BBC News Laptops

Erm.. learned , surely?

Either word can be used. Personally, I prefer the sound of learnt .

Thanks for all that information, really interesting.

Personally I always though the monitors in the desk were just that - studio monitors, with some sort of prompting tool from the gallery on the side. Obviously they still are just monitors in many cases such as with Newsnight (and rather clumsy at that), but the keyboards always threw that concept a bit for me - this explains it all!

Personally I don't like the laptops on the desk surfaces - think they look so contrived and so effortfully 'cool' and modern.
And there is something very unsatisfactory about a newsreader looking at a monitor that we are looking at the back of, reading material off it.
I'd be listening to the radio or reading Ceefax if I wanted material churned out to me like that.

Also on the wide shots on Six with George and Sophie it looks like the laptops, dominant in shot, are competing with the camera for the newsreaders' attention - they look ridiculous I think.

http://thetvroom.com/images-bbc-one-news/news-03/six/end-1a.jpg
www.thetvroom.com


Go back to the monitor under the desk method - that way when news breaks the newsreader looks like they're reading from paper on the desk as if the information just 'magically' appears typed out in front for them. Looks much more professional that churning it off a screen - maybe we're just so used to the paper method, still prefer it though...

RTÉ News in Ireland still uses the monitor-uder-the-desk method, with keyboards & mice (not wireless ). The monitors are white for some silly reason:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/RTE1TV/Una-Monitor.jpg

Usually, as pictured, in this end wide shot there's just a satellite dish logo on the screens making one wonder if they ever even use the system!

They first introduced this system in late 1999 it seems somewhat later than the BBC, again underneath a glass panel:

http://thetvroom.com/images-rte-one/rte-one-news/01-1-start.jpg
www.thetvroom.com

I'm dreading the next makeover as they're gonna copy the BBC to a tee with those stupid laptops!

NWT also have their computer screen in the desk.

BBC World also has the monitors (both tv screens and computer screens) buried in the glass embedded in the desk. However, they also have three floor mounted monitors in amongst the cameras, so that the newscaster can use either option.

How do I know this? Because at the opening of BBC World News, you can see the reflection of the three castor mounted monitors in the red eliptical body of the news desk. Look out for it next time! Three almost prefectly positioned reflections at equal positioning around the body of the desk (of course, it could be just ONE monitor, but reflected three times due to a refractionary phenomenon).

Back to my original question above - who chooses whether the newscaster has a laptop/computer of any sort around him/her?

Does the presenter decide, or the producer, or what?

I guess would be.. convenience? If the laptop's there, just use it or something. Other than that I guess would be preference at which the anchor works best.

Just like every other news programme, then?

It's interesting how the newsreader 'looking to floor monitor after finishing script as if interested in upcoming report' practice has largely disappeared

Do any newsreaders do this anymore? Some used to look down and to the side as well. Virtually everyone now keeps staring at the camera till off air - a personal preference for me too, but it's strange how the older practice seems to have died out.

Floor monitors are great though & often more useful than desk monitors - especially when close to the camera as one can generally glance at them without diverting eyes too far away from the camera - indeed even in the corner of your eye you can see what's happening.

Are they increasingly coming in the form of LCDs attached to the pedestals themselves in newsrooms, or is this just done for standard studio production?
Also can the laptops on the desks select a monitor mode does anyone know? And are they wireless?

I do not think so. The World's laptop still has the ethernet cable! Hah, notice the LED blinking crazily.

Repeat Post

It's not quite on the topic of laptops but I've always wondered what the masses of paper are on the desk. Surely they can't all be the back-up in case the autocue fails?

It's the script. Therefore, if the autocue fails, or they want to read it during a report, God forbid, then they can.