I see why they're doing it, they're thinking long term, but equally this is a massive gamble, which may backfire spectacularly, however Tom Bradby is good and knowledgeable, granted wasn't the best on Election night, but I think he'll improve the more he presents live TV.
Rageh Omar as stand in for NaT? How bizarre, don't get me wrong he is a great knowledgeable reporter, but I seem to recall when he presented the lunchtime news once it was a pure rabbit in headlights situation.
Shame to see Alastair less, but I guess this has been coming for sometime now, and it's better to have him on than not at all.
I wonder whether NaT will get a presentation revamp to big up this new presenter line up.
Rageh Omar as stand in for NaT? How bizarre, don't get me wrong he is a great knowledgeable reporter, but I seem to recall when he presented the lunchtime news once it was a pure rabbit in headlights situation.
He's covered weekend London bulletins a few times and didn't look the part at all. The only reason I can see why they've gone for him and Tom Bradby as they're going for a more analytical look at the news rather than using the solid newscasters.
Tom Bradby to take over as primary presenter of News at Ten.
Mark Austin to move to the Evening News. Joins Mary Nightingale.
Julie Etchingham to be senior second presenter of News at Ten and Bradby's relief.
Mary Nightingale: stays in charge of the Evening News.
Rageh Omaar to be relief presenter on News at Ten.
Alastair Stewart to continue on Evening News and Lunchtime News.
Terrible decision by the bosses at ITV/ITN. Geoff Hill wants to make his 'stamp' on the programme, and he has certainly done that. As I have said on ITV News Facebook page, the programmes ITV place in the 9pm slot are what need to be changed, not the presenting line up on News At Ten, or the programme itself. It's a huge gamble, and it pains me to say this, but I think it will fail and Geoff Hill will leave his post, by this time next year.
Just feel likes pointless tinkering at the edges. Nobody is leaving but in order to jettison somebody in you slightly diminish everyone else in the team.
Terrible decision by the bosses at ITV/ITN. Geoff Hill wants to make his 'stamp' on the programme, and he has certainly done that. As I have said on ITV News Facebook page, the programmes ITV place in the 9pm slot are what need to be changed, not the presenting line up on News At Ten, or the programme itself. It's a huge gamble, and it pains me to say this, but I think it will fail and Geoff Hill will leave his post, by this time next year.
Who said the changes have come from Hill and not higher up?
So the biggest casualty in all this is Julie Etchingham, by far the best signing ITV News have made in the last decade and IMO one of the best in the business, but to be demoted to a fill in is just ridiculous - doesn't look like she'll even continue on the Evening News according to that. Indeed they're doing to Julie what they did to Alastair a quarter of a century ago - and it'll deserve them right if in a year or two Julie leaves them.
These changes might have made sense if Julie was going solo as the main presenter on News at Ten, but Tom Bradby is surely losing a lot of friends in the process of this, and isn't going to win many fans either. I do think he can be an asset to ITV as a whole, but would rather him make an impact elsewhere and also earn his position as arguably the senior newscaster. Everyone else in the team had to work their way up the hard way - Tom did a week as fill in which was so successful to my knowledge he never filled in again.
P.S. Surely ITV won't be stupid enough to make changes to the virtual set just at the time they've rolled them out nationwide. Wouldn't be surprised though if they tamper with the existing look - it'll remain basically the same but they'll make some changes to coincide with these changes which means it doesn't work quite as well as it did originally.
Until now, the ITV News line-up has been so solid, and now they are tinkering with it, for the possibility of a gain, versus the certainty of solid, dependable coverage that ITV News has been doing in recent years.
I don't know why, but I have the feeling this will end up just like the 1999 revamp was, a ratings disaster, that they still haven't totally recovered from, but they had a nice, stable position, which they are now risking.
Ridiculous decision, don't rate Tom Brady at all compared to Alistair Stewart or Julie etchingham. Hope the ratings fall flat on their arse. If it ain't broke then don't fix it.
Bad decision. It's typical of ITV to tamper with things when they are doing well. This will come back to haunt them, I just can't see people taking to Tom as presenter.
The only good thing to come of this really, is Mark and Mary presenting more often. They made a very good pairing on the EN. I'll really miss Alastair. He is one of the best, as is Julie and it's sad to see them both being sidelined for Tom, who just hasn't proved himself to be a good presenter on Election Night and when he filled in on NaT a couple of years ago.
I just hope the content won't be messed around with, as it's the best it's been since the ITN days.