Today's dreadful news of the burning of Notre Dame and the coverage by the BBC had led me to writing this.
I've no idea how pres scheduling works at the BBC these days.. (I did in the 90's)... but in recent months it's been beyond acceptable.
Lets's start with Geeta Guru Murphy. Totally unacceptable to cover today's awful events, she was terrible. I always turn to the BBC, but having lived in the US, I usually have CNN domestic on at home in London and so stuck with that and made a good choice.
Sean Lay - seriously?
Lukwesa Burak - She is entirely dreadful at breaking news, last weekend being one prime example.
Where on earth are Gosling, Hill, Gracie, Owen, anyone... (even Bland albeit a new face.. though totally competent). I just don't understand how the BBC can schedule such dire presenters for a channel that can switch from an hourly 'normal' running order to a serious breaking news story and not replace people who to 'US' a small minority of the viewing public, are a dire mess.
Nicholas Owen has seemingly retired from live TV (although I think is still presenting radio on Classic FM), Joanna Gosling has been doing the vast majority of editions of Newsroom live Monday-Thursday and has also increasingly covering the 9 (and a couple of editions of the One), Carrie Gracie does the 9 on Mondays, Newsroom Live on Fridays, Dateline and may appear one other day, Ben Brown has been doing the one and five on Fridays, the one most Wednesdays and Thursdays and the morning shift on Sundays.
It is about time that the evening shift got a new set of permanent presenters with Martine now seemingly only working 2 days a week, with one of them being on afternoon live as often as not, and Clive only doing a handful of days a month on the channel at the very most.
I would personally be in favour of Afternoon Live being extended to 6pm and coming from C on a permanent basis with Huw taking over the six whenever George isn't about and dumping the five. It would also make sense for the same presenter to do the nine and Newsroom Live on a more permanent basis rather than the current situation in which they are scheduled to have separate presenters but with all of the presenters covering for each other when they are unavailable.
If they extended Afternoon live I would have with two presenters so I would have Afternoon Live with Simon & Carrie or Jane (if she returns) and have Joanna on News at Nine & Newsroom Live with Anita covering both slots.
Sadly, Geeta is back tonight on the Papers shift even though Shaun was on the 5. I thought that when Huw isn't on the Five it's either Ben or the Evening presenter so why is Shaun not on the Papers? Is it because they don't trust Geeta on the 5? Hopefully she isn't as bad as yesterday.
Sean Lay - seriously?
Lukwesa Burak - She is entirely dreadful at breaking news, last weekend being one prime example.
Where on earth are Gosling, Hill, Gracie, Owen, anyone...
Just goes to show that one man's terrible presenter is another's good!
I think Shaun Ley is one of the finest the BBC have - he's just superb. His interviews are intelligent, incisive yet polite, and his coverage of breaking news is second to none as he often brings in such background knowledge to make it flow.
On the other hand, Nick Owen is one of the worst news readers I've ever seen. Far too lightweight, finds everything either amusing, below him or unfathomable and just bumbles his way through.
Sadly, Geeta is back tonight on the Papers shift even though Shaun was on the 5. I thought that when Huw isn't on the Five it's either Ben or the Evening presenter so why is Shaun not on the Papers? Is it because they don't trust Geeta on the 5? Hopefully she isn't as bad as yesterday.
Must say I'm a little shocked at some of the comments regarding Geeta over the last day or so. I always thought she was respected on these messageboards?
Sean Lay - seriously?
Lukwesa Burak - She is entirely dreadful at breaking news, last weekend being one prime example.
Where on earth are Gosling, Hill, Gracie, Owen, anyone...
Just goes to show that one man's terrible presenter is another's good!
I think Shaun Ley is one of the finest the BBC have - he's just superb. His interviews are intelligent, incisive yet polite, and his coverage of breaking news is second to none as he often brings in such background knowledge to make it flow.
On the other hand, Nick Owen is one of the worst news readers I've ever seen. Far too lightweight, finds everything either amusing, below him or unfathomable and just bumbles his way through.
Shaun's style is more suited to an in-depth programme such as Newsnight, Hardtalk or dateline rather than a standard hour on the news channel as his interviews are usually longwinded and frankly often spend too long on relatively minor points meaning everything takes at least double the length it should and unlike people such as Maitlis and McCoy who can work in all formats he seems unable to adapt from this style.
Sadly, Geeta is back tonight on the Papers shift even though Shaun was on the 5. I thought that when Huw isn't on the Five it's either Ben or the Evening presenter so why is Shaun not on the Papers? Is it because they don't trust Geeta on the 5? Hopefully she isn't as bad as yesterday.
Must say I'm a little shocked at some of the comments regarding Geeta over the last day or so. I always thought she was respected on these messageboards?
Agree. She was fine for us on World for years, suddenly she's the worst of the worst, according to some.
Sadly, Geeta is back tonight on the Papers shift even though Shaun was on the 5. I thought that when Huw isn't on the Five it's either Ben or the Evening presenter so why is Shaun not on the Papers? Is it because they don't trust Geeta on the 5? Hopefully she isn't as bad as yesterday.
Must say I'm a little shocked at some of the comments regarding Geeta over the last day or so. I always thought she was respected on these messageboards?
Agree. She was fine for us on World for years, suddenly she's the worst of the worst, according to some.
Maybe if you watched the NC, between 1845 and 1900 on Monday to see that she was well out of her depth covering breaking news. She's fine when reading autocue, but that's it.
Sadly, Geeta is back tonight on the Papers shift even though Shaun was on the 5. I thought that when Huw isn't on the Five it's either Ben or the Evening presenter so why is Shaun not on the Papers? Is it because they don't trust Geeta on the 5? Hopefully she isn't as bad as yesterday.
She's presented on World for nearly 2 decades - I think she can handle what is essentially a standard news hour with a "funky" name like 'The 5'.
I do think some have gone ever so slightly overboard about Geeta - admittedly I didn't see much of the BBC's coverage on Monday but she's been a regular presenter on BBC World for many years and now some on here are treating are here like she's somebody from Newsbeat just thrown in front of the camera. And she'd have covered all manner of breaking news on BBC World over the years and until this week I hadn't heard anything bad about her breaking news presenting.
Not sure too why Lukwesa Burak is getting so much criticism either - I actually find her an easier watch on BBC News than I did over the last few years on overnights on Sky.
Sean Lay - seriously?
Lukwesa Burak - She is entirely dreadful at breaking news, last weekend being one prime example.
Where on earth are Gosling, Hill, Gracie, Owen, anyone...
Just goes to show that one man's terrible presenter is another's good!
I think Shaun Ley is one of the finest the BBC have - he's just superb. His interviews are intelligent, incisive yet polite, and his coverage of breaking news is second to none as he often brings in such background knowledge to make it flow.
On the other hand, Nick Owen is one of the worst news readers I've ever seen. Far too lightweight, finds everything either amusing, below him or unfathomable and just bumbles his way through.
Have you confused him with Peter Sissons in his News 24 days? Nicholas Owen is one of the few newsreaders who still brings gravitas to a headline sequence, and the last time I watched him he was leagues away from Sissons style bumbling.
Sadly, Geeta is back tonight on the Papers shift even though Shaun was on the 5. I thought that when Huw isn't on the Five it's either Ben or the Evening presenter so why is Shaun not on the Papers? Is it because they don't trust Geeta on the 5? Hopefully she isn't as bad as yesterday.
Must say I'm a little shocked at some of the comments regarding Geeta over the last day or so. I always thought she was respected on these messageboards?
I didn't call her bad I was just wondering why Shaun didn't do the papers as if Clive was on he would done the 5 and the papers. I just pointed out that she wasn't the best on Monday.
