BBC News 24

is anyone else watching peter sissons on 24 this evening? car crash tv. he has had a coughing fit. followed by a prolonged silence as he squints at his screen to bring us breaking news , only to click the wrong button and then he told us he'd lost it and we'd have to wait until it was printed out for him.

bless.

Couldn't the producer just have read him the item through his earpiece?

Could somebody upload that? Sounds like TV gold.

Times like this you wish you had a storyfix.

Oh god yes! I can just imagine the coughs being played on repeat and then in fast/slow motion

Isn't Peter asthmatic? I recall one bulletin many years ago when at the start of the Six, he almost had to give up and hand over to Moira to continue the story he was attempting to read.

Regardless, I think he is brilliant. Give me Sissons any day, before Eakin, Sopel, Esler and Wilcox.

With respect Eakin, Sopel, Esler and Willcox are streets ahead of Sissons these days. He just comes across as a bumbling fool on N24.

I agree. I respect Peter Sissons for his past accomplishments, but he's clearly out of his depth on News 24. He doesn't react very well to breaking news stories and doesn't seem able to ad-lib very well to fill the gaps when raw footage is coming in.

Add to that the fact that he looks tired and disinterested most of the time. It's not a very good reputation to develop for the twilight years of his career.

That's why he's stuck on at the Weekends.


Time to pension him off I think - or at least move him to BBC World where the more structured bulletins would probably suit him more.


BTW, what's Michael Buerk up to nowadays?

He works on BBC Radio does he not.

I'd sooner see Sissons present the weekend BBC One bulletins. As you said, he is clearly not suited to News 24, but is definitely suited to network bulletins (as proven during his long career). The weekend bulletins need a regular presenter and I think it would be ideal for Sissons. It would mean the younger presenters, like Jane Hill, Mishal Husain, Emily Maitliss, who are more accustomed to news channels can be on duty for News 24 instead.

Where has Laura Tobin - doing the weather on News 24 this afternoon -come from? Has someone left?