The Newsroom

Elections 2019

(May 2019)

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WO
Worzel
Rkolsen posted:
I
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Rkolsen posted:

I find it interesting how they are going all out for what are local elections. Correct me if I’m wrong this has no impact on parliament or policy? Or is this considered dress rehearsal for the EU elections?


I suspect there is an element of dress rehearsal, particularly with the volatile state of UK politics at the moment.

Knowing that in the event of a snap general election they could pull off an election show from Studio B in the event that Elstree wasn't available (which is a lot more about being able to handle all of the incoming data and OB feeds) is going to reassure people

For example, were they using the switching hub at Elstree to handle the OB contributions? Where did they put the people who are normally on the studio floor who are in the background dealing with getting data from counts and analyzing it etc?

I know the US election coverage was paltry compared to UK coverage but wasn’t all incoming feeds from the non core sites (NY and DC) coming to Milbank studios (or was the coverage just there).

Are the people that are normally in the background at Elstree permanent BBC employees? Maybe they could cordon off some of the area that’s used for hot desking and have them based there. Just another comparison here in the US the pollsters that analyze and make vote calls in the US are not typically in studio. They typically are in a closed off room with no TVs or internet (aside from receiving polling data feeds) so they aren’t affected by outside influence. A lot of people on set are producers, the chief pollster or liaisons between such groups.


They could temporarily take over the radio theatre at NBH and house the election staff in there I suppose, depending on connectivity.

In a general election scenario I'd anticipate them using both presentation areas in B. One section as the main presentation point and the other for the Maitlis interviews. Jeremy Vine would go in A with contributions from John Curtis via the radio theatre or situated in the newsroom itself.

Its all guess work but the above would seem logical.

I'd love to see a general election presented from within the newsroom 'pit'. Move the journalists and all the desks out from the floor which studio E overlooks and make it into a temporary set. It would look very nice, but would obviously not be viable and would cause considerable disruption.
Last edited by Worzel on 3 May 2019 5:09pm - 2 times in total
BR
Brekkie
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Incidentally why did BBC Scotland not opt out last night as there are no elections there? Would have made sense, with the minority who were interested having access to the News Channel simulcast.

Opt out to show what - a simulcast of the news channel?
IS
Inspector Sands
Rkolsen posted:

know the US election coverage was paltry compared to UK coverage but wasn’t all incoming feeds from the non core sites (NY and DC) coming to Milbank studios (or was the coverage just there).

I don't think Millbank get involved at all, it's small and the connectivity isn't great. Even in a general election there's nothing happening in Westminster on election night

This time round the studio was at BH and the hub for the feeds was at Elstree

Quote:
Just another comparison here in the US the pollsters that analyze and make vote calls in the US are not typically in studio. They typically are in a closed off room with no TVs or internet (aside from receiving polling data feeds) so they aren’t affected by outside influence.

Except the influence of the owner of the channel Wink

One difference here is that the pundits etc count up and analyse the results as they are announced, they don't have people 'calling' them. Each count has a returning officer who announces the results when the counting finishes. It's different to the US when they'll often announce that someone has won based on a fraction of the ballots being counted.
VM
VMPhil
Brekkie posted:
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Incidentally why did BBC Scotland not opt out last night as there are no elections there? Would have made sense, with the minority who were interested having access to the News Channel simulcast.

Opt out to show what - a simulcast of the news channel?

Yes it would have just been repeats at that time (11.35pm) surely?
IS
Inspector Sands
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Incidentally why did BBC Scotland not opt out last night as there are no elections there? Would have made sense, with the minority who were interested having access to the News Channel simulcast.

No elections in Wales either, but what would they show instead and how long would they opt out for when the coverage went on all night?

Of course there were lots of places in England that didn't have elections yesterday, didn't mean it wasn't of interest to them
SP
Steve in Pudsey
I'm sure they could have found something to fill a couple of hours?

It looks like Newsday was going out on BBC World News as normal, so presumably they could have have opted into a fairly normal schedule after midnight.
SC
scottishtv Founding member
dosxuk posted:
Has nobody noticed the extra camera in that picture? Guessing that's where the photo of mediaboy waist deep by a furio track came from, as the surrounds of that image didn't match any of the other studios.

I liked the shots they were using from it.

I also enjoy the sneaky peek of what Huw can see - was worth the effort in my opinion:

*

Also, I thought the keyed area was very good, I really didn't realise it was fake until I noticed there were no other cameras around. I'm assuming there must obviously have been a screen of sorts on a stand or something - so the presenters/contributors had somewhere to look when interacting on a two-way.
JK
JKDerry
Worzel posted:
Rkolsen posted:
I
Steve in Pudsey posted:

I suspect there is an element of dress rehearsal, particularly with the volatile state of UK politics at the moment.

Knowing that in the event of a snap general election they could pull off an election show from Studio B in the event that Elstree wasn't available (which is a lot more about being able to handle all of the incoming data and OB feeds) is going to reassure people

For example, were they using the switching hub at Elstree to handle the OB contributions? Where did they put the people who are normally on the studio floor who are in the background dealing with getting data from counts and analyzing it etc?

I know the US election coverage was paltry compared to UK coverage but wasn’t all incoming feeds from the non core sites (NY and DC) coming to Milbank studios (or was the coverage just there).

Are the people that are normally in the background at Elstree permanent BBC employees? Maybe they could cordon off some of the area that’s used for hot desking and have them based there. Just another comparison here in the US the pollsters that analyze and make vote calls in the US are not typically in studio. They typically are in a closed off room with no TVs or internet (aside from receiving polling data feeds) so they aren’t affected by outside influence. A lot of people on set are producers, the chief pollster or liaisons between such groups.


They could temporarily take over the radio theatre at NBH and house the election staff in there I suppose, depending on connectivity.

In a general election scenario I'd anticipate them using both presentation areas in B. One section as the main presentation point and the other for the Maitlis interviews. Jeremy Vine would go in A with contributions from John Curtis via the radio theatre or situated in the newsroom itself.

Its all guess work but the above would seem logical.

I'd love to see a general election presented from within the newsroom 'pit'. Move the journalists and all the desks out from the floor which studio E overlooks and make it into a temporary set. It would look very nice, but would obviously not be viable and would cause considerable disruption.

ITN used to take over their atrium area of 200 Grays Inn Road for the 1997 and 2001 general elections. They made the most of the wonderful view the atrium has, and placed specially built platforms for presentation, with the ground floor used for election data gathering.


The green screen studio was used in 2001 along with the atrium base.

The BBC could do what ITN did, and use Broadcasting House to their advantage, with its great views of the news gathering area and good selection of studios there. They don't have to always use Studio D at BBC Elstree in my opinion.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Worzel posted:
They could temporarily take over the radio theatre at NBH and house the election staff in there I suppose, depending on connectivity.


I doubt it would be available, there are usually things like a Now Show Election special that would require it.
RK
Rkolsen
Inspector Sands posted:
Rkolsen posted:

know the US election coverage was paltry compared to UK coverage but wasn’t all incoming feeds from the non core sites (NY and DC) coming to Milbank studios (or was the coverage just there).

I don't think Millbank get involved at all, it's small and the connectivity isn't great. Even in a general election there's nothing happening in Westminster on election night

This time round the studio was at BH and the hub for the feeds was at Elstree

Quote:
Just another comparison here in the US the pollsters that analyze and make vote calls in the US are not typically in studio. They typically are in a closed off room with no TVs or internet (aside from receiving polling data feeds) so they aren’t affected by outside influence.

Except the influence of the owner of the channel Wink

One difference here is that the pundits etc count up and analyse the results as they are announced, they don't have people 'calling' them. Each count has a returning officer who announces the results when the counting finishes. It's different to the US when they'll often announce that someone has won based on a fraction of the ballots being counted.

Very true. I think the 2016 US elections were produced out of Milbank with Elstree handling the incoming feeds based on this one post by mediaboy. If you look at the multiviewer’s clock you see the BBC logo and MB1 each with their respective times. It looked like that gallery took the output feeds from Studio A (for VR sequences), the cameras in NY and DC, and I assume had the folks at Elstree send whichever OS they needed at the time (you can see an Elstree MV image).




Additionally aside from BNG or CNG how many incoming lines whether via satellite or from other sources can NBH ingest at anyone point. Based on the galleries it looks like they can only handle 12 sources at a time.
DE
deejay
Most galleries at NBH have 12 OS lines yes, though there are a multitude of actual sources that come into the building and can be routed to any of those sources in any of the galleries. 12 is plenty for most output. Elections are different though, particularly generals, so that’s where the elections hub really comes into its own - and cuts the number of lines that the busy galleries have to deal with down to only a handful. At one point in history there were several regional hubs before the main hub too.
IS
Inspector Sands
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Worzel posted:
They could temporarily take over the radio theatre at NBH and house the election staff in there I suppose, depending on connectivity.


I doubt it would be available, there are usually things like a Now Show Election special that would require it.

Also where would they sit? On the audience seating. The stage isn't massive


I remember years ago when there were regular protests/riots on May Day they used the radio theatre as a temporary news room with trestle tables and various technical lashes. The protests were happening in Oxford Street so BH was perfectly located but there wasn't any newsroom at BH back then. I don't think the radio theatre was used much then, the seating might not even have been there. A bit different now it's been refurbished and is one of the flagship parts of BH

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