubts that it will work on a journalistic level.
NA
Nate
Well a sad goodbye from Gareth Evans on today's news... "after 27 years it's goodbye from me" Sad How did the Thames Valley show end on Friday? Can't believe that Gemma's gone either... Not even a mention... Rolling Eyes

I'm outraged as well about the conformation that the tiny south east area will get it's own opt, when the combined Thames Valley & South regions have to share one... It's about three times the size of the south east region... Rolling Eyes

And I have no idea where that little bridge is that's on the screen behind them??? Confused
RE
Reuben
The bulletins during today's GMTV still referred to as 'GMTV News'. Wonder if they'll change it to Meridan News tomorrow or is likely to stay
AN
Andrew Founding member
Steve posted:
But having the opening 18 minutes of a news programme pre-recorded (I presume this is the plan, unless I've missed something) is such a shame.

Will tomorrow, therefore, be the first time that news on the main terrestrial channels has been pre-recorded? (apart from the obvious hiccups in the past that brought fines!)


If they run through the whole recording 'as live' at say 5.30pm, I think they will get away with it

Recording sections of the programme like various BBC and ITV regional news programmes already do is even worse as it makes the programme disjointed, cutting sharply from one bit to another instead of the seamlessness of a live programme
NA
natewilson
Well the Meridian News at lunchtime was odd... I thought that the 2 sub regions were having their own news during the bulletins? At first I thought they were showing the wrong varient down here as the opening titles had no where that I recognised in them & then the screen behind Sangeeta had the view of the bridge (in Tonbridge??) that was always behind her in the south east programme??? But then after starting with stories in Kent & Sussex they went live to Fratton Park to report on Tony Adam's sacking??? So this was obviously broadcast to the entire region, despite no where in the Thames Valley even getting a mention...
Then the weather forecast was for the Thames Valley/South area...
I wonder if they will be changing the backdrop image/rotating between images from across the region, strange as I thought they were going to be using that new bridge backdrop that no one knows where it is! Laughing
MA
Macalolo
The late bulletins will be from the East of the region and The South/West. Anyone know if the first 18 minutes will be from Sangheeta and Fred? And on itvlocal the weather channel is the only place to get the East weather as appose to the east bulletin when you get the South/West weather.
LO
Londoner
Surprised there have been no posts since the start of the brave new era of regional news!

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