News at Ten - Weeknights on ITV1

Anyone else think that the way they now promote News at Ten on the Evening News (with Julie in the newsroom) is kind of making Julie the face of News at Ten now - considering most people who see the trailers probably don't see the bulletin itself!

I think she should be the face of NAT. I don't think Mark Austin's style really suits the programme.

Maybe i've just been watching BBC News too much recently, but watched a News at Ten bulletin tonight and it really stood out how emotive the script is. Is this a new thing? Phrases like 'Last week we brought you the sad news that...' are appearing. I don't ever recall hearing those on ITV News the last time i watched it, yet tonight's bulletin was full of phrases like that.

That's been around for a few years now. They always remind that such and such a reporter was there since the start of a particular story and just generally add in an emotive narrative. They have to tell you how this will affect YOU as well! Wish they'd ease up on all that rubbish and just deliver the news.

Mary Knightingale is the worst for acting the story.

This is on a similar note: the script for Monday's NaT seemed more emotive than it should be. I heard things like, "very tragic and upsetting", "heartbreaking", and "dreadful" - I never usually hear such 'biased' language on NaT, but it does seem to be growing in prominence on the bulletin. Also - was there any need for that two minute report on Kate Winslet's acceptance speech? Most of the report didn't even constitute 'news'. I hope they're not abandoning the "more news, less fluff" policy they were so keen to bring back with the programme this time last year.

BTW it was rather different seeing Julie stood up near the 'Theatre of News' for the coming up section in the EN... showed what it would look like if the other bulletins had similar-style sets, without that god-awful fake walkway.

I must agree with what has been said, or in this case, written. There were more credible And Finally choices: broadcaster David Vine's death or the First World War survivor's death - the latter being more significant.
And, it would be far better if the Evening News dropped their And Finally stories and reserved them for News At Ten. Because we are seeing almost the 6.30 news being repeated.

The editor of the BBC Ten on ITV NaT's first birthday:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2009/01/the_battle_of_the_tens_one_yea.html

I think that's a fair assessment and he's right about competition being a good thing. It keeps both the BBC and ITN on their toes and ultimately produces the best product for the viewer.

One year on, I'm still impressed with News at Ten. I haven't watched the BBC Ten once in the past year (I usually see the BBC Six instead) and NaT has been my preference for late night news. I've been most impressed with Julie Etchingham; I think she has been a great addition to ITN's team of presenters. It was good to see Trevor back for a final stint but I am glad that he chose to go fairly soon after launch. The programme has settled down in recent months and feels more stable and permanent with Mark and Julie at the helm. They seem to get along together very well and their chemistry makes for a good bulletin. The quality of ITN's journalism has been excellent and I particularly enjoyed their US election reports. Their reports on the economy during 2008 were clear and concise, which made them much more accessible than many of the BBC's, in my opinion.

All in all, a good first year for News at Ten. I just hope ITV stick with it.

My thoughts on the revival of News At Ten is that it is a greatly produced bulletin - done in the style of the original. Sure, it needs a few tweaks here or there, but it is an effective programme which deserves its place on terrestrial television.
It is also a refreshing change that ITV or "ITV1" as it likes to be called now, puts something serious on in the 10pm schedule. As has been written, NaT really deserves a Friday slot.
Here are the major issues that I would like to see addressed:
- The first "BONG!" before the main introduction should be scrapped.
- The newscasters should take their turns i.e. one story at a time and not to share the same story.
- Adopt a "window" graphic and place it next to the newscaster.
- Start, precisely, at 22:00 more often and not 22:02.
- And, a different And Finally to the 6.30 News... and let some of them be daft stories like "Kangaroo Drives Car".

I read the BBC article [as above] and thought it was good, on ITN's part, for them to worry the BBC that it might lose out on ratings. Sadly, it has not happened just yet. I really hope NaT's ratings pick up and thrash the BBC's ratings [and shove their bulletin back to 9 o'clock, like how it should have stayed]. But let's not forget... at the end of the last decade, the 9 O'Clock News was getting a few million more viewers than what it does now.

So, overall, good job ITN! Let's hope the audience improves to a good audience i.e. 4 or 5 million regular viewers.

Sky EPG (in Yorkshire and London at least) calims tonight's News at Ten was presented just by James Mates and will be on until 11.45... Oops?

Especially as ITV1 are just showing repeats at 10pm currently

I know News at Ten hasn't been setting the ratings alight, but I think it compares pretty favourably to most things ITV1 have shown in the 10pm slot on Fridays - the only thing that really beats it is when they run repeats of the detective shows from 9pm.