The Newsroom

BBC News Channel General Discussion

(November 2013)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
PA
PATV Scunthorpe
Justin posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgAty_Vas6c
Is the clip from BBC News at the beginning of this video from the initial rehearsals done at NBH? I say that because of the lighting set up in Studio E. The countdown also seems to be a rough prototype cut of the World version without the data streams and even using some stock clips!


I think Studio E wasn't t=finished at that point (and the newsroom as there are a lot of computers missing), at least in the countdown, but in that test opening the world map on the front it is just white
RK
Rkolsen
SomeRandomStuff posted:
whoiam989 posted:
Rkolsen posted:
As an aside it seems like US cable / broadcast networks have far fewer catastrophic breakdowns than the BBC does in a year.


A bit off topic here: Here in South Korea, all the TV channels usually have almost zero to no such breakdowns, so, as I remember, when the government-controlled (but guaranteed independence) public broadcaster KBS made a once-in-a-lifetime breakdown, there were outrages from the general public unlike the UK. (Don't quote me on that, though. Remember, "as I remember".)

Could it perhaps be to do with priorities? ie. most broadcasters being presentationally slick yet being a mess editorially, wheras the BBC tends to spend its money on newsgathering and isnt as bothered about the occasional breakdown?

Or perhaps the shere quantity of output from the BBC means there are going to be more errors?


News organizations should be equally focused on news gathering and technical operations. Here in the US CNN, Fox News and MSNBC all produce roughly the same amount of content as the domestic BBC News channel (roughly 18 hours/weekday) and they don't have periods where they have to go off air due to breakdowns. Then again maybe the reason why those channels don't have issues is because they have multiple studios and control rooms in operation where they can do preventative maintenance on one with out interrupting output.



Sorry for getting off topic.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Sorry, "periods where they have to go off air due to breakdowns"? I don't recognise that as a description of the BBC News Channel. The occasional cock-up (due to human error) where the cameras do something other than what the Director wanted, sure, but hardly a "catastrophic breakdown".
SN
The SNT Three
Rkolsen posted:
SomeRandomStuff posted:
whoiam989 posted:
Rkolsen posted:
As an aside it seems like US cable / broadcast networks have far fewer catastrophic breakdowns than the BBC does in a year.


A bit off topic here: Here in South Korea, all the TV channels usually have almost zero to no such breakdowns, so, as I remember, when the government-controlled (but guaranteed independence) public broadcaster KBS made a once-in-a-lifetime breakdown, there were outrages from the general public unlike the UK. (Don't quote me on that, though. Remember, "as I remember".)

Could it perhaps be to do with priorities? ie. most broadcasters being presentationally slick yet being a mess editorially, wheras the BBC tends to spend its money on newsgathering and isnt as bothered about the occasional breakdown?

Or perhaps the shere quantity of output from the BBC means there are going to be more errors?


News organizations should be equally focused on news gathering and technical operations. Here in the US CNN, Fox News and MSNBC all produce roughly the same amount of content as the domestic BBC News channel (roughly 18 hours/weekday) and they don't have periods where they have to go off air due to breakdowns. Then again maybe the reason why those channels don't have issues is because they have multiple studios and control rooms in operation where they can do preventative maintenance on one with out interrupting output.


The American news channels may produce 18 hours+ of programming a day but I don't think that the same investment goes into this - a lot of their programming (particularly MSNBC and Fox) is made up on debates and so-called 'talking heads' spouting off about politics. I think SomeRandomStuff is correct in saying that BBC News may not be so presentationally slick (although it pretty much is) yet is not a mess editorially. IMO they're putting their money to the right uses.

(Also, don't forget that the BBC have 8 hours+ per day to do 'preventative maintenance' on Studio E if they need to.)
GI
ginnyfan
Besides US news channels have a more simple presentation set up. I mean their TOTH's and bulletins consist mostly of headlines followed by a presenter close up while BBC's TOTH is a complex operation consisting of several camera shots that have to be executed strictly but often end up messy.
NG
noggin Founding member
elmarko posted:
Surely you can just consider RedBee the master control?


Except that the BBC News Channel doesn't go via Red Bee and doesn't have a presentation operation. Unlike BBC World News and BBC One, BBC Two etc.
EL
elmarko
Does it go straight from NBH to distribution then? And the directed output contains everything happening on the channel?

Today I learned things.
NJ
news junkie
So I learned something about the BBC News studio (I think). It turns out, if i'm right, that the screens in studio E which often feature behind reporters/guests is actually one big LED screen, not light boxes and LCDs like in C. The video Justin posted shows a brief glimpse of this at 1:08.

Justin posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgAty_Vas6c
Is the clip from BBC News at the beginning of this video from the initial rehearsals done at NBH? I say that because of the lighting set up in Studio E. The countdown also seems to be a rough prototype cut of the World version without the data streams and even using some stock clips!


Also this image from ry1992 seems to show this. https://ry1992.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/london-creative-industry-trip-monday-13th-march/ * (Apologies for the size of the image and if this was already known)
CR
Critique
I think it's been mentioned a few times but it's an easy mistake to make. I certainly never realised that it was a screen pretending to be lightboxes and smaller screens for a while, and to add to the confusion I'm sure when they first came from NBH people questioned whether the view behind the guest was real (mainly as the pillar looked too shiny), and someone said it was! Seems slightly odd and perhaps not the original plan, as the screen doesn't fill the space.
CH
Charles
Yeah, aside from that comical camera system that they've installed in Studios C and E, I don't think it's fair to say that the BBC is subject to more "catastrophic breakdowns" than the US domestic cable networks are. Not that "catastrophic breakdowns" would be easy to quantify or keep track of, but it's not like they're using analog switchers from the 1980s in Europe or something.

Plus, as others have pointed out, running a live rolling news channel with multiple producers and correspondents, live ENG/SNG hits, and the near certainty that rundowns will change midway through the show is very different to the commercialized talk that gets passed for news on at least two of the three US news channels. Considering the simulcasts, BBC News Channel is still live for almost the entire day whereas even the first run of O'Reilly at 8pm on Fox is taped.
NG
noggin Founding member
Charles posted:

Plus, as others have pointed out, running a live rolling news channel with multiple producers and correspondents, live ENG/SNG hits, and the near certainty that rundowns will change midway through the show is very different to the commercialized talk that gets passed for news on at least two of the three US news channels.


Midway? That's on a very good day...
RA
radiobloke
Rkolsen posted:
Plus the BBC which from what I understand has no traditional master control where all elements and break fillers are played out from the control room. US networks have master controls which can easily playout promos and commercials until the problem is resolved.



Although not a "traditional" pres area, there is a master control room operation in BBC NBH and they do have the ability to intervene & switch to filler content in the event of a major problem on the News Channel. Generally though the MCR would only get involved in a major breakdown and such incidents are rare. It is also entirely possible to seamlessly move News Channel between studios, for maintenance & other operational reasons - this happens on a daily basis.

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