BBC World [soon to be BBC World News]

But, quantity is not always a measure of quality. The content of BBC World has never dipped below excellent in all the years I have been watching. Editorially, it is top class. That's why you get 76 million viewers a week. However, presentationally the channel is being ruined. Here's a few pointers:

1) No thought goes into the quality of idents, titles and stings. Compare the current set to the 2000-2003 ones. The level of detail in those titles was incredibly, right down to tiny place names rotating on the cream background and radio waves pulsating all over the place. What do we have now? A strange red thing on a plain black background.

2) Stings being removed altogether or butchered beyond recognition. Why did the business/sport stings go? They were handy tools to signify sections of the bulletins. Where's the closing music gone? Yes, I know that bulletin closes were supposedly reducing viewer numbers, but why then, do they still use them for TWT, WNT and programmes like WBR, Sport Today and Asia Today? Surely people switch off after those, too? How about the weather ident? A once imaginative set of titles (2000-2005) has been reduced to nothing more than a slide with a horrendous edit of the music.

3) Dodgy logos. Admittedly, things are generally OK now, but what about the horrendous logos on the last titles that were not corrected for over 2 years? That screams no attention to detail.

4) A cheap and tacky set. Whoever came up with bright white and red plexiglass needs to be shot. The previous set/newsroom was far less distracting and had a more formal feel. Even better than that was the flags era set. If you look at the current set for too long, it begins to hurt your eyes because it is so bright!

There's four points to mull over, and there are probably more. As I said earlier, this is not about BBC World's content. That's excellent, and always has been. The problem is, the channel looks a mess.

Looks like BBC World is doing something right.

Things are done for a reason as far as presentation is concerned. Yes, the overall look was better during 02-04, but we cant do anything about it. We're not running the channel. Members need to stop complaining about how there's no closing titles, music, blah blah blah. We're in 2007. Evolve and accept whats infront of u, just the like the channel did.

I totally disagree.

I think that the current look is far superior to the orange/red/pink mess we had from 2004-2007.
Then we had orange channel idents, and orange breakfiller, red news titles and a pink/white set.

At least now it all matches and looks unified!

I think the cureent look is very modern and professional. The music has more power than the wishy-woshy stuff on CNN Int. and nicer then the tacky AJE stuff. The set is ok- atleast we see a real newsroom. And the titles are smart.

Its good. And I don't agree that content has always been brilliant. Before they changed the format of the bullitins earlier this year they were a pretty boring affair. At least now there is a bit of pace.

Ok rant over.

Whilst I will always respect Robs opinion, and here he has some very valid points, I can't help but feel he has missed the main one here, namely WHY BBC World idents et al are the way they are now. Answer: consistency. World now sits strongly within a better designed, implemented and conceptualised brand strategy, where all of the BBC's output now screams, this is BBC News. Yes there are drops in production value, but is this always a bad thing? There is such a thing as style over substance, and in actual fact, more investment, time and diversity went into Worlds brand than any of the others. Perhaps it's this very consistency married with the editorial strengths which have led to the increased ad take-up and viewership. Oh and...that 'strange red thing'? It's the globe, I'm sure you recognise it...you live on it...sometimes

I think he means the odd thing surrounding the globe at the end of the titles!

I somewhat agree with Robert. The set is overwhelmingly bright, and isn't easy on the eyes. It looks like a spacecraft. The previous look of the newsroom was better, but I did like News 24's better. I think they should go back to basics, and either take those perspex panels down in the newsroom, and come up with something classier and subtle, or take the frosted glass out. so the desk is pretty much in the newsroom. Change is coming soon though

I'm not talking about BBC World between 2004 and 2007. That was indeed a horrible look for the channel. I'm going back to 2000-2003 with the original Lambie Nairn set/idents design and the original David Lowe music. That was far superior to the current look. For me, December 2003 was the turning point. Prior to that, BBC World had a look which, whilst it sat comfortably within the BBC News brand, had its own distinctive identity. Maybe you have not been watching BBC World long enough to remember this era, but I strongly suggest you look up a few clips of it on the internet. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how good the channel looked back then. You see, I'm looking at the current look knowing what has been before and I can see how it has been a big step backwards. Between 1999/2000 and 2003, all BBC News outlets shared a similar look, but each had its own identity while still being easily recognisible as BBC News. Now, each outlet is an exact replica of each other, which is rather a sad development in terms of TV pres.

As for your comment about content, I think you're rather misguided. For as long as I can remember, every BBC News outlet, including BBC World, has had excellent journalistic and editorial quality. That has never faltered, especially where BBC World is concerned.

By the way, to clear things up, I do know what the globe looks like. That 'strange thing' I mentioned is the shape around it.

This "strange thing" is sense to represent the BBC News Center, which is curved.
http://florianvaz.free.fr/Image6.png

Have a look, you can clearly identify the news center buildings' as the red swirls, and the square in the center, as the globe.

I hate the frosted glass , why do they have it there?

Are you sure about this? Television centre was built around the shape of a question mark, yet the BBC NEWS logo resembles nothing of a question mark...



And the BBC NEWS Centre is only a very small proportion of that building (towards the top in that picture).

I'm sure that's a nice explanation for the graphic, but a rather odd one to choose as most people don't know the layout of TVC or have the slightest inclination to find out from GoogleEarth.

From the beginning I've always though it was a surreal way of showing that they were providing news that "encompassed the globe", with the different levels "wrapping" themselves around it.

Ever thought about a career in marketing Stu?