BBC News Channel: Presentation

After watching the interview between Carrie Gracie & Lourd Foulkes on the BBC News website, I sent her an email to offer her my thanks for the hardline approach that she took with him.

I received a very nice personal reply from her just a few minutes ago saying that she appreciated my comments. Now if Carrie only worked 3 hours a day she wouldn't be checking her BBC email at about 16:45, 5hrs 45 minutes after her on-screen shift had ended.

I bet both Carrie & Simon McCoy are in the BBC newsroom from around 7am and I bet they probably don't leave before 1pm. Also, let's not forget that Carrie is fluent in Chinese and has been shipped off to China in the past to report from there.

I personally would much rather someone like Carrie Gracie be paid £92,000 per year than those odeous cretins in the Houses of Parliament / Lords!

Some job cuts, new jobs, and jobs moved to Salford at BBC News

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2009/05/bbc_moving_13_news_roles_to_the_north.html

Notable is that Paris will just have a freelance correspondent in the future, and some significant cuts to the business department including Working Lunch

According to Broadcast -
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2009/05/bbc_moving_13_news_roles_to_the_north.html] - some pretty hefty cuts...

Job cuts: Two science and environment journalists, one education and social policy journalist; one arts and entertainment journalist; the Leeds social affairs journalist; three arts and entertainment producers; and Radio 1 Newsbeat social affairs producer.

Bizarre they're cutting a Leeds correspondent (I think the one they talk about above is Catherine Marston) whilst creating others in Salford.

Many GPs, especially ones in partnerships, earn around that amount - and the majority significantly more. Junior Doctors earn £20,000, but that has to be expected for a junior - the best consultants can earn in excess of £160,000. A surgeon's starting salary is around £73,000, reaching to around £170,000, and beyond.

So, I think "Disgusting" seems a little strong now, doesn't it?

Good interview with Mattew with Conservative MP today

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8049614.stm

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the weather mistake. We got Darren Bett's forecast at 9.30, all fine then at 10 we got Rob McElwee's forecast from last night. Oops!

All hail Carrie Gracie! She is at it again this morning with the politicians! She really is an amazing asset to the News Channel.

I'm not so sure. I caught some of her interview with Shahid Malik earlier and I think she was going a bit over the top. At one point she interrupted and dictated that "a yes or no answer will do". Fair enough, she's in control of the interview. However, I think there's a difference between grilling a politician effectively and just being rude. What irritates me about modern TV news is that presenters don't give politicians time to answer questions put to them. Yes, many of them may be lying through their teeth, but I think the viewer should be afforded the opportunity to listen to their complete answer and make their own decision, rather than having someone constantly interject. As with everything, there are times when an interjecting presenter is necessary, as some politicians could rattle on forever, but it seems to be happening all to often at the minute, and many presenters are taking a 'holier than thou' approach.

Nope, she was spot on! The creep has now stepped down as Justice Minister, having lied his way through the interview! She's amassed some great publicity for herself this week.

Superb interview, I've just seen a re-run. Carrie really is becoming better by the interview on this subject.

I agree, I thought she was superb... never thought she was so feisty! She's really surprised me this week.

Her and Simon are one of the strongest News Channel pairings IMHO.

I wonder if Carrie will ever get to do a BBC1 bulletin. Out of the main weekday news channel line-up, only her and Chris Eakin dont do any BBC1 work (though Carrie did appear on BBC1 during the Olympics, that seems to be a one-off)