I think there is a question to be had about what we consider to be news and till now it's been limited to what fits into 30 minutes programmes or segments. Also the BBC have tended to follow an agenda set by others rather than set its own.
Similarly there's a debate about what "breaking news" is and whether things really need to be covered instantly. I still think there's a question about how this show will cover breaking news, I mean important breaking news, but let's be honest big breaking news stories don't happen everyday and 5 Live manages to do it very well.
Not sold on your last paragraph - big breaking news stories are the kind of thing that BBC1 will clear its schedule for. The more routine or early developing stories are what the News Channel is there for and what it should be doing well.
Not sold on your last paragraph - big breaking news stories are the kind of thing that BBC1 will clear its schedule for. The more routine or early developing stories are what the News Channel is there for and what it should be doing well.
Point taken but I suppose what I meant was a step down from that. My point being that news channels can be seen as being a bit boring, essentially just running the same thing hour after hour, so when something happens no matter how big or smal it can get a huge amount of coverage and I would question whether that's good enough or good for how news is covered.
An improvement today in that the dementia film was kept until the last half hour of the show, while earlier on they focused on the shooting of a cleric/situation in Saudi Arabia and Trident-gate, showing they have their finger slightly closer to the news pulse.
I would never have stuck with the News Channel for more than half an hour before and watched the whole two hours. I appreciate for those tuning in for a news bulletin it doesn't respond to that appetite any more, but for the target audience it's a lot better - although it remains to be seen if it will work.
Now, if only they had an interactive loop where they could show news bulletins and thus respond to everybody's needs...
Monday's show will be live from Newcastle. They're appealing for audience members to come down.
I had a voicemail left for me from a researcher on the show so this must have been what it was for (the BBC/Mentorn must have my details from a previous QT application). It will be about the economy and the election apparently. I haven't called back and don't intend to either.
I watched a bit of the show this morning. It seemed to be that much more news-led today, with lots on the death of Richie Benaud and the Ashya King story.
The cut-aways to talking heads during the Richie Benaud tributes were very clumsily executed, I felt, however. Very long, awkward lingering shots on Derbyshire listening.
I do think that the TOTH / headlines sequence at 10am could be punchier still.