Channel 4 News

Has Matt Frei had much input into Dispatches? He was meant to be contributing at some point for the programme.

Also, how many times has he presented from the studio? I can only recall about one or twice. I know World News America is not available in the UK, but I do miss Matt on the BBC. He just seems so BBC to me. Hopefully he'll one day return.

Anyone heard if Cathy Newman's OK, or if her brains have been eaten?
(skip ahead to 2:54 if you're impatient)
http://www.channel4.com/news/zombies-key-to-phone-apps-success

A rather amusing Jon Snow moment on Channel 4 News a couple of weeks ago:

Krishnan has been presenting a lot recently so I think it may be 'That's Channel 4 News, good bye' for her

Don't think so - she did a 7-day stint a week or so ago. Now it's Krishnan's turn, and I suspect Cathy will be back after that.

Oh my!

Channel 4 News with John Snow presenting from Paris this evening, with live reporter in Greece. Unfortunately, John couldn't talk to Athens, so they had to abandon that and go back to London.

http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/channel4/c4_images/news/c4news_summary_ruseler_1992b.jpg

I don't recall Sonia presenting Channel 4 News at all, let alone in 1992. Was she just an occasional stand in as co presenter, or main presenter, or long termer? Really can't recall this.

Incidentaly, I think that look still wouldn't be out of place today. Timeless set.

I think there was more pooling of human resources across ITN back then.

Is that around the same era that Nicholas Owen was the lead?

I know Peter Sissons was the pioneer lead presenter on the opening night of Channel 4 News back in 82. If I recall correctly, there were no desks, but the presenters chairs were fitted with those small side tables you find in college classrooms.

But, there were two or three other regular presenters in the studio with Peter that evening and every evening during the early launch months, before eventually being trimmed down to one or two presenters only.

Can anyone recall who the other presenters were alongside Peter in those very early days? I am sure one of them was Ian Ross, Industrial Editor, who had just "defected" from BBC News for the launch of C4. But I really can't recall the others.

I can't say with any certainty about that far back, James. However, I know Alastair Stewart, Trevor McDonald and Nicholas Owen were frequently lead presenters in the 80s. The secondary presenters included David Cass, Nik Gowing and Sue Carpenter, and probably others. I think Jon Snow and Zeinab Badawi took over when Peter Sissons left in 1989, but Nicholas Owen still frequently deputised for Jon until the point at which ITN stopped using presenters across all its outlets (around 1994 or 1995 I'd say). Until that point, it was quite normal to see ITV newscasters crop up on C4 News, especially on Saturdays when the duty ITV newscaster would do a teatime C4 News summary. The likes of Fiona Armstrong, Sue Carpenter and Carol Barnes, who were the mainstays of the ITV Weekend News in the late 80s and early 90s, frequently appeared. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Sonia Ruseler's appearance was on a Saturday summary, as she did the Weekend News in the early 90s too.

You may find it interesting to hear that ITN had pre-prepared Early Evening News title music with voiceovers for both Jon Snow and Zeinab Badawi in 1992. Snow also had a News at Ten title, but not Zeinab. I've no idea if they ever presented those programmes though. As I recall, it was far more commonplace for ITV newscasters to appear on C4 than the other way round.

That would be 1st Jan 1993, when ITV stopped selling advertising for Channel 4. Around the same time the ITN logo disappeared off the start of Channel 4 News to be replaced by the Channel 4 logo.