Take the Currrent Pope, He's old but in reasonably good health, if he died tonight, there'd be wall to wall coverage. In the Case of JPII he was known to be ill and his death 'expected' therefore a simple Newsflash on BBCONE directing attention to BBC NEWS and an extension to scheduled bulletins sufficed.
That was the situation with Diana, that her death was so unexpected. The full obit procedure which we saw wasn't meant to happen for her.
"The elite Category 1 remains unchanged. This consists of only the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Prince William."
I'm not British, so this may be an ignoranct question, but why would the death of, say, the Duke of Edinburgh, merely the elderly husband of a figurehead head-of-state, receive more coverage than the death of the Prime Minister, a major event which could have significant public policy reprecussions and therefore directly affect millions of people?
With regards to the PM etc the key phrase for me is: "major breaking news stories with coverage on merit". Nothing stopping interruptions on BBC1 - indeed surely if Gordon Brown or Barack Obama died right now most people would expect an announcement and breaking news coverage on BBC1?
Quite, it's all down the the individual circumstances of the story... there are few hard and fast rules, there can't be.
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All these changes appear to do is remove the need to interupt BBC2, Local Radio etc for all but the most senior members of the Royal Family. And it would seem quite odd to me anyway interrupting Radio Humberside to announce the death of the American President ...
But that doesn't mean that it wouldn't be mentioned at all, BBC local stations are mostly live, you wouldn't expect a major history changing news story to break and not get mentioned by the DJ on Radio Humberside. The death of a sitting US president would range from being a huge story to an enormous story depending on the circumstances.
In recalling the death of the Queen Mother, who was a Category 1 - Broadcasters are given category 1 news in advance of going on air, and it is strictly embargoed, hence not really classed as a Breaking News story. If you watch back at coverage of her death http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rs2mCEvwl4- The BBC clearly announce - Buckingham Palace has announced that...... Cat 1 announcements as far as the BBC is concerned warrant ONE broadcast across all mediums. Sissons announced: This is BBC TELEVISION NEWS, meaning that all BBC Channels took the announcement, national anthem, flag etc...
Diana's passing was a Breaking News event, totally different circumstances.
"The elite Category 1 remains unchanged. This consists of only the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Prince William."
I'm not British, so this may be an ignoranct question, but why would the death of, say, the Duke of Edinburgh, merely the elderly husband of a figurehead head-of-state, receive more coverage than the death of the Prime Minister, a major event which could have significant public policy reprecussions and therefore directly affect millions of people?
Don't worry - I'm British and have never really understood that either. Although I suspect that, in practice, the death of a serving Prime Minister would still receive far more coverage. The obit procedure just dictates that there has to be a certain ceremonial procedure - national anthem etc (as previously mentioned).
I wouldn't be surprised if even the Category 1 list was eventually dropped. These procedures originated long before the rise of 24-hour news and, in many ways, have been made redundant by it.
Surely this is just recognition that the media landscape has changed. The key phrase is "coverage on merit". The category 2 was always a bit strange anyway.
What this effectively means is that there is still a very high profile Royal Obit for the 4 main royals - The reigning monarch and her husband, the heir to the throne, and the second in line, and likely heir to the heir. In other words, our head of state, her consort and the people in line to be the next two heads of state. Quite important people in a monarchy - and probably seen to require a formal process of announcement, reflection and mourning etc. (Pompous sounding when written down - but probably still a reflection of their importance in the life of the nation)
The other royals and politicians are now covered on merit. This doesn't mean there won't be schedule changes and interruptions - but does mean the complex, and probably anachronistic, system of merging networks before the formal announcement can be avoided, and the stories covered as breaking news, which is what they will be if and when they happen.
With the vast majority of the UK audience having access to the BBC and Sky's rolling news networks, the arguments for merging networks are losing power all the time. Nothing to stop BBC One and Two putting up a strap pointing to the BBC News Channel etc., and merging one network with the News Channel at a suitable junction if required.
Take the Currrent Pope, He's old but in reasonably good health, if he died tonight, there'd be wall to wall coverage. In the Case of JPII he was known to be ill and his death 'expected' therefore a simple Newsflash on BBCONE directing attention to BBC NEWS and an extension to scheduled bulletins sufficed.
That was the situation with Diana, that her death was so unexpected. The full obit procedure which we saw wasn't meant to happen for her.
I think it was actually. Even after her divorce Diana remained in category 1b (long abolished) and if I remember rightly that did call for news reports at the earliest opportunity but not necessarily on all channels simultaneously. In those days senior royals were cat 1a, lesser royals cat 1b, national and major international leaders cat 2 and church leaders and international figures like Nelson Mandela cat 3. There may have been some royals in cat2 but it was all significantly changed when news 24 started and many things became 'breaking news' and could be dealt with without interruption to bbc1 or 2.
Would they pull CBBC and CBeebies for coverage if there was a Category 1 obit?
on previous obits the form seems to be to caption digital channels pointing viewers to bbc1 or the news channel. Cbbc newsround might make a special report if there is time/ability to do so.
This is complete nonsense. It all depends on the time of the day the person dies, the age of the person etc. Who makes up these rules and why is Bob Dylan even mentioned?? If anything Paul McCartney is more worthy of a news report if he dies.
