BBC News (UK)

[Rob]

I reckon Mods should ban anyone who uses the word ‘pingdemic’!

I reckon we won't...

[Newsroom]

I reckon Mods should ban anyone who uses the word ‘pingdemic’!

Why?

You are aware the term is being used by every media outlet in the land.

[Steve Williams]

She was excellent too - as if she'd been doing the network bulletins for years. A pleasant surprise to see her appear on BBC1. Her appearance and also Martine Croxall's on weekend network bulletins really evidence that it's perfectly possible to use presenters who are mainly on World News or the News Channel on the network bulletins at weekends and the sky won't fall in/viewers won't switch off in droves if it's a different presenter to normal the way some at BBC News seem to believe might happen.

I'm surprised with all the cuts over the years that there's still the practice of bringing in a separate presenter to read the teatime and evening bulletins at weekends especially when the bulletins aren't long on Saturdays and the content is incredibly similar to what the News Channel presenters would already have been covering. Are the introductions to stories or the questions asked to the correspondents really THAT different between the News Channel and network bulletins to need to bring in a separate presenter?

I know we've had this discussion a lot in the past, but it is a fact that the BBC1 bulletins are much, more more important than the News Channel on a weekend evening, they get big ratings (often they're among the highest rated bulletins of the week) and I don't begrudge them having a few extra bells and whistles, and given all the cuts over the years and the sharing of resources, an additional presenter hardly seems an outrageous and unjustifiable expense.

Before the move to NBH, when the domestic bulletins and the news channel had a different set, there was a period where for a few months the Saturday BBC1 bulletins came from the news channel set. Same content, and still with the senior presenters, but I never really liked it, subconsciously it made it feel like a bit of an inferior service because it wasn't from the "proper" set.

Yes, you can look at it and see it as a pointless expense, but so much news presentation is pretty pointless but they do it because it makes it look nice. And a change of presenter for the BBC1 bulletins (who are mostly freelance anyway) might not be essential but I don't see why some people find it so urgent to stop this practice. People like to see presenters they know and like.

[JF World]

I loved the format of the 8am simulcast between NC/WN keep the hour as an alternative to Breakfast, which I don't think is newsy enough for me in normal times, great having a proper news bulletin, with WBR

[bfgarmy]

She was excellent too - as if she'd been doing the network bulletins for years. A pleasant surprise to see her appear on BBC1. Her appearance and also Martine Croxall's on weekend network bulletins really evidence that it's perfectly possible to use presenters who are mainly on World News or the News Channel on the network bulletins at weekends and the sky won't fall in/viewers won't switch off in droves if it's a different presenter to normal the way some at BBC News seem to believe might happen.

I'm surprised with all the cuts over the years that there's still the practice of bringing in a separate presenter to read the teatime and evening bulletins at weekends especially when the bulletins aren't long on Saturdays and the content is incredibly similar to what the News Channel presenters would already have been covering. Are the introductions to stories or the questions asked to the correspondents really THAT different between the News Channel and network bulletins to need to bring in a separate presenter?

I know we've had this discussion a lot in the past, but it is a fact that the BBC1 bulletins are much, more more important than the News Channel on a weekend evening, they get big ratings (often they're among the highest rated bulletins of the week) and I don't begrudge them having a few extra bells and whistles, and given all the cuts over the years and the sharing of resources, an additional presenter hardly seems an outrageous and unjustifiable expense.

Before the move to NBH, when the domestic bulletins and the news channel had a different set, there was a period where for a few months the Saturday BBC1 bulletins came from the news channel set. Same content, and still with the senior presenters, but I never really liked it, subconsciously it made it feel like a bit of an inferior service because it wasn't from the "proper" set.

Yes, you can look at it and see it as a pointless expense, but so much news presentation is pretty pointless but they do it because it makes it look nice. And a change of presenter for the BBC1 bulletins (who are mostly freelance anyway) might not be essential but I don't see why some people find it so urgent to stop this practice. People like to see presenters they know and like.

When the cuts to news are to such an extent that the news channel is barely able to air any content of its own beyond 6pm (largely simulcasting World or BBC1) it is then probably fair to ask if whether having a separate weekend presenter is worth that sacrifice. If the BBC are having to cut back as far as they’ve had, bells and whistles do have to be justified - otherwise surely everybody would ask for special privileges.

Surely the solution would be to have higher profile presenters on the news channel in the evenings - the likes of Jane Hill, Victoria Derbyshire, Kate Silverton, Clive Myrie and Reeta Chakrabarti are very experienced at rolling news and with the various World simulcasts and back half hours programmes at weekends there should be plenty of preparation time for a BBC1 bulletin.

Also on the presenters they know and like argument - Martine Croxall and Phillipa Thomas have done BBC1 bulletins recently and are by no means familiar faces to BBC1 bulletins and everybody seems to have coped just fine. Indeed Martine Croxall broke the biggest news a presenter can break - a Royal death - and the public coped fine with it not being Huw or Sophie for example doing the initial announcement. I think we all have bigger things to worry about in life than whether we recognise the news presenter or not.

[Joe]

I mean surely if you use the lesser known presenters on a bigger profile programme they will become better known?

[Newsroom]

I mean surely if you use the lesser known presenters on a bigger profile programme they will become better known?

This is exactly what they did with Reeta Chakrabarti. Straight to network bulletins.

[Steve Williams]

When the cuts to news are to such an extent that the news channel is barely able to air any content of its own beyond 6pm (largely simulcasting World or BBC1) it is then probably fair to ask if whether having a separate weekend presenter is worth that sacrifice. If the BBC are having to cut back as far as they’ve had, bells and whistles do have to be justified - otherwise surely everybody would ask for special privileges.

Also on the presenters they know and like argument - Martine Croxall and Phillipa Thomas have done BBC1 bulletins recently and are by no means familiar faces to BBC1 bulletins and everybody seems to have coped just fine. Indeed Martine Croxall broke the biggest news a presenter can break - a Royal death - and the public coped fine with it not being Huw or Sophie for example doing the initial announcement. I think we all have bigger things to worry about in life than whether we recognise the news presenter or not.

I would agree that Philippa Thomas and Martine Croxall are very good presenters and they do excellent work on the BBC1 bulletins. But on this very page we've got someone saying their mum had never seen Philippa before, so people do notice. Of course, everyone has to start somewhere (from a BBC1 bulletins perspective, I know she has a very distinguished BBC career) and when they do more bulletins, people will get to know them.

But the question is, how much money does it save getting it an additional presenter for the BBC1 bulletins? In the grand scheme of things, next to nothing, I'd have thought. It's certainly not going to make such a difference that it means major cuts can be reversed. And as I say, the BBC1 bulletins must take priority because they get ratings umpteen times greater than anything on the news channel, and I wouldn't like to see anything that downgrades their quality, which it would if the presenter had been presenting on the news channel five minutes earlier. I reckon the news channel presenter probably welcomes a break on what is a very long shift anyway.

So my argument is that people say the news channel presenter could do the BBC1 bulletins, and no doubt they can because they're all very professional and competent. But the BBC1 bulletins are the most important things, by miles, and in terms of cost per viewer must be pretty low.

[Rolling News]

Countdowns getting a refresh it seems:

https://twitter.com/chrisckmedia/status/...7810447362

[Bogdan222]

Countdowns getting a refresh it seems:

https://twitter.com/chrisckmedia/status/...7810447362

And keeping the same music as usual

[Ittr]

Countdowns getting a refresh it seems:

https://twitter.com/chrisckmedia/status/...7810447362

And keeping the same music as usual

It would be nice if some new music was made, considering it has now been 8 years of the current incarnation. It doesn't feel like that long ago we had new countdowns every couple of years or so :?

[harshy]

I loved the format of the 8am simulcast between NC/WN keep the hour as an alternative to Breakfast, which I don't think is newsy enough for me in normal times, great having a proper news bulletin, with WBR

I been saying it for 15 years on tv forum never made sense why bbc one and the news channel had to simulcast the same thing.

[cityprod]

I loved the format of the 8am simulcast between NC/WN keep the hour as an alternative to Breakfast, which I don't think is newsy enough for me in normal times, great having a proper news bulletin, with WBR

I been saying it for 15 years on tv forum never made sense why bbc one and the news channel had to simulcast the same thing.

I wholeheartedly agree. Having the BBC1 bulletins on the News Channel has never made any sense to me, other than financial. Ultimately they’re trying to satisfy two different audiences at the same time, and it just doesn’t work.

It also didn’t make sense to me get rid of the hourly summaries and the “news break” style bulletins. Those bulletins do something that a news channel just can’t do well, and that is give a quick update on the top stories, something the top of hour sequence tries to do but ultimately doesn’t do well enough.

[Moz]

I reckon Mods should ban anyone who uses the word ‘pingdemic’!

Why?

You are aware the term is being used by every media outlet in the land.

That doesn’t make it right. It’s an awful word.

Of course my suggestion of banning people was a joke.

[Axolotl]

Countdowns getting a refresh it seems:

https://twitter.com/chrisckmedia/status/...7810447362

I wonder if the countdown will stay in the same format after the rebranding this autumn. It's so iconic now that I'd be surprised if they removed it completely, but they may well use some new music and graphics seeing as the current ones have been around since 2013.