BBC News: Presenters & Rotas

Deborah McKenzie on the overnights tonight - it's a rare occasion she presents these days, usually covering Alastair Yates' rare time off.

Although she pops up ever few weeks or so, was a cap really necessary?

I cap quite a lot of things, it's easy enough to just take a screenshot of an internet stream - takes 10 seconds at the most Of course, I don't upload them all onto here because that would take far too long and I'm sure people would be pretty fed up.

All fill-ins on BBC World today.

Morning shift: no David Eades. Geeta Guru-Murty instead.
GMT: no George Alagiah. Zeinab Badawi instead.
Impact: no Mishal Husain. Lucy Hockings instead.
The Hub: no Nik Gowing. Karin Giannone instead.
World News Today: assume it will be Zeinab Badawi later, as she is definitely in the building today.

Now, before anyone starts having a tantrum about the senselessness and pointlessness of this post, please remember that it is the ROTA thread, so I know I am definitely posting in the correct place. I guess the point I am making is that (whilst not everyone's interest) it is strange to see a full day when NONE of the established anchors are to be found in their slot.

IIRC, its never happened over on CNNI (I.e. Gorani / Sesay / Barnett / Clancy / Anderson / Quest / Holmes ALL being absent on the same day).

Surely there must be some degree of planning, which should avoid everyone being away at once?

It should be Geeta on a Monday anyway.

BBCW was always inconsistent when it comes to presenters schedule, just like BBC in general. I don't think anyone works a 5 day week, at least not on air. It's a surprise when someone appears 4 days in a row. CNN on the other hand has a consistent line up, their presenters do a 5 day week and when they are absent it's usually cause they report from the ground.

EDIT: One exception on BBCW is Mike Embley. He seems to do a full week and is rarely absent.

One mustn't forget that many newsreaders are freelance and are only used as needed. Staffers will have contracts specifying on which days of the week and outlets they will work and/or the number of hours to be worked per week/month/year. It's not as simple as "The Hub is Nik Gowing's programme so he must present it every day". If he's only contracted to present a certain number of hours, then that's how long he'll present. In terms of this week's unusual absences, I suspect it might have something to do with it being a school holiday in the UK.

Thanks, Rob. Note and agree with all points. The last sentence of your post may well be the logical reason for so many absences. As speculated in my opener, Zeinab Badawi is indeed doing her WNT slot, and I saw Tanya Beckett in the background in the earlier newsroom based trail for WNTZB, so I guess Tanya will be on slot for the bulletin later as well?

Notwithstanding, never seen so many absences in one day. Flu' could be another logical explanation!! Or over-exertion from shouting at the screen during the cricket world cup??

I realised today just how many people take time off to coincide with school holidays. My daily commute into Liverpool, which usually takes anywhere between 30 and 45 minutes, took a mere 15 minutes today! I wish schools could be off all the time

I wonder if we'll see more of Fiona Armstrong and Julia Somerville on the News Channel in the next couple of weeks? Don't they usually crop up during school holidays? I hope so - I really enjoyed watching Nicholas Owen and Fiona Armstrong presenting together the other week. A pair of real pros.

By the way, I've just noticed Sara Coburn presenting the business on the News Channel. That's not a regular occurrence these days. It takes me back to watching BBC World in the early 2000s. She was a stalwart of the world business updates back then. What's her primary role now? I know she doesn't present on the News Channel often - is she still on World?

With respect, that doesn't really change anything. If CNN expect their anchors to be there five days a week it will be in their contracts or the arrangement between them that anchors work five days a week. There seems to be a different culture in this country in that respect. Worth noting that most of the leading network anchors in the US all work five day weeks, something which is relatively uncommon in this country.

Rob, Sara Coburn very occasionally appears on BBC World News. Usually, it will be on a Friday in the TWT slot and, I have to note, it seems like only 4-5 times in a year. Which is a pity, because she is good. At the moment during Sally Bundock's absence, we have a mixture of fill-ins: Sally Eden, Owen Thomas and Juliette Foster.


Edit: Mishal Husain's absence from Impact explained: the Duchess of the Deadline, Her Highness of the Headline, was doing Newsnight last night, apparently.

Naga Munchetty also doing GMT today, as well as TWT earlier in the morning.