Whitney Houston Dies

I still insist that even in these circumstances where there are hours of continued coverage, BBC NC should come out from the coverage every 15 minutes or so to give a 1-minute summary of the other news, and then rejoin coverage.

I think covering deaths of people for a disproportionate amount of hours should have a line drawn underneath at some point, especially when this coverage is reasonably dry and boring, just comprising preachers seemingly talking forever.

With regards to this event, I think BBC is pandering to the populist, glossy-magazine culture. I think it was the wrong decision to dedicate so much time to this funeral. They could be different, and stand out from the crowd and get on with proper news, such as the continuing violence in Syria, where mourners were fired on.

They should have redirected viewers who want to see this to a live stream on their website, and just dip into coverage every now and then, perhaps with a summary of 'key' moments, should there be any.

It is just so boring, and nothing is gained from watching it. A complete waste of time - especially this babbling preacher.

Only saving grace is that Gavin Grey is on!!

Back live in the UK on BBC NC with Gavin Grey.

(Funeral still going on!)

BBC NC with Gavin, while World News is still going on with it. Logic?!

World is still broadcasting the funeral at present, not sure how long that will last!

Looks like normal service is slowly resuming on NC with weather. Please have some sense, BBC NC, and leave that drab coverage already!

Still on SKY & CNN at least.

(Couldn't be arsed to check further!)

The News Channel seem to be keen to catch up now. No headlines summary as usual, Gavin appeared after the weather and promos facing the side camera with an image behind him, saying 'Now for the rest of the day's news' and continuing. Odd then that they decided to show two promos instead of going straight to Gavin allowing time for the summary!

EDIT: Apologies, this should be in the NC pres thread really.

Looks as if it has finished on the AP feed.

Back live with the funeral on the NC!

Or not!

BBC defends Houston TV coverage

The BBC has defended its coverage of Whitney Houston's funeral on its News Channel following complaints from viewers about its duration.

The broadcaster received 118 complaints about the Channel's coverage of the four-hour service on Saturday.

The corporation said it was "part of the News Channel function to be there when major stories take place".

Another 34 complaints were received from people upset that the service had been interrupted.

more ……..

WWW.BBC.CO.UK/NEWS
21-Feb-2012 @ 19:11

Only comment I have is that is N6, before it was taken out of circuit for UK only use, could've stuck a caption on screen, along the lines of 'Switch to BBC One for a full news bulletin. The BBC News Channel continues with live coverage of Whitney Houston's funeral'