Baroness Thatcher has died

ITV, by all accounts, has released details of their coverage. According to the London Evening Standard coverage will begin with Daybreak and continue through This Morning. Yes. You read that correctly. This Morning. The funeral coverage will be fronted by Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.

More details...
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/its-dimbleby-vs-willoughby-rival-presenters-for-margaret-thatchers-funeral-8568561.html

Is it 1st April still?

Kudos to the journalist that wrote the piece, however, for knowing that Willoughby was voted the most fanciable pupil. Although it was 1998, not 1997.

Well I was half right then when I thought they might go for Schofield and Etchingham. ITV though need to decide whether they'll show it or not - and if so let ITV News handle it.

AFAIK certain big events like Election Night etc are written into his new BBC contract which he took forever to sign. I'm sure I read that he he is guaranteed Royal Funerals too.
Interestingly Sky tried to get him to host their Royal Wedding coverage 2 years ago. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8306054/BBC-offer-5-year-Question-Time-deal-to-David-Dimbleby.html

It's worth remembering, obvious as it may be, that if David Cameron or Ed Miliband were to die, then the nature of the news story would be completely different. Their death - rather than the fact that they had died - would initially be the story.

In other words, no-one's surprised that Thatcher died, she'd been very ill for a long time. Her death was simply the final cue for all the reminiscence and tribute that naturally comes when anyone dies.

But if Cameron or Miliband died, that would have to be as a result of a sudden and catastrophic illness / accident / terrorist attack / act of war / etc. So initially that would be the story... BREAKING: Prime Minister rushed to hospital BREAKING: Prime Minister's spokesman: Cameron's condition critical etc...

There was a brief rehearsal of this when Tony Blair was operated on for some heart arythmia on a Saturday evening - for a short while they were gearing up for the possibility that very serious news was on its way.

As for the challenge of putting together a Cameron or Miliband obit in very short time... to be honest I think the difficult of that may be overestimated. In the first instance all you need is two minutes of commentary reflecting the absolute basics of the trajectory of the career and circumstances of the death. You can then simply paste a bunch of archive shots of the dead person walking around, waving, standing at podiums. While the story is raw and shocking no-one's going to notice the VT doesn't entirely match the story. Meanwhile someone else is working flat out to produce a more polished version.

In Cameron's case, the key points to hit

* first coalition PM in more than 80 years, inherited desperate financial situation
* born to stockbroker in wherever in 196X, schooling, university, where he met people who became the heart of a renewal of the conservative party
* but vision for Tory future was challenged by the realities of coalition
* Cameron's legacy will be debated for years to come, but following his death today in a hovercraft accident, he will not see the ultimate impact of his policies

I just got that written in a couple of minutes, with all the resources of the BBC and someone at my side putting together a rough edit of pictures, could probably have obit ready to go within half an hour

Not that it would be necessary as this is already written and ready to go.

Having reread that original post, I have to say that David Dimbleby is a far more accomplished and "standout" presenter than Huw Edwards. As others have said, he has age on his side in terms of living through Thatcher's Governments. Not only that, but if he's good enough to chair a weekly political debate programme, have relevant input, and is still good enough to host election programmes, I think he can handle Thatcher's funeral.

I don't see why people are so keen to get rid of David Dimbleby - he is a quality presenter with a wealth of knowledge - and he's hardly seizing up or slowing down to any real degree.

The sudden death of the leader of the opposition has happened during the lifetime of most of us, John Smith in 1994. that was totally unexpected


If anything happened to Cameron or Miliband there would be something ready or almost ready to go. the issue isn't creating it from scratch, it's updating it with relevant events. Of course this wasn't really a problem with Thatcher, but for a current politician it is. The odds are that there won't be something up to date.

There is such a thing as a 'political obituary' too, they're ready for when a politician resigns or leave office and go through the person's career. For example there would have been political obits for all 3 main party leaders ready for the aftermath of the last election. During the uprisings in Libya and Egypt there will have been different obits for Muberak and Gaddafi depending on whether they resigned or died.

Of course there is a recent example of a death obit being used as a 'political obit'... no-one expected the Pope to resign

Unexpected in itself yes, although he did have a history of heart problems so I expect it was more likely than today.

Well, they're not showing it are they? But it can hardly be ignored entirely so it seems they've gone for the round-up approach.

Probably the right decision, they could hardly do another jubilee/royal wedding style programme. They really did work well and were a good alternative to the rather stuffy approach on the Beeb. Not something you can really do with a funeral.

Very true - though mercifully (from the news perspective) early in the morning, and before rolling news.

This behind the scenes video of BBC News from 1989 deals with a situation which may have seen a political obit used - resignation of Nigel Lawson as Chancellor -

Yes, I've seen that before. I can't remember what that was originally filmed for but it was very lucky they picked that day, not often you see a newsroom in action for such a big story.

That YouTube clip is from a Media Studies educational programme shown on the Learning Zone for long after the event. Even though things have changed a lot technically it's still relevant in terms of newsgathering. Also interesting that the news about Nigel Lawson came about 9 minutes before the 6 o Clock News, Thatchers death was announced about 12 minutes before the 1 o clock news.

Incidently, the producer featured, Adrian Van Klavern is the former controller of 5 Live who got moved aside during the Savile affair and is now in charge of the World War 1 anniversary

How would our world have been different if some other average woman had been born, by accident of birth, into the same role? In other words, precisely how has she influenced political or other historic events over the past 60 years? We know Thatcher left a major imprint on history -- but the Queen? I'm sorry; I just don't see the Queen as anything other than a major international royal celebrity, a bit like a less attractive Princess Grace -- certainly not a significant historic figure in any regard other than her longevity.

(And yes, I know that foreign heads of state get to have their pictures taken with U.S. presidents, and if they're in office for a long time, the collections of photos can get pretty extensive.)

Excellently put, Rob. Couldn't have put it any better.

Dimbleby is a formidable broadcaster. An event such as this shall be a walk in the park for him.

Cliches to continue, this time the elephant in the room........

.......I'm a bit bemused by the (thus far) lack of comment and reaction on here about the confirmed ITV coverage! Firstly, let's get the Thatcher relevance part out of the way. I know she wasn't all that popular and I'm aware that she left Office decades ago. And so on and on. But, she was definitely a very significant Political figure, Domestically and Globally, of the last century.

Indeed, I recall several years ago when then Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, was assisinated. Her funeral was carried LIVE in the UK by both the BBC and ITN. On a Saturday morning, if I'm not mistaken.

So, it doesn't bode well, in my opinion, when the death of a significant (loved/loathed irrelevant) BRITISH political figure, no less the first and only female Prime Minister, is going to be covered by Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.

Don't get me wrong, I think they're both excellent broadcasters. Very good at what they do. But what they do is fluffy daytime tv, which more often than not, has both of them fluffing their lines and crumbling on the floor in unstoppable fits of the giggles. Mis pronounced names and gaffes galore.

Again, I stress, all that is fine for the product line they normally engage in. But, a serious event of high political significance and an event which, due to the controversy surrounding Thatcher, could well end up carrying a whole lot of breaking news on the periphery (high potential of riots/protests/detractors, etc), should be left in the more capable hands of Alastair Stewart or ITN in general.

God Bless you, Holly, but one minor mispronunciation in such an event and the potential giggly aftermath of the same.........ITV are placing a huge responsibility on your shoulders. I genuinely hope to be proven wrong. Genuinely, I do.

ITV - terrible decision in my opinion. This is a funeral, after all. Not a Royal Wedding or a gleeful jubilee event.