ITV News: Rotas & Presenters

I remember some time back in possibly 2009 Alaistair Stewart and Steve Scott did an evening news bulletin together. It just didn't feel natural at all.

Chris Ship did a lecture or speech some time afterwards at Leeds University and he did make a reference to it, there was a video of this floating around somewhere not sure if it was on YouTube.
I do recall that it had occurred because of a scheduling/rota mix up, and looked rather strange for two male anchors to be presenting the 6.30 bulletin, I don't think they would probably do it intentionally again, but I suppose it depends on the anchors and there chemistry.

Both Nina and Katie Derham anchored a lunchtime news bulletin a few years ago and it felt very strange for Nina to be the lead presenter, but I can imagine Mary/Natasha Mary/Julie Natasha/Julie presenting lineup working very well.
I can't see Mark and Alaistair line up working very comfortable on air unless it was a special bulletin because of breaking news or an Election Special.

It's occassionally happened on ITV News in recent years - but you can count the number of occassions on one hand. Imagine the uproar nowadays though if a female quit a co-hosted bulletin and was replaced by a male - though nobody would bat an eyelid if it was the other way round as under the guise of equality it's fine to kick perfectly capable blokes out of a job and give them to a (perfectly capable) woman.

It used to work perfectly well back in the 80s, I don't think it would be an issue now. Channel 4 News do it quite regularly and it works well. The other thing they have dispensed with over the years is a pecking order. Now they seem to chop and change the lead presenter.

I think the main reason why Channel 4 News works with two male presenters for the bulletins is because the way the format of news bulletin is presented.
News At Ten back in the 80s and 90s and C4News now have a completely different style to the current output of ITV News hence why I said it would probably look strange on air for two males. If they returned to the format of News At Ten when there was two male presenters it would probably work better than it currently does.

Katie and Julie also presented the news at 6.30 together. Mark and Al worked together during the Arab uprisings with Mark in Libya but as you say no double pairings in the studio with those to.

Admitedly I haven't seen C4 news much at all since it revamped but it generally worked over the years because the two presenters never really appear on screen together, something that they changed (or intended to change) with the recent revamp. I would hope by now though they've gone back to letting Jon Snow take control.

The 5:30 seems to be all over the place at the minute. Faye wasn't on today for some reason. Sangeetas done 10 bulletins since 7th April! compared to Fayes and Charlene's 6 & 5.

Faye's gone on holiday (info from her twitter)

How dare they have such inconsistent presenters on a barely watched early morning rehash of the previous day's news! It's an absolute disgrace, ITN should be ashamed...

Here, I was stating a point, don't agree don't comment! There's a few comments I see and think what the hell are you going on about but I don't belittle, insult or mock people it's just rude! Ignorant specimen!!

It's just past couple of months they've been consisted with who's presents, but over last few weeks they seem to have got a few others on! I was just putting a PRESENTER STATEMENT in the ITV NEWS: PRESENTERS & ROATS thread, if this isn't 'Suitable' where else shall I put it? And what else do you suggest I post about in this thread?

If this was News at Ten though or some would be up in arms! NaT needs a regular presenter in a regular slot etc. so what's the difference in the 5:30 news?!!

Come on, Guys. Don't start a war. We are all friends here. End of.

I suggest you stop posting altogether if you don't have anything that users deem interesting to say. Like it or not, one of the main points of a forum is to participate in mutually interesting discussion, and all you seem to do is tell us who is on presenter duties for a little-watched news bulletin - and it's getting very boring.



Barely anybody knows the News at 5:30 exists. For many it's merely a listing in a magazine. News at Ten, on the other hand, has a forty-year history and rose to prominence with regular presenting teams and specific faces... Bosanquet, Burnet, Stewart, McDonald... hence the need to maintain a certain kind of familiarity that ITN has long honed. That's why that news programme needs regular presenters. The News at 5:30 can cope with having everybody and anybody present it.