News at Ten - Weeknights on ITV1

She did that and also introduced the bit where Kirsty Young would go into the newsroom part of the studio and ask Ms. Turness what was coming up on the later evening show. This was back in the day when Five news had 4 shows a day and 2 late bulletins.

I know - I regularly tune into News at Ten; I prefer that to the BBC's alternative.



Right, let me explain myself.

Growing up, I always saw the BBC News as rather stuffy, pompous, merely giving the facts of the story with no emotion/no expression on their faces. Well, obviously many people prefer that. I don't. ITN, for me, was just that bit more accessible as it appeared friendly - more so than the BBC - and often reflected public opinion in reporting. Not too much, but just enough; their delivery was never sensationalist, just 'in tune' with the public, and the ratings reflected that they were doing a good job. By the later 1990s, News at Ten was regularly getting two-three million more viewers than the Nine O'Clock News. Of course viewing figures for television news as a whole have gone down since then - but the fact is, ITV had more viewers for their news programmes back then. What I'm angry about is the change in direction since the early part of this decade. The BBC has remained the place to get your news presented in a somewhat static and (as you say) 'bleak' way, but ITN has shifted to include sensationalism as part of the delivery of the news. Granted, it has calmed down a hell of a lot since early last year, but it still lingers on in the daytime bulletins. Why can't they do what they used to do - that is, deliver the news in a friendly, 'in tune' way? Why did they (or more specifically, Deborah Turness) feel the need to sensationalise news stories? I really thought things were getting back to normal earlier this year, with the appointment of Jonathan Munro as acting editor. They really had the balance just right between formality and fluff.

Chie, I'm not expecting all news services to pander to my wishes. I'm also not one of those idiots who disparage a news service without having actually watched it. I consider myself as part of ITV News' target audience. Or least, I used to be. I'm just wondering why ITN has changed so much and the BBC changed so little. I'm increasingly, since Turness' return to ITV News this year, finding News at Ten the only bulletin worth tuning into on ITV as it has a decent balance between formality and fluff. But it's not completely free from the sheer sensationalism that often brings down the quality of the daytime bulletins - as evidenced the other night with the dubious start to Keir Simmons' report. I don't want plain facts - when I do, I go to BBC News. I just want news delivered in a friendly, familiar way. ITN used to offer that, and they still do occasionally.



Sounds just about right to me and the reason why things were better under Jonathan Munro's tenure as editor earlier this year.

I agree with you, BBCNicky, though I think a distinction should be drawn between ITN and ITV. It's ITV which has deteriorated over this decade, not ITN. ITN can still produce an intelligent, well constructed, lively and innovative news programme - i.e. Channel 4 News. It's Deborah Turness and the ITV bosses who have dumbed down ITV News, not ITN.

Exactly, you have to remember that 20 years ago ITV (all the companies except TV-am) owned ITN, there was naff all competition, profits were high, they could afford to invest in a decent News service. Nowadays ITV is simply ITN's biggest customer, they judge what goes and how much they put into it going on the market rate. ITV is a different channel now and it knows what it's strengths and weaknesses are and what money to put into their services. It's all ITV these days and what they hope is that the ITV view is reflected in their News programmes.

Although I think ITV News especially News At Ten is currently the best it has been for years, after years of decline and silly gimmicks. Having the presenters back behind the desk full time, getting Alastair Stewart back and fully reinstating News At Ten have worked for me.

At least tacky graphics on ITV are gloriously tacky - the BBC's are just plain and tacky. Think they're using one now called "TOUGH CHOICES" re: spending cuts etc., which is just a red font with the T extending to the bottom of the screen!

Very good point and one I should have made more clear in my original post (I knew what I meant when I was typing it!) ITN certainly are not at fault, as you pointed out. Surely it would benefit ITV, especially in these difficult times, having a news service of good quality (although I do believe and agree that ITV News has improved a hell of a lot over the last couple of years, especially since early last year) without having to resort to sensationalism. That's what I cannot understand. The ITV I remember of the 1990s had a fantastic line-up of glitzy entertainment, gritty drama and serious news.

Okay, time for a little reality check.

Anybody who says BBC News is boring and stuffy these days, I don't think has been paying a lot of attention to it. Sure, it delivers the news, straight and unvarnished. But the anchors these days are not as boring as some have made out. The likes of George Alligiah (sp?) Huw Edwards, Fiona Bruce and Jon Sopel are a world away from the likes of Jan Leeming, Richard Baker, Peter Woods and Richard Whitmore, who were all top newscasters when I was growing up, but I had enormous respect for them all to deliver the news unvarnished. But in those days, ITV News was just as good at delivering news unvarnished, straight up, but with a smile and a friendly face.

These days ITV News has gone down the route of sensationalising everything and that is something that is really unnecessary. If the facts cannot sell the story then the additional hype makes the story look less interesting.

Just tell it straight. ITN can do that. The Channel 4 News is a continuing example of good ITN journalism. Sky though has seemingly started going down the same path as its corporate cousin, Fox News. I don't get the sense that Sky News is unbiased, unvarnished. I get the sense that they are favouring conservatives in their coverage.

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These days ITV News has gone down the route of sensationalising everything and that is something that is really unnecessary. If the facts cannot sell the story then the additional hype makes the story look less interesting.
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ITV News has been at this for the last decade and it hasn't worked. Their sensationalist intro's to stories annoy me as well. They also always feel the need to include a so called celebrity to make an issue clearer. ITV treats the viewer like an idiot - very like Brian Williams who treats his viewers like stupid people on NBC.

Although I agree that ITV News has dumbed down over the last decade, you can watch a current bulletin and see that things are slowly - very slowly - getting back to normal. Real news is becoming the focus again. As already mentioned, the sensationalism (particularly on News at Ten) has calmed down dramatically and ITV News is the best it's been for years. There's still some work to do but it is definitely getting better.

As for ITV News using celebrities to make stories interesting - give me a recent example.

I normally watch the 6 o'clock news on the BBC and then switch over to ITV News at half past, because there's nothing else on. So I do pay a lot of attention to both.


I find George Alligiah's delivery to be overly sincere to the point of being almost incomprehensible most of the time. Fiona Bruce also has a permanently cheery demeanor when reading the news and she can't keep her head still for more than five seconds either, which is very distracting.

The biggest problem with BBC newsreaders is that they've been trained to within an inch of their lives, not unlike performing seals, to intonate minor words such as 'TO' and 'FROM' and 'LIVE' as opposed to emphasising the important words of the story that actually matter.


Am I correct in thinking those newsreaders were actors and not real journalists? I'd like to see a return to hiring actors to read the news, although I'm sure it'll never happen at the BBC.


Well they're not favouring a political party as such, but they could be favouring a particular set of attitudes and values which may just happen to be more in line with the Conservative party's values than those any of the other party, and that's perfectly fine. You have a choice between six different news programmes at the end of the day - nobody forces you to watch Sky News. If you don't like it then turn over.

I nominate Brian Blessed.

So a new set, Big Ben visuals dropped from the News at Ten, but the bongs are staying.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/22/itv-news-at-ten-big-ben