ITV News

Carrie Frais with Andrew Harvey this morning.

You'd have thought our Trev might have taken some time off, to concentrate on his problems. Nonetheless, James Mates had a long day yesterday, fronting the Lunchtime News and doing The Briefing on the 10.30 News. Unless The Briefing is recorded.
Speaking about The Briefing, do we know what studio this is in? Great graphics, at all times with correspondents knowing what they are doing. I'm waiting until BBC News or Sky News uses it for something like "The Analysis".

I know the Christmas ITV news schedule has already been debated but I bet it will either be Felicity Barr or Steve Scott.
However, I know that the schedules were of:
2003 - Andrea Catherwood
2002 - Shiulie Ghosh
2001 - John Suchet
2000 - Dermot Murnaghan
1999 - Katie Derham
1998 - Nicholas Owen

Finally, Robert Moore must have a lot of time off. Lauren Taylor is in America for the third time this year.

I think the News at 10.30 has finally found its feet, and is gradually getting really good. I like ' The Briefing ', and yes, I would imagine it would be pre-recorded. However if the programme was ever to overtake the Ten, I think it would need to be longer.

I'd imagine he wanted some time off after the US Elections, where he worked everyday around the 2nd November! James Mates has reported in America about three times recently so I presume Moore is having a break?



I'm inclined to agree with you there, Felicity and Steve seem to be taking over the Weekend News, I quite often watch it and haven't seen Andrea for a while now, although she was on last weekend. However, she was the main stand-in for Mary Nightingale until they got Nina Hussein so maybe she was off?

John

John

Yes, it does seem Felicity and Steve has hijacked the weekend news. Notable that Bill Neely has not done the weekend news, despite him being one of the anchors of it.
I believe the ITV Weekend News anchors are Andrea Catherwood, James Mates and Bill Neely [plus it looks like Steve and Felicity have now been added].

I used to think the same about the News at 10 30 but actually making it longer would probably make it worse, I often get a bit bored by the time it reaches 11pm - many people would probably prefer it shorter but to be honest it is really fine as it is.

If it is to overtake the ten then it needs to move back to 10.

Perhaps it would be better if they promoted Steve and Felicity to ITV Weekend News roles and used James and Bill more as stand-ins for the Evening and Lunchtime News and as reporters more often?

John

Don't start that again!

What ITV1 really need to do is ensure it can attract viewers to the programme before it as the ratings very much depend on the ratings of the programme before that.

And after all this fuss in the last five years, the original ITV Nightly News in 1999 was the most successful of ITV's late night bulletins.

Can I add my thoughts on ITV's late news move seeing as I haven't beforehand: I believe the 10.30 slot is improving its viewers [despite the Nightly News being at 11.00 and that got more viewers] but I think there should be a full 30 minute national and international news bulletin, then at 11.00, ITV National News finishes and then after the weather [on ITV1] the regional news for 5 minutes. Now, usually despite programmes scheduled for 11.00pm are shown at 11.05pm, what's an extra few minutes for the local news.
Now, I know the ITV Late News has a savinging and has been flogged to death because of the controversial News At Ten move, but I do agree the 10.30pm bulletin has found its feet.

That's one thing. When Trevor McDonald presented the last ITN News At Ten, there was a kerfuffle and there was even a campaign to get rid of the ITV Nightly News and bring News At Ten back by The Sun newspaper, but when John Suchet brought you [as he said] "the last ever News At Ten" nobody seemed to care. I wonder why not.

In my opinion, news bulletins should not have adverts in the middle and they should stick to the schedule, because I've noticed the Evening News quite often ends at 6:55, the weather takes about three minutes then it is adverts for four - six minutes! Perhaps all news bulletins (30 minute ones anyway) should start exactly, the example here is the Lunchtime News, at 12:30, end at 13:00, with the weather at 13:01 and the next programme starting at 13:03, cutting out adverts in the middle of the programme and at the end, where the next programme follows on after the weather.

I don't think they should make the 'off-peak' bulletins any longer, but I think they should consider at 45/60 minute Evening News, where more analysis of the main stories could be made (maybe two 'close-ups', one into the main story of the day and another into a secondary story), markets update and sports news (although this wouldn't feature much because most football is over the weekend).

Or maybe the Evening News schedule could be changed to run as follows:

6:00 ITV Evening News
6:30 Regional News Update
6:40 ITV Sport Round-up
6:50 ITV National Weather
7:00 Regional News Programmes
7:20 ITV National News Update
7:25 Regional Weather Programme
7:30 End of Regional News

My two pence,
John

On the issue of the News at 10.30. I think regional news at 10.25 would be quite good, then a full half hour of national and international news, with the main focus on the latter. I would drop the sports segment, and just have the main anchor do it, but with less sports news. Maybe the business section could be extended to 5 minutes. I think a similar set - up with the Lunchtime News, with local news at 12.20, as it used to be. The 6 - 7 pm hour is fine as it is, IMO.

Yes, I get what you are saying, also the regional news being before the main news programme means people who want just regional news before they head off to bed need not wait until 10:50, two thirds of the way through the Late News.

John

BTW When I say the Late News I mean the News at Ten Thirty, just I shorten it down.