General Presentation/Logistics Questions

I think Nicky posted that they only realised they were a newsreader short of a bulletin during the countdown, so they probably couldn't have got a recording cued up in time. And if you have a competent stand-in available it makes sense to use them rather than bin everything you've prepared.

I could be getting my dates mixed up, but I think in 2004, they fully staffed both the Broadcast Centre and the DTA in TVC for Christmas Day; by 2005 the DTA was closed but the Disaster Recovery Centre had come into being. And all of these would be playing a copy of the Queen's Speech, from server and from tape.

The story I heard may have been from the days of NC3/Sub Control being the spare suite.

Any idea how it works in terms of having all the channels play out the Queen's Christmas Message (not the Queen's Speech of course /pedant )? Are tapes sent to the BBC/ITV/Sky/agencies or are they all played out live from the broadcaster who's turn it is that particular year?

There's always been tape copies per broadcaster as far as I've known. I think I was on duty when the first ITN produced speech was transmitted (we all remarked on how odd the ITN logo looked at the end!) We still got two tape copies for BBC One and two for BBC Two (the signed/subtitled repeat). BBC Prime and BBC World got a couple of copies each too ISTR.

I have heard tales from former network directors of taking Party Politicals and special messages from an ITV source (usually Thames pres) but to my knowledge anything like this has not happened for years and years (though I did once or twice put programmes out from a VT suite at Granada on BBC Choice). I have also heard a story where Thames told NC1 how a programme started and ended when the network director in NC1 hadn't seen it themselves, despite it being a BBC playout. It remained a mystery to the BBC director as to how Thames had managed to sneak a look at it.

It's also distributed by satellite a few days beforehand to broadcasters around the world, with a rather strict sounding embargo beforehand - I think it's not allowed to be shown before 3pm local time or 3pm GMT, whichever is earlier.

Yes, I remember seeing the restrictions a few years ago. I'm pretty sure the 3PM thing is Commonwealth countries and everyone else has to wait till 3pm GMT

Is it mainly economics that starves us of weekend editions of the main flagship brands on newss channels? I take the example of BBC World News, where at the "weekend"**, there are no editions of The Hub or Impact or GMT or World News Today.

In consideration of the fact that the vast majority of the BBC World viewership is outside of Europe and certainly outside of the UK, the whole notion of weekends are relative. Meaning, Saturday and Sunday are not at all weekend days in KSA and other wider parts of the Middle East.

Shouldn't BBC World - as a Global News Channel - structure it's timetable for the wider audience and carry it's flagship brands seven days? CNN attempts to do so by having seven days of the iDesk and also Prism is timetabled to suit the Middle East working week (Sun through Thurs).

News happens 24x7, so should there be any weekends at all, in theory? Unless, of course, it is all economics driven.

**Western weekend Sat/Sun.

News does happen 24x7 but there is less news on Saturday & Sunday, and that's the main factor.

At the weekend all the governments are closed, as are most organisations who would otherwise be the source of stories (business, stock exchanges, charities etc). The same is true over the western summer (hence the 'silly season') and the big holidays like Christmas.... both are quiet news periods

There's also the audience to consider, just like domestic channels people's viewing habits change at the weekend, hence a channel like BBC World will have less news and more leisure and feature programming. There are also fewer business people watching at the weekend, who the advertisers always seem to be aiming at. Making the big flagship programmes will be more difficult at the weekend as fewer guests are willing to come in then too.

It's not correct that there's a 'western weekend' - the vast majority of the world have their weekend on Saturday and Sunday. The only ones that don't are Middle Eastern countries, the majority of which have Friday/Saturday weekends with (according to Wikipedia) 3 having Thurs/Fri weekends. Channels based in those countries have weekend and weekday schedules on the relevant days of course a good example is AJE, I don't think they have any weekday only strands now but when they did they were Sunday-Thursday. I would have thought that BBC Arabic and BBC Persia and the equivalents from other countries do the relevant weekends.

Incidentally Sunday - the first day of the working week in most of the Middle East - does tend to be the day when things 'kick off' in places like Israel, Lebanon etc.

In theory

2006 - Saddam Hussain execution
2007 - Benazir Bhutto killed
2008 - Gaza fighting
2009 - Christmas Day bomb plot

Christmas/New Year has in the recent past often had a major news story occur


Inside Story has indeed gone daily now. The Stream I think is Mon-Thu, but it, and it's predecessor Riz Khan come/came from Washington, hence no Sunday show

Yes, there have been a few exceptions, The Queen Mum's death was at Easter too of course... but generally they are quiet periods. Also during the traditional quiet periods lesser stories rise to the surface and become bigger than they ordinarily be... particularly in the summer

The news anchor desks that we see on CNN, BBC News, ITN and AJE: what are they made from? I know they are probably made from some sort of toughened plastic, but what exactly? And, how much does one of those desks cost, approximately? (I mean the dry desk, without any cabling, ports or monitors, etc.)


Location presenting: we often see news presenters on rooftops in Afghanistan (a la Lyse Doucet) or Westminster College Green (a la Boulton and Burley, etc). One could argue that such locations don't cause any nuisance or obstruction to the public (no jokes please about public calls for Kay Burley being sacked..............)

However, Ben Brown and his crew (and big dish, one would imagine) are currently stood in the middle of a public footpath in front of a municipal building in Belgrade. Do news organizations need to obtain a permit or permission of some sort to block the public right of way and set up their anchor location? My question is meant in the general sense, and not specifically pertinent to only Belgrade.

Thanks in advance.