Going back to the social distancing question from earlier on, interesting to note in that gaffs video from Twitter above, you can hear someone say 'yes we are allowed to shake hands' towards the end...
Maybe they're broadcasting from a parallel universe
thomalex post_id=21065 time= user_id=1745 Wrote:Just a thought but given things are so bad it’s quite evident they just don’t currently have the ability to run a full news channel to a professional standard. It’s also must be very difficult to work on things as the channel is constantly on air.
Does it get to a point where it’s better to pull the channel off air for a few weeks to get the technology sorted and staff fully up to speed before going back on air?
At this point you can wonder if they took off the channel to "fix" the problems if it would ever return. Would probably be the cue for many staff, investors and advertisers to desert for good.
I wonder how long Discovery will stay backing this if things don't improve? They're a respectable company, I can't see them wanting to be assosiated with a shambles like this.
thecorrector post_id=21051 time= user_id=1692 Wrote:As we wrap up another day’s output of GBN, two of the live links have just failed - but if you don’t want to wade through dozens of pages of this thread, here’s a summary of what we’ve seen today:
- Continued serious technical problems with pictures and graphics (including the channel falling off air at one point)
- Continued serious sound issues, with one regional reporter using an iPhone and AirPods just so we could hear her guest
- The same editorial topics on a merry-go-round including yet more discussion of Harry and Meghan and England players taking the knee
- Two presenters getting caught out by Mike Oxlong and Mike Hunt fake emails
- Half a dozen companies pulling their ads
- Lady Colin Campbell claiming Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t a paedophile
And it was only the second full day of output.
more of this please going forward! Excellent work
They need to be able to decamp to some sort of temporary facility for a week whilst they sort literally everything out, but I imagine the big problem is it's not staffed properly. The fact that the sound mixing is clearly automated - and possibly vision too, is a big giveaway. The set looks like it's always night-time - get some light in there for God's sake!
You can do radio on 2p and make it sound good - just about. But television is a different ballgame. This is sub-TV-AM Strike level of technical competence.
There's still the major elephant in the room - no news.
As you say though with presumably understaffing issues even if they could decamp somewhere for a week they've likely not got the luxury of being able to staff that and address the issues back at base.
thomalex post_id=21065 time= user_id=1745 Wrote:Just a thought but given things are so bad it’s quite evident they just don’t currently have the ability to run a full news channel to a professional standard. It’s also must be very difficult to work on things as the channel is constantly on air.
Does it get to a point where it’s better to pull the channel off air for a few weeks to get the technology sorted and staff fully up to speed before going back on air?
The problem is there are so many issues.
Firstly, the channel is now at a point where people won't happily sit through technical difficulties and pass them off as it being a new channel. After two full days of broadcasting, it feels like the remedial work has been minimal. They need to find a way to solve them promptly, otherwise people won't be returning.
Secondly, the staffing. Through the content and the tech issues, it's felt like it's a very bare bones operation. I understand that it's a new channel, but whenever I've been watching, it's mostly felt like the team has been plucking at straws for content. In the lead-up to launch, they were wanting to show off the number of talented people they'd recruited. But now they're on-air, it feels like all the talent has suddenly vanished. The regional correspondents, who were seemingly meant to be the front-line of the coverage of stories outside London, only seem capable of a few lives throughout the day, with no interviews, no vox-pops, no b-roll, and sometimes no story at all (It's a cob!). They really seem to be in need of a bigger team who can go and get interviews, and put together pre-recorded reports which can then lead on to further discussion.
And thirdly, the content. This somewhat links back to the staffing issue, but it feels like they have nothing to report on or talk about. We're only three days into this, yet they seem to be somewhat struggling to find guests to talk to and topics to discuss. It feels like they're at risk of getting stuck in a cycle of not getting any stories of their own to report, falling back on content from other outlets that is also being discussed elsewhere, not being able to develop a decent reputation, and the cycle starts again.
If I was running this project right now, I'd be having a hard look at everything and figuring out how to turn it all around. It's not a sustainable situation, and if they don't resolve it quickly, then I can't see the channel having much of a future.
Brekkie post_id=21076 time= user_id=976 Wrote:As you say though with presumably understaffing issues even if they could decamp somewhere for a week they've likely not got the luxury of being able to staff that and address the issues back at base.
I guess there is a chance they could go somewhere like Millbank for a few days, whilst the studio is made fit for purpose and any issues with the set up are ironed out or staff are trained.
James Martin post_id=21074 time= user_id=872 Wrote:There's still the major elephant in the room - no news.
Indeed, and that
does seem like a pretty noteworthy issue for a channel called 'GB News'.
You'd be rather disappointed to find no baking on 'The Great British Bake-Off' and no antiques on 'Antiques Roadshow'... :lol:
There will be kids who watched CBBC's 10 minute long Newsround yesterday who are more informed than the couple of hundred thousand adults who watched GB News all day!
When the novelty of "at last a news channel telling it like it is!" wears off surely the channels supporters are going to realise all they're watching is a 17 hour loop of Jeremy Vines Channel 5 show? You'd hope that eventually people are going to want something more substantial than all culture wars all of the time.
I think they have to produce packages and have news updates. They don't appear to use anything from earlier in the day which could fill airtime and lead in to follow on discussion. There are too many Zoom interviews which are full of technical difficulties.
There have been some good interviews like this morning with a lady about a food Bank in Newcastle and I doubt it was ever seen again. They need to make the best use of their own content.
The evening show is unpleasant and is not helping the brand. That needs to be the first casualty I think.
This probably is the worst news channel I've seen in terms of presentation, ever (at least from the UK). It makes Arise News and Press TV seem professional outfits. Even the channel they bumped off 515 on Sky could put together a reasonable standard of output (tuned in to it before it was shifted down the EPG). It makes BBC News' MOsart/Furio camera gaffes look tame.
From what I can see from an outsider with some television experience, but also 15+ years of radio under my belt, some of the basics are so so fundamentally wrong.
In most, if not all broadcast newsrooms you'll have daily and weekly prospects with stories you must cover, should cover and 'would be nice to do' if there's capacity. There doesn't seem to be much planning going on as was evident today with topics which are now 2 days old (knee, freedom day and royals), 2 regional reporters reporting live from 2 wedding venues at the same time and the Daniel Morgan inquiry publication where one of the presenters had to ask the guest about the story as they didn't seem to know anything about it. By all means ask the guest for clarification, but they shouldn't be expected to be a reporter. The latter story has been known about for some time and it was known the report was going to be released today so the presenters should've gelled up on it - its a sensitive subject after all. The live regional hits have no context to them. I said earlier in the day, the hits should be done with a talking head/guest/b-roll or colour to bring the story to life with the reporter book ending the piece - 'I went into yet another pub and this person said' is not reporting, its the equivalent of classroom gossip. The use of B-roll/pre linked guest was done in 2 instances today and gave the presenters in the studio something to talk about. Also, the studio presenters having to prompt the reporter to do an interview with a guest standing right next to them AFTER we've already been told about the story is simply poor communication. Any person who's studied broadcast journalism, media or worked in radio or TV should know the above.
They should also be reusing some of their interviews on air to split things up and fill time. I think I only saw a badly cropped/zoomed in, what looked like ripped from YouTube clip of Michael Gove reused today (with dreadful distorted sound). Simon McCoy did an outstanding interview with a former Colonel who had a book out. There was also a really good interview from an OB about foodbanks, which was never seen again.
The presenter pairings aren't working for me. Colin and Mercy don't seem to gel together on screen. Colin's having to pick up on or correct some fundamental things that have been said in that slot. The same could be said for the McCoy and Phillips slot - although it does have potential. Also, to me, presenters having quips and digs at one another comes across on screen as very sour.
The technicals. Where do you start? The sound is the biggest problem. They need a production area with a proper sound technician policing the radio mics and OS feeds. If you watch the L!VE TV Trouble at the Top fly on the wall documentary you'll see the biggest problems they had were a lack of staff and no one dedicated to controlling the mics/sound. Yes, that may have been the 90s and technology/automation has moved on but you still need trained people to do certain jobs. The studio lighting is an ongoing problem as is the graphics not lining up, strange font sizes, split screen layouts. The latter don't need any further comment as you can see the problems on screen.
Content wise. Meh, some of it isn't to my taste but the post 9pm slot is sailing very close to the wind re. the Ofcom Broadcast Code IMHO. An out of date weather forecast or wrong forecast intended for the next day doesn't help matters either.
Anyone can fall foul of the silly named emails so won't give them too much of a hard time there, but it does highlight the golden rule of proof reading before speaking.
Also, there are no promos for shows airing in the ad breaks? Why not? With a new channel I would've thought these would be a priority - signposting people to the weekend shows in particular. Reuse some of the pre-launch footage and bookend a clip montage of the presenters talking with some graphic cards? They should be running some sort of ad break, weather, promos - something! - just before the top of the hour when presenter changeovers happen (at least) to allow the gallery staff and presenters to get comfortable. It all looks rather rushed and chaotic at present. This seems to be where the biggest technical cock ups happen.
Its easy commenting being an outsider and I do want this channel to work and its quite clear the channel's been rushed on air with little training of the gallery or back room staff who we can't really blame. Do we know if any mock full 'as live' dry runs were done from the set with gallery/presenters/OB feeds+reporters before launch? If they were I would've thought any person with a reasonable understanding of live television news experience or editorial would've picked up on and tried to rectify or find workarounds to the important issues before launch.
You have one chance to get things right when you launch a quite heavily publicised news channel, or even local radio station. I've always said to people I've helped coach 'a mistake should come as a surprise to the audience, not an hourly or frequent feature' - I just hope it can all be sorted before anything serious happens.
It all comes over as they spent most of the budget on the talent and not on the basics, such as producing the output in the first place. It's all and good spending good money on Andrew Neil, Simon McCoy, Kirsty Gallacher etc, but then not spend money on a sound desk and a sound engineer who would be able to work on the sound issues instead of an automated desk.
I doubt GB News will ever be an influential voice for a section of society that has been disenfranchised. talkRADIO has a small share of GB's potential audience and that in comparison is a slick operation, despite using much of the same fodder GBN has provided over the last two days.
However it's still early days and the investors may bankroll more money to upgrade the kit and hire extra staff to get this operation working professionally. However it may be at the expense of talent. It could be Nana Akua and Rosie Wright presenting breakfast in a year's time and other well respected but cheaper freelancers on the other shifts. The ones that are solid, I'm thinking along the lines of Belle Donati and Nick Qurashi rather than Brazier and McCoy with the commentators.
James Martin has been banned for two weeks.
At this point would it be better for them to have desk mics and ask the guests to switch them on and off when they come and go from the studio?