Brexit Dramarama - TV News Coverage

I know that the media are set up in Abington Street Garden across from the Palace of Westminster and its a public space and there are usage rights and all that stuff, blah blah blah. But its ridiculously distracting to watch coverage on say Sky News and protesters are literately stood inches away, stood between the presenter and guest. Or they are wandering in amongst the media causing a nuisance or just being distracting. I realize that it would seemly cause a planning nightmare and WWIII and its probably an ancient burial ground or the wall was used by the royals to pee against in the dark ages or something....but there is an underground garage entrance just off Great College Street....https://goo.gl/maps/gp8hSJHeNPn this is a just a thought....(similar to the White House), it would be nice if a permanent elevated platform be integrated over the entrance to the underground car park, right up against the College Garden Wall. So the media has a elevated position, up out of the way and the public can still use the park without the media taking over their park as it would in position over the car park entrance anyway. Just a thought.

Previous White House media set up at the area dubbed Pebble Beach a muddy spot.

The White House improved Pebble Beach and added some paving and set up green awnings over each position

Regardless of whether the wall was used by royals to pee against, it's part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site (and the green itself is in a conservation area) - so I would say that it would be nigh-on impossible to get permission to build anything there. I think even the temporary structures for elections, state openings of Parliament, etc, require temporary planning permission.

Thats exactly my point and i clearly stated all of that when i posted things. I know its not possible because of that stuff. What I was indicating that position seems like that would be the perfect place to erect something even temporarily. Seems like the most out the place spot and the least obtrusive location, if they could do it. "Could" being the operative word. Regardless of planning and historical issues. I know its virtually impossible to do anything in that area.

Is there any need to get so arsey?

No, our elected officials are above that kind of boorish vulgarity. Execpt for 'Prime Minister's Questions' every Thursday.

I think your clock might be out by about 24 hours or so.

Will all due respect, College Green is a very British way of doing these things, in the same way a purpose built platform is a very American way of doing it.

Your suggestion sounds more sensible, but it loses some of the charm of dashing across to the Green in the rain to spout off a few soundbites before disappearing back off to vote.

Also, broadcasters have attempted raised platforms before (i think in the exact location you described?), to little effect. If anything, it attracts more protesters when you create a dedicated area for journos.

I believe this video has been shared here before, but it still demonstrates what people will do to get into the back of camera shots (even if on the occasion in the video, the aim was giggles, not protest). You can also see the attempts at using a platform, and later on, how the public got around it.

True, it certainly is cute and quite charming and all that with the raindrops and the dashing about and such. Sadly we live in a different world now that makes these charming things impractical and sadly dangerous. Hope the charming part stays that way as long as possible.

TBH, College Green is probably the easiest way to do the live broadcasts from outside parliament as their right outside Four Millbank where the BBC Politics has its home and broadcasts Politics Live & This Week so they have the technical staff there.

It's also slightly off the beaten track for most tourists so they're unlikely to just wander around in the back of shot and eat their lunch. I think that the protesters just need to back off a bit! I saw one guy earlier in the week with two massive signs standing right behind the two guests.

Even in Downing Street, you could hear Steve Bray shouting 'STOP BREXIT' at the top of his lungs all the way through the PM's speech & the Six on Tuesday evening. Laura Kuenssberg (BBC Political Editor) said she could hardly hear the speech on Wednesday's Brexitcast!

I can see both sides of the argument. Planning permission would be a nightmare, BUT it wouldn't be impossible. It would take a long time, lots of wrangling and a detailed, collaborative approach from broadcasters, but it IS possible.

Until now, broadcasters have managed to cope with the odd protestor, but I found myself switching off the news channels at one point this week because it became tiresome trying to concentrate on what interviewees were saying with people shouting and waving signs everywhere. There is also clearly a security risk there. It would take an army of security personnel to guarantee the safety of journalists and politicians, and I'm amazed they haven't factored this in recently, given the climate we sadly now live in.

The natural approach would be to build a permanent glass and wood structure directly above the Q Park entrance and a few feet away from the ancient wall. Provided the structure was in glass in such a way that you could still see the wall, it could actually be quite striking and add something to the park area. The wall could be lit at night and it could look quite interesting without taking away any of the historical value of the location.

I actually think that the current set-up - which has involved temporary structures going up practically once a month - is totally unsustainable. The grass will eventually be ruined, the area can at times look a complete mess with scaffolding everywhere, and there's the added risk of structural movement from continuous 'temporary' building work. You just need to look at the wall on StreetView. January 2018 - repair work being carried out.

Something's got to give, and it will. We'll just need to wait and see who moves first - Westminster, the media or the Royal Parks.

If only Sky, ITN and the BBC had studios a few minutes' walk from Parliament