Well my Look North NE & Cumbria they only have one presenter, which I think is better but Tyne Tees, on both editions have two presenters on each programme. They used to always have single presenter shots, but now they don't, it's always just the shot of both presenters.
Whenever I've been up that way and watched Border I've been convinced that they only have one camera, locked-off in a 2-shot
Well my Look North NE & Cumbria they only have one presenter, which I think is better but Tyne Tees, on both editions have two presenters on each programme. They used to always have single presenter shots, but now they don't, it's always just the shot of both presenters.
Whenever I've been up that way and watched Border I've been convinced that they only have one camera, locked-off in a 2-shot
Border have at least 4 cameras in their studio, although they're quite packed in.
What really annoys me about ITV regional news (and the beeb do this a lot too) is that they insist on having both presenters introduce an item, taking a paragraph each. If it's not that then they show both presenters even when the only one is talking.
What's wrong with a traditional shot of a single presenter? Indeed why have 2 presenters at all?
Meridian South with Fred Dinenage and Debbie Thrower still uses single-presenter shots for the main news items, even if they do read alternate paragraphs. It seems more authoritative somehow.
The 2-shots and banter come later in the programme.
Katie Derham is the most irritating, shaking her head when Alastair is reading a serious story.
Alastair and Katie are very professional newsreaders but whenever I watch London Tonight it just seems really cringeworthy. But many an occassion I've seen what you've meant on-screen James and it just puts me off from a News programme, it should be simply telling me what's happening rather than what to think.
Saying that Granada Reports isn't much better either, I can't remember the last time I sat through a full half an hour of it.
The ITV Local News programmes have more of a magazine format so two presenters and the less formal style work in that context. I haven't seen Meridian South but if I have read that correctly and they switch between close-ups of the two presenters whilst introducing a single item then I would imagine that it's rather stilted.
For me London Tonight, particularly when Katie is presenting, works really well; so much so that I'll make a point of watching it if I'm home. Sure it's not "highbrow" but that's not what I'm looking for at that time of day or in a local news programme.
(Occasionally I'll find myself if the West Midlands or Northamptonshire but Central Tonight and Anglia Tonight just seem a bit amateurish and half-hearted when compared with London Tonight. I doubt that I would watch either on a regular basis if I lived in one of those regions).
I don't have any great objection to London Tonight itself - as a programme it does what it does quite well - only to Katie's patronising facial expressions when her co-host is speaking.
Katie is clearly a very expressive person and likes to follow what her co-presenter is saying so yes, there are occasions when her emotions are readily apparent, but I don't see why that should be found patronising. For my part I find her personality engaging and immeasurably preferable to a 'cold' style of presentation.
Well my Look North NE & Cumbria they only have one presenter, which I think is better but Tyne Tees, on both editions have two presenters on each programme. They used to always have single presenter shots, but now they don't, it's always just the shot of both presenters.
Whenever I've been up that way and watched Border I've been convinced that they only have one camera, locked-off in a 2-shot
Border have at least 4 cameras in their studio, although they're quite packed in.
