London Live

I suspect they need to be produced... Not an unusual requirement in a presenter. However I'm not sure how much strength London Live have in the TV production journalist field (i.e. the journalists who shape the bulletin, write for television - and think in terms of both words AND pictures, and then produce interviews in the gallery). Take away that production behind the scenes, and you are left with presenters who are a bit "at sea".


I suspect the "second tier" - some of whom appear to be good and real finds - are better at self-producing (they may have more direct experience of reporting as well as presenting - which probably stands them in good stead)

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A quick Google search shows Maleena Pone worked at the Community Channel on it's 360 series of topical programmes, possibly as a direct hiring of Jane Mote who previously worked on the channel. She also presented London 360 this morning as it moved to LL from the CC.

Anthony Baxter is ex BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat and BBC Switch, presenting topical programmes for a youth audience.

Alex Beard was the only person I heard of before LL. She was a VJ for BBC South East Today and also presented occasional bulletins at weekends and more importantly, during BBC Breakfast, giving her the experience of presenting live television.

A pot, kettle, black comment from Vanessa this morning.

So funny watching @MarcEdwards80 trying to negotiate with the big touchscreen in the digi hub! #14to1 is on @LondonLive now! @GavinROfficial

— Vanessa Baffoe (@VanessaBaffoe) April 12, 2014

Some changes to London Local this weekend. Now from the sofa with a plasma behind the presenter rather than from the digital hub. They now show reports and repeats of lives from the weekday shows, viewer submitted content has been relegated to a short segment, which makes the show more of a news review rather than an extra show based on viewer content.

I hope the news/current affairs boss of LL looks at this forum and doesn't just dismiss it. I think he/she utterly ballsed it up frankly.

People who weren't ready to go on air (and still aren't in several cases); ill thought-out editorial ideas; a general lack of thinking about their news and current affairs.

There have been slight improvements, but (with the possible exception of London Go) how could they get it so wrong? No wonder the tiny ratings have nosedived further since the launch, when the launch seemed so ill-prepared, editorially.

No special coverage of the London Marathon today?

It may just be an issue with rights and not being allowed to broadcast from anywhere worthwhile - or that they feel there's no point competing with the BBC. But I'd have thought they could have at least mounted a London Go style show from a couple of locations, given that it's one of the biggest days of the year for London - so important in building a reputation for being at the heart of London life.

I remember in the old days when Capital Radio would set up their roadshow truck at Tower Bridge by the Tower Thistle hotel,. which would be a great vantage point for London Live where you'd see the athletes reach the half way point and as they reach the near end of the course.

As I type, they're repeating a Best of London Go followed by the 'best' of Not the One Show until 1pm. A waste considering it's one of the biggest events in London's calendar.

On the other hand, they did announce they'd be providing comprehensive coverage of the Notting Hill Carnival in August.

Their definition of "comprehensive" though probably leaves a lot to be desired.

"Comprehensive" is one of those horrendous TV buzz-words which is overused nowadays, and needn't be used at all. If a show is going to cover something, then as a viewer I'd expect them to cover everything that I need to know about it, or at least everything that is interesting enough for it to be covered in the first place.

Though to be fair, levels of coverage can vary. The BBC could cover The Notting Hill Carnival with a 2'00" VT on BBC London News, or hours of live output on BBC One (I think they did back in the 80s?). The former would probably not be described as comprehensive as the latter.

I remember BBC2 had a highlights package on.

Oh dear, tonight's Platform 8 debate has a panellist swearing 42 minutes before the watershed with no apology from the presenter who didn't break the person from talking.