ITV News

I was talking about the PROGRAMMES they present, not just the personalities themselves.
Alastair's programme may not be quite as pacy as Sky News Today but he is a pretty good interviewer and certainly tackles a wide range of issues in-depth.

Angela's weekend show provides a very watchable news/features mix at a time when the other news channels aren't really doing anything special.

Whatever you think of them, they are familiar faces the average viewer knows and trusts. They are also highly experienced journalists.


Nowhere near the amount there is now. And certainly not so many lives. ITV NC certainly exploits its regional resources better than N24 does.

Not on the News Channel they didn't. Only really on the Evening News. Pre-February the NC was a single presenter sat behind a desk linking packages.

Well we can agree to differ on that. Give me an ITV newswall/floormap presentation of a complicated story over N24's washed-out screens any day.

Agreeing to differ - A BBC v ITVN argument is pointless cos both have good bits and bad bits. It's my opinion that the bad bits on ITVN outnumber the good bits, and that the bad bits have to be improved to turn them into good bits. Bad bits are noticed more by non-TV minded people than good-bits, and goodbits are ignored as badbits take over. It's a bit bitty.

Agreed 100%

Personally I watch all three news channels and I don't expect any of them to totally meet my needs and my likes/dislikes - I pick and mix to suit.

This is also true. But like I say, I think ITV News is improving and finding a new confidence - albeit frustratingly slowly at times.

So James Hatts - what do you hate most about ITVN?

I think the ITV1 service is actually pretty good, though the arguments about the effect of the budget cuts have been well rehearsed. It is certainly a much better product now under Mannion and Turness than it was under Nigel Dacre.

As for the News Channel, I think it's the inconsistency that irritates me most.

For example, the failure to cover the recent Birmingham and Leicester by-election results just because they were late at night.

And cutting off the last five minutes of PMQs each week to go to ads - either show it in full, or not at all. Anyone who is interested in PMQs will want to watch the whole thing and will flick straight to Sky or N24 and not bother with ITV News again. They could provide an alternative to Sky and N24 by covering other news at 12 on a Wednesday - but the current half-baked attempt is a farce.

That's the sort of nonsense that makes the channel a much less polished product than it deserves to be.

According to the Radio Times, Steve Scott is presenting the ITV1 bulletins on all three days of the Bank Holiday weekend.

Mark and Mary are back on Tuesday, and Trevor is scheduled to present the 10.30 on Wednesday and Thursday.

No Sasha Herriman for at least two months - has she left

I hope so; but I seem to remember somebody on the old thread mentioning maternity leave.

The dull programmes Channel 4 put on weekday mornings: Friends, The Hoobs [now that is bad], Bewitched etc. are even worse than Natasha Kaplinsky - the Sasha Herriman of the BBC. Seeing as RI:SE finished, wouldn't it be wise to bring back Channel 4 Daily? I mean, it couldn't be worse than the RI:SE "relaunch".

Nicholas Owen is doing the News at Ten Thirty tonight and hes already done the Lunchtime News and Evening News today.

Yes Nicholas Owen always seems to get a raw deal in presenting three major bulletins in a day!

Would be nice to see the channel 4 daily back.. think it's where Dermot started his career. Carol Barnes also presented it. Spose Jon Snow used to present News at One and Nick Owen the Channel 4 News. Am I also right in thinking the weekend duty ITV newscaster also did the weekend bulletins on Channel 4? Also, how long has Zeinab Badawi been doing the World on BBC4?