BBC News: Presenters & Rotas

Don't forget Kate Gerbeau too! I don't have a problem with them starting out in newsround, I have a problem with this lot being incredibly patronising! If you look at the likes of Kate Gerbeau and Matthew Price, for example, they didn't use patronising tones even on newsround, so their transition to 'grown up' news wasn't so obvious. I can live with the odd patronising tone here and there, for example Susanna Reid on Breakfast, but not if a whole group of them have it!

You may not like what I'm about to say - but I don't mean offence by it.

I don't share the view that most of them sound patronising, Lizo aside.

Isn't it possible that you're perceiving something that isn't there - as in, you are more prone than I am to feeling patronised?

Just a thought.

Don't forget Roger Finn as well. He was also a Newsround man, before moving to BBC World and then eventually to one of the regions.

But I don't recall Michael Buerk ever appearing on Newsround. When was that exactly?

I disagree Gavin.

Don't get me wrong, they all have their bad and good moments - take Ellie Crisell for example, sometimes I turn on BBC 1 and watch the 8pm bulletin and she isn't (ironically seeing as it's aimed at a younger audience) patronising, but the next day I turn it on and she's trying to interview someone and it all comes out wrong. Like many other presenters, she stutters, struggles to form decent questions, struggles with the autocue (again stuttering, mispronouncing words etc.) and then proceeds to talk very patronisingly to viewers when informing them about what's coming up later (expected interviews, conferences etc.).

Take Susanna Reid for example - who I assume is a lovely woman and a very competent journalist - who speaks quite slowly to the camera at points, using a huge range of tones (is that the right word??) in her language (as you would if you were talking to a child) and all together it comes out very patronisingly. Other members on this forum have agreed with that statement. Yet when she speeds up her sentences, so she's speaking at the level other presenters do, the patronising tone and appearance has disappeared and she becomes a very likeable presenter (in terms of how she presents). If you listen to Lizzie Greenwood or Matthew Price neither have that kiddy, nursery-school tone, nor do they speak slowly, and they both transitioned to adult news much better because of it.


Btw before anyone says I'm aware Susanna Reid was never at Newsround - just using a non-newsround example!

Juliet Morris - remember her? She, on the other hand, was not of a squeaky voice and never sounded patronizing. On the contrary, Juliet had a very husky, wonderfully Marlboro Lighty voice and always seemed - to me at least - to be too "adult" for Newsround. Does that sound daft?

Is James Dagwell still around on N24? I haven't seen too much of him, ever since he made the "wet pussy" comment. LOL. What a man.

Well, he was never a presenter, but he did reports for it, back in the days when proper BBC reporters sometimes filed stories for Newsround.

Ellie Crissell is appalling, talks like a 3 year old. I cannot believe how she gets a job on the News Channel.

On a different tack, Sue Thearle is dreadful as a main presenter. She lacks credibility, and looks as if she knows it!

She also looks like a scarecrow... no attention paid to wardrobe or hair.

Ah... doesn't she have blond hair? Only Jane Hill and Ellie... are you sitting comfortably... Crissell have darker locks. Shocking.

I must admit it strikes me as somewhat rich to read these attacks regarding wardrobe and hair from, arguably, a bunch of male internet geeks who wouldn't dream of publishing their own pictures.

I'm happy to be proven wrong through - get uploading...

I didn't attack... it is striking that it seems that 95% of the female newsreaders on N24 have blonde or highlighted blonde bobs of varying length. There's hardly any woman on the channel over the age of 40. Unlike the men... where there's hardly a male newsreader under the age of 40. Even thought James Dagwell is on overnight, I don't think that counts - they'd never let him on during the day.

I wasn't referring to you particularly.