Coronavirus | Television News Coverage

Newsround now coming from Ricky Boleto's shed.

First outing of the shed was on @BBCNewsround this morning. It does get a bit cold though... 🥶 pic.twitter.com/EC1xUiTOnq

— Ricky Boleto (@rickyboleto) January 13, 2021

To top it all off... it has a pull down GREEN SCREEN! 🟩#StudioShed #RickysShed https://t.co/8v2eevbash pic.twitter.com/P8AmQukYov

— Ricky Boleto (@rickyboleto) January 13, 2021

Have to say I agree slightly more with Lorraine Heggesey on the Callaghan conundrum. A former PM yes, but one much nearer to single figures on the Pointless scoreboard than several of those who preceded him (not even sure he was even portrayed in The Crown either, to use that as a yardstick!)

I agree, I was 13 when he died and that was the first time I’d heard of him, only because I was so into news presentation.

As if I didn't feel old enough already. Now I feel ancient...

Yes, it wasn't that Heggessey didn't think it was worth doing, because as I say they did do one, but that it wasn't worth doing right now. Would have brought the mood down a bit into Doctor Who, certainly.

There's no one-size-fits-all approach. When Muhammad Ali died the other year, they showed an hour-long obituary for him that night, but it was a Saturday night in the middle of summer and it was only replacing a repeat. It might not have been shown so quickly if he'd died on a Saturday in the autumn when Strictly and Match of the Day were in the schedule.

Indeed he is the only post-war PM, thus far, not to have been portrayed in The Crown - not even a small cameo. Considering he served longer as PM than Eden or Douglas-Home who were both featured and nearly as long as Heath or Churchill's peacetime premiership it seems a little bit of a snub - especially considering his period in office was far from uneventful.

It is a difficult call that one, though. Did Heath or Wilson get newsflashes when they died? Thatcher didn't get a newsflash as her death was announced just minutes before the News at One - which got extended.

I remember the coverage of Wilson's death - it was announced on a Wednesday afternoon in May 1995 and there was a news special before CBBC, judging by the schedule from that day probably replacing Gardens of the World and the cartoon after three o'clock - https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1995-05-24
Of course Parliament was in session at the time and presumably there were tributes paid there, so there was something to show. Then his obit was on at ten o'clock that night instead of the Ben Elton repeat.

I wouldn't say it was a difficult call, really - the newsflash got on, just 45 minutes later. He got a quick newsflash and an extra five minutes on the news that night, which was probably about right. It's not something you interrupt programmes for.

Sorry if this is a stupid question but are the briefing times and dates announced anywhere? It all seems a bit hit and miss to find out if there is a briefing each day.

I nearly missed yesterday's as I turned BBC 1 on to see and only tried BBC news by chance.

De Gaulle's death sticks in my mind (Mon Nov 9th 1970) They broke into BBC 1 children's programmes with a newsflash. Meant nothing to 7 year old me, but my mother sat up, and proceeded to tell me who he was

If there is one, I've seen it 'trailed' on the BBC News Channel flipper and the Sky News ticker. BBC News website usually mentions it somewhere on the front page - usually in the live feed box.

Monitor the live feeds on the BBC News/Sky News websites, they're usually announced there when somebody decides they're going to do one.

They also usually announce it shortly before it starts on the BBC News app. I'd imagine Sky might do the same.