In fact, the 'wall' behind the plasma changes colours by fading across the spectrum but it just happens that they appear to be the same colour across all the pictures here.
The text in the orange strap across at the bottom of the screen is the live subtitles.
I like it apart from the orange wall, it should be blue.
The evening news I watch here in NZ is One News... here are some caps of how it currently looks. The set has pretty much been destroyed since the original 2003 appearance, the old sport and weather area is now just a green screen.
Have to say, the desciption of fading through the spectrum does sound a little tacky, it's quite a boring set overall really, nothing much of interest in the set itself.
I actually think this is quite nice actually, the only thing I don't like is the top of the desk, the glass they've used, the fact you can see all the faff underneath makes it look messy and the pointless ledges at the front look like they came straight out of a kitchen showroom.
The titles do look quite intersting, even if the mean very little, not sure about thier suitablity to a news programme, but yes the set is, hmm, a tad naff.
Here in the Republic of Ireland, we have RTE, which has to be one of the worst PSB's in Europe, as they do not get much in the way of funding. The news titles aren't supposed to mean anything...it's very bad. The set is quite ugly as well.
Each state and territory (there are seven) has it's own bulletin so the set isn't quite up to the same standard as the BBC nationals one, especially given that the ABC has to cover radio, television and online services, all on a budget less than the commercial television networks have just for TV. The standard of reporting though is excellent..
part of the now demolished One News set used too fade between colours on the Sport and Weather wall, it looked really nice.
Another evening news programme in NZ in 3 News... its terrible imo and very ITV News like, without the standing and similar pres! They make things so dramatic and have a really terrible order of stories. A few months ago they led with Britney Spears, and there were alot more important things happening in NZ than that.
Looks like 3 News have either employed a US team to design their "look" or have been watching too many US shows. It looks just like a slightly dated US local news set - too much wood, and decals stuck on the desk and backdrop...
The One News set from NZ looks a bit better - though again incredibly dated (something from the mid-90s) and it is just too busy. Why have a bizarre semi-random shaped desk top ? Why have all the busy panels? It is distracting - and looks quite cheap.
RTE News is a bit more interesting, though looks very cramped, and using a white-edged DVE box for down-the-lines should have been banned when we left the 80s. (Well I'm assuming it is a DVE box...) Interesting, though again slightly dated, use of wood on the desk, though a nice attempt at something simple but different. (Halogen downlighters though - thought we'd left them in the late 90s - a bit IKEA these days aren't they?) The mushy backdrop looks like something you'd have had behind you in an 80s school photo though - looks a bit of a mush to me.
The Aussie regional sets do look like broomcupboards - a bit like the BBC Channel Islands or Oxford set-ups. Simple, clean and do what they need to with limited resources I guess. (I read somewhere that some Aussie broadcasters have all their regional studios in one studio centre location, not in the regions they broadcast to - is that the case?)
One gratifying thing from all of the double headed bulletins, and the Aussie regional stuff, is that they haven't gone for the classic young girl, old man pairing that is so common in many areas. The women look a bit more mature, and more credible as a result, and the men don't all look about 90...
