The Newsroom

BBC News at One / Six or Ten to be axed?

Head of BBC News says she expect just one bulletin a day within the next decade. (August 2020)

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AN
Andrew Founding member
There is no way BBC One would remove national news bulletins as long as ITV still have theirs. Even with all the cuts they still always manage to be at least the same or better than whatever ITV provides at the same time of day.

This applied to the general decline in kids tv slots on the main channel as well, they didn’t leave weekday afternoons or Saturday mornings until after ITV did so first
JF
JF World News
radiolistener posted:
Every time I've put on BBC World Service radio it's always a documentary on Africa. The BBC seem absolutely obsessed with that continent.


The BBC have a big market in Africa its one of the biggest regions in terms of viewers and listeners, along with the US
London Lite and DeMarkay gave kudos
HA
harshy Founding member
JF World News posted:
radiolistener posted:
Every time I've put on BBC World Service radio it's always a documentary on Africa. The BBC seem absolutely obsessed with that continent.


The BBC have a big market in Africa its one of the biggest regions in terms of viewers and listeners, along with the US

No wonder African viewers get a highly decorated studio c, rest of the world get red coloured standard studio c Sad
RK
Rkolsen
harshy posted:
JF World News posted:
radiolistener posted:
Every time I've put on BBC World Service radio it's always a documentary on Africa. The BBC seem absolutely obsessed with that continent.


The BBC have a big market in Africa its one of the biggest regions in terms of viewers and listeners, along with the US

No wonder African viewers get a highly decorated studio c, rest of the world get red coloured standard studio c Sad

Additionally Africa is a continent where many of their listeners maybe remote or not have access to TV or other mediums.
NL
Ne1L C
Rkolsen posted:
harshy posted:
JF World News posted:

The BBC have a big market in Africa its one of the biggest regions in terms of viewers and listeners, along with the US

No wonder African viewers get a highly decorated studio c, rest of the world get red coloured standard studio c Sad

Additionally Africa is a continent where many of their listeners maybe remote or not have access to TV or other mediums.


Hence the reason why Trevor Bayliss' wind-up radio was so successful.
IN
Independent
w1a posted:

No European or North American broadcaster has a website anywhere near the scale of BBC News online and it's being offered, free, without advertising. I can see it being repurposed to point to video and audio content more prominently. Whether that saves any money, I don't know...but the print industry would be quite pleased if the website was shrunk a bit and News focused more on the middle 'B'...'broadcasting'.

Advertising is present for those of us outside the UK.

itsrobert posted:

By and large, I'm afraid most people just aren't that interested in news from other countries unless it has an impact on their own country or they are considered allies. For instance, there is more interest in US or Australian news in the UK than there would be for Angolan or Vietnamese.

I had access to BBC World via a satellite dish that I had for about 15 years and, apart from the fantastic presentation at the time, the news content wasn't especially interesting. The more interesting international news (such as about Europe, G7 countries etc) featured on the main BBC1 bulletins anyway and was explained in a way that was more relevant to me as a British viewer. And the rest of the BBC World news content was about far away countries in Asia, Africa or South America. Do I really need to know that Bolivia is having an election?

I know that will probably be an unpopular opinion here, but that's why I think it's important to maintain the main network BBC1 bulletins with a carefully selected mix of UK and world news stories designed for a British audience. The BBC News Channel is dying because there is now too much non-UK news featured on it thanks to all the simulcasts.

Public broadcasting should be able to accommodate both types of news bulletins especially for a public broadcaster as big as the BBC (BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, BBC News and BBC Parliament).
Last edited by Independent on 24 August 2020 5:43am
IT
itsrobert Founding member
Independent posted:
itsrobert posted:

By and large, I'm afraid most people just aren't that interested in news from other countries unless it has an impact on their own country or they are considered allies. For instance, there is more interest in US or Australian news in the UK than there would be for Angolan or Vietnamese.

I had access to BBC World via a satellite dish that I had for about 15 years and, apart from the fantastic presentation at the time, the news content wasn't especially interesting. The more interesting international news (such as about Europe, G7 countries etc) featured on the main BBC1 bulletins anyway and was explained in a way that was more relevant to me as a British viewer. And the rest of the BBC World news content was about far away countries in Asia, Africa or South America. Do I really need to know that Bolivia is having an election?

I know that will probably be an unpopular opinion here, but that's why I think it's important to maintain the main network BBC1 bulletins with a carefully selected mix of UK and world news stories designed for a British audience. The BBC News Channel is dying because there is now too much non-UK news featured on it thanks to all the simulcasts.

Public broadcasting should be able to accommodate both types of news bulletins especially for a public broadcaster as big as the BBC (BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, BBC News and BBC Parliament).

Under normal circumstances I would agree with you and, of course, this has been the case for decades. What we're discussing here is if the BBC faces extreme cuts and is forced to prioritise one news service and what that should look like. My opinion on this is that the British audience should be prioritised over providing services for overseas. At the moment, it feels like the simulcasts between BBC World News and the BBC News Channel favour an international editorial agenda rather than a domestic UK one. If the worst happens and BBC News has to consolidate its news channels and bulletins, I think there should be more focus on British news whilst also including important foreign stories.
PA
Parker
I find it odd that on the one hand Ms Unsworth says the ratings for bulletins are through the roof but they wont be in future. Unless you are a psychic Ms Unsworth you reap what you sew - all in the interests of progress of course Confused
GeekyJames, Ittr and itsrobert gave kudos
LX
lxflyer
radiolistener posted:
Every time I've put on BBC World Service radio it's always a documentary on Africa. The BBC seem absolutely obsessed with that continent.


Well for someone whose moniker claims to be a radio listener, I'd have to say that you clearly don't listen to the World Service very often then, as that is a total misrepresentation of their output.

Africa has its own World Service stream for parts of the afternoon and evening, but to suggest that the main global stream is constantly about Africa is nonsense.

If that were the case, I must have been dreaming when I was listening to programmes such as Science in Action, Assignment, Discovery, Letter to America by James Naughtie, 13 Minutes to the Moon, Spitfire, etc. which covered lots of non-African features.

Yes of course Africa does feature like everywhere else, and it rightly has programmes specifically produced for it (streamed to it separately from the global English stream), but to suggest that it dominates the BBC World Service in English is ludicrous.
JF
JF World News
lxflyer posted:
radiolistener posted:
Every time I've put on BBC World Service radio it's always a documentary on Africa. The BBC seem absolutely obsessed with that continent.


Well for someone whose moniker claims to be a radio listener, I'd have to say that you clearly don't listen to the World Service very often then, as that is a total misrepresentation of their output.

Africa has its own World Service stream for parts of the afternoon and evening, but to suggest that the main global stream is constantly about Africa is nonsense.

If that were the case, I must have been dreaming when I was listening to programmes such as Science in Action, Assignment, Discovery, Letter to America by James Naughtie, 13 Minutes to the Moon, Spitfire, etc. which covered lots of non-African features.

Yes of course Africa does feature like everywhere else, and it rightly has programmes specifically produced for it (streamed to it separately from the global English stream), but to suggest that it dominates the BBC World Service in English is ludicrous.


We get BBC World Service (Europe) in the UK, check on BBC Sounds what stream your getting as there are ten different versions in English ( East and South Africa; West and Central Africa; Europe and Middle East; Americas and Caribbean; East Asia; South Asia; Australasia; United Kingdom/Ireland)
LX
lxflyer
JF World News posted:
lxflyer posted:
radiolistener posted:
Every time I've put on BBC World Service radio it's always a documentary on Africa. The BBC seem absolutely obsessed with that continent.


Well for someone whose moniker claims to be a radio listener, I'd have to say that you clearly don't listen to the World Service very often then, as that is a total misrepresentation of their output.

Africa has its own World Service stream for parts of the afternoon and evening, but to suggest that the main global stream is constantly about Africa is nonsense.

If that were the case, I must have been dreaming when I was listening to programmes such as Science in Action, Assignment, Discovery, Letter to America by James Naughtie, 13 Minutes to the Moon, Spitfire, etc. which covered lots of non-African features.

Yes of course Africa does feature like everywhere else, and it rightly has programmes specifically produced for it (streamed to it separately from the global English stream), but to suggest that it dominates the BBC World Service in English is ludicrous.


We get BBC World Service (Europe) in the UK, check on BBC Sounds what stream your getting as there are ten different versions in English ( East and South Africa; West and Central Africa; Europe and Middle East; Americas and Caribbean; East Asia; South Asia; Australasia; United Kingdom/Ireland)


There is one global “online” stream available via BBC IPlayer Radio for us outside the UK - all the rest of the streams you list are available locally via Short Wave, or rebroadcast on FM in the various countries, local rebroadcasts online or indeed via alternative apps such as tune in etc.
JF
JF World News
lxflyer posted:
JF World News posted:
lxflyer posted:

Well for someone whose moniker claims to be a radio listener, I'd have to say that you clearly don't listen to the World Service very often then, as that is a total misrepresentation of their output.

Africa has its own World Service stream for parts of the afternoon and evening, but to suggest that the main global stream is constantly about Africa is nonsense.

If that were the case, I must have been dreaming when I was listening to programmes such as Science in Action, Assignment, Discovery, Letter to America by James Naughtie, 13 Minutes to the Moon, Spitfire, etc. which covered lots of non-African features.

Yes of course Africa does feature like everywhere else, and it rightly has programmes specifically produced for it (streamed to it separately from the global English stream), but to suggest that it dominates the BBC World Service in English is ludicrous.


We get BBC World Service (Europe) in the UK, check on BBC Sounds what stream your getting as there are ten different versions in English ( East and South Africa; West and Central Africa; Europe and Middle East; Americas and Caribbean; East Asia; South Asia; Australasia; United Kingdom/Ireland)


There is one global “online” stream available via BBC IPlayer Radio for us outside the UK - all the rest of the streams you list are available locally via Short Wave, or rebroadcast on FM in the various countries, local rebroadcasts online or indeed via alternative apps such as tune in etc.


If you go for example to https://www.bbc.com/persian/media-45679210 you get Persian, or go to the bottom of this page https://www.bbc.com/schedules/p02y9rvj you can change the service to regions and listen live. The WS has ten different streams in English online, but default is online, its the same with BBC One which is default to London. There are also two separate online-only streams with one being more news-oriented, known as News Internet. The service broadcasts 24 hours a day.

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