I like her, wonder who will take her job?, isn't she also the weather boss?, she took over from Michael Fish a few years ago just before she had her first baby?
Wish her the best of luck, doing the same as another of my favourites Suzanne Charlton who left to spend more time with her family.
Imagine the paroxysms of orgasmic joy and excitement that will sweep the information superhighway if Dan Corbett gets the job? This whole forum will go into meltdown.
I loved the trailers that the ITN NC had of the presenters in the atrium, that was really cool. I seem to remember Alison Bell, Rachel McTavish and Leyla Daybelge being on one each, advertising the time they were on. It'd be nice to do something similar again.
Part of the problem these days is ITN don't own the building any more. They sold it to some other company and just rent office space - so there are limitations on what they can do there these days.
All I can say is, thank god Letterman's back. We've now got 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'. If only someone would put on 'Real Time with Bill Maher' I'd be a happy man.
Of course the question now is how long Sky will persevere with Rubin. I can't imagine they'll want to keep him if he carries on being as stiff and uncomfortable as he is. He might improve - it can happen - but I suspect this might end in tears.
As a rule I don't watch Five News - but I was flicking through the channels earlier and caught a bit of the 5.30pm bulletin. And lo-and-behold Mark Webster was reporting for them. When did this happen? I know he was being marginalised by the new regime at ITV News - but I didn't realise he'd gone. Is he only reporting on Five or does he work for Sky as well? Is he freelancing?
**I've subsequently noticed this has already been raised in the general ITV News thread. Apologies if it's not the done thing to open a separate thread.**
ITN doesn't have a rich sugar daddy to subsidise it.
Surely though it's about
ITV's
willingness to invest into the channel?
But ITV doesn't give a flying toss about news and current affairs. Look at the scrapping of News at Ten (a sacred cow for the viewers, but ITV sees profit margins so it's bye-bye), look at the rumours about the scrapping of News at Ten Thirty, look at the abandonment of decent current affairs in the schedule (all we have is pop-tabloid Tonight), look at the way ITV's cut its news budget every time it could in the last 15 years.
ITV is happy to let ITV NC limp along as it gives them digital 'presence' - but if they found something more profitable to do with the airspace, they'd scrap it. I repeat - 24 hour news doesn't make money, any investment would be waste of money for them.
As Greg Dyke said in the recent history of ITV - money-men run ITV now, not TV-men.
Now, it seems that the ITV News Channel is nowhere compared to its rivals, BBC News 24 and Sky News. I may be wrong, but judging by a vast amount of comments on this forum it seems that the NC is an unpopular choice for rolling news.
So what can it do to improve? Re-organise presenter line-ups? Enhance its promotion? Change the way it goes about presenting the stories?
Personally I think the Channel has the capability to go places, should they push the right buttons. They've some good anchors, and have had some big exclusives in the past few months, but I can't seem to work out where it is failing.
I think this is a good opportunity for BBC/Sky fans and anti-ITV News forumers to share their thoughts of where they feel their Channel is proving a success, and where the subject is going wrong.
The idea that all the ITV News Channel needs is a few 'fresh' ideas and a change in the presenter line-up is nonsense. It's simply a case of rearranging the deck-chairs while the Titanic slowly sinks.
ITV NC will NEVER compete with Sky and BBC News 24 because of its budget. It's run on a shoestring compared wih the other two - and it shows. 24 hour news is an expensive business and ITN doesn't have a rich sugar daddy to subsidise it.
It's always been a vanity project - originally for ITN, who thought, simply because they were ITN, they could run a 24 hour news-channel on a fraction of everyone else's budget and somehow make it work. Now it's a vanity project for ITV - who want some digital presence and desire a 'family' of channels.
In financial terms this is as good as it gets for ITV NC. There's no money in 24 hour news in this country. Sky runs at a loss and always has done. Murdoch subsidises it, as it gives him a certain cache and influence, and adds a gleen of prestige to the Sky brand. And the BBC, god bless it, is the BBC and can afford to spend a decent amount of money on its news service (a perfect example of why the license fee and the BBC are so indispensable, but that's another story).
In short - you can spend a decent amount of money on your news channel - and run permanent losses. Or you can do what ITV are doing and continue with a piss-poor imitation of a news channel. ITV's a plc so it'll do the latter.
And don't get me started on ITV not paying enough for its network bulletins...
ABC most certainly is not right wing, it's sensible, middle-ground. Patriotic when it needs to be but not above criticising the US and government.
If you want neo-fascist isolationist crap watch Fox News.
ABC, like all the US networks is essentially corporate and commercially centrist, not right-wing. The misconception probably stems from the employment of John Stossel - who has a reputation of being conservative and right-wing.
As a rule I don't go in for this obsessive commentary about certain female newsreaders. They're, on the whole, intelligent, talented journalists who should be judged on their ability rather than their looks.
But...by christ I fancy Faye Barker. She is gorgeous. I've always thought she was stunning, even when she used to read updates on Channel Five.
Surely news 24 should be more like this all the time with the reports from regional shows
[programmes]
? they have the resorces, why not use them?
I agree. Though News 24 Tonight
is
a good programme, surely rolling news should be exactly that. Isn't News 24's argument that they're there whenever you've need for them, but their statement that (paraphrasing), "now people will know where they can find a round up..." goes against this. If people want to know that they can find a round up, they have the Ten.
No, let's have News 24 Tonight all the time!
With regards to regional news bulletins - mostly they're a bit ropey, and their reports could stick out like a sore thumb on an ostensibly national network.
I'm actually in favour of more programmes on news channels. During the day there's plenty of ongoing news doing the rounds - but of an evening it slows down. Some programmes make for a bit of variety. It works in the US. Whatver you think of its political bias - Fox News is far more entertaining of an evening with its programmes (O'Reilly, Hannity & Colmes et al).
They really should be looking for good young presenters. I'd try and get Manish Bashin (sp) from Football Focus. He could be the next Matt Smith I reckon.
Manish is appalling.
On the Rider thing - sounds like his agent is putting about these rumours. Maybe his contract's up for review at the Beeb - and he wants to threaten them with leaving.
They'd never bin Gabby Logan - she's too ideal for the ITV image.
But digital is coming, if they like it or not, and I bet when you force the 40 million or so people who don't have it, to get it they'll still watch the original five channels, because that's what they're comfortable with. Even in multi-channel homes, the five 'analogue' channels get the most viewers. The 'Six' as I'm beginning to call it - could capitalise on that residual reluctance to experiment.