The Newsroom

Massive explosions at Hemel Hempstead fuel depot

Felt across Home Counties; "major incident" declared (December 2005)

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CA
cat
NickyS posted:
Some interesting stats in a Media Guardian report ... BBC News had over 6 thousand email with images or video .. and News 24 beat Sky in terms of viewers ...
http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1665609,00.html
Copy below
BBC News received more than 6,500 emails containing pictures and video footage of the Buncefield oil depot explosion on Sunday.
The deluge of emails from eye witnesses, which began just minutes after the blast, sets a new record for emails sent to the BBC in the aftermath of a dramatic event.

After the London bombings on 7 July the BBC's yourpics@bbc.co.uk site received around 1,000 images and mobile clips from the public.

But the blaze at the Hertfordshire depot on Sunday morning generated an unprecedented amount of material from "civilian journalists" taking the reporter's role in to their own hands.

The first picture came into the BBC at 6.19am, minutes after the initial explosion, with the first mobile phone video footage sent in at 6.23am. Many of the 6,500 emails sent to the yourpics site contained multiple images and video clips from mobile phones and digital cameras.

Pete Clifton, the head of BBC News Interactive, said: "The range of material we received from our readers was absolutely extraordinary. "Video, still pictures and emails poured in from the moment the blast happened, and it played a central part in the way we reported the unfolding events." Half a million unique users (525,808) accessed clips and footage on Sunday via the BBC's online news video service, News Player. The figure is second only to number of requests for clips on 7 July.

The largest number of requests was for live footage streamed online and a news package by special correspondent Gavin Hewitt. In all, there were more than a quarter of a million requests for material that had been sent in by members of the public. The morning's events also generated an increase in television viewing figures at the BBC. Across Sunday, BBC News 24 achieved its highest daily reach of the year with 4.7 million viewers, a 2.1% share of the audience. Sky News reached 4.1 million viewers, a 1.8% share. BBC News 24's breakfast broadcast that was simulcast on BBC1 peaked with an audience of 2 million viewers as many who had been woken by the blast miles away turned on the TV for breaking news. Later in the day, the main bulletins showed an increase in viewing figures - the early evening bulletin was watched by 5.6 million and the Ten O'Clock News achieved 6 million.


Doesn't take away from the fact that Sky were ahead in just about every other sense.

Pictures, correspondents, eyewitnesses...
GE
thegeek Founding member
The above story does bear a striking resemblance to an article which appears in Ariel this week. Not that either of the esteemed organs would stoop to regurgitating press releases, I'm sure.
JC
Jack Carkdale
I was watching a couple of ITV regional news programmes online, and I noticed that Central News (South) carried the explosion story.

Now, my geography's not brilliant, and neither is knowledge of TV region boundaries, but I though that Hemel Hempsted would be more of an Anglia (West) area? Or maybe even the London region?

Are CNsouth stretching their editorial boundary for the sake of a big story, or is Hemel Hempsted normally fair game for CNsouth?
TV
tvmercia Founding member
Jack Carkdale posted:
Are CNsouth stretching their editorial boundary for the sake of a big story, or is Hemel Hempsted normally fair game for CNsouth?


i would guess many of the viewers of central south work in london - so closure of the m1 etc would be of great interest. similarly on the evening of the london bombings central south produced a special programme which was shown on all central sub regions.
LO
Londoner
Londoner posted:
From the roof of the London Television Centre:
http://www.dolben.demon.co.uk/newschannel/051211_rooftop.jpg

This exact capture I posted on Sunday is reproduced across pages 2 and 3 of this week's Broadcast...
(If you've got a copy, compare the text on the ticker)

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