RIP Sir Alastair Burnet

It's hilarious that Selina Scott who was the protype of the 'showbiz newsreader' to say how terrible everything is today, when it was the likes of her that caused it.


How the hell do you know! Talk about Hero worship Jon Snow and Andrew Neil are on twitter do they tweet about nothingness.


Er These days??
Selina Scott was hired for NAT for her Brians? Nostalgia eh?

Both the article and I were talking about Alastair Burnet, not Selina Scott. My point is that I agree with Selina Scott that some modern newscasters are not in the same league as Burnet. Even Mark Austin agrees according to his tweet yesterday.


Have you seen Jon Snow's Twitter account? It's mostly used for promotion of Channel 4 News or witty, relevant observations. And I didn't have Snow in mind when I suggested Burnet wouldn't tweet 'random nothingness'. The likes of Snow and Neil tweet for a reason. What I was saying that some modern "celebrities" tweet about absolute crap, something which I can't envisage Burnet (or Snow, for that matter) doing.


Maybe, but again, I was discussing Burnet, not Scott. I'm of the opinion that a number of current newsreaders and TV presenters are there mainly for their looks and little else. The likes of Selina Scott and Anna Ford, whilst undoubtedly attractive young women, were actually intelligent. You could tell from their delivery alone. They knew what they were talking about and how to string some words together into a coherent sentence.

Just to add... I was recently chatting with someone who's worked in television for 30 years and who worked with the ITN newscasters of the 80s and he said that the likes of Alastair Burnet, Sandy Gall and Leonard Parkin were the ultimate professionals but true gentlemen as well. He recalled that Parkin would routinely come into the studio with seconds to go and wouldn't even rehearse. He knew the news that well he didn't need to. He said that he's never seen their like again since, so it's not just me who thinks this. I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about any of them.

In terms of horrendous mistakes, ITV dropping 'News at Ten' in the late 1990s must rank as one of the most spectacular own-goals ever in the history of UK broadcasting.

You can Blame Carlton and Ex Tvam Bruce Gyngell for that....

I was just thinking the other day about how ITV seems to bottle it when up against the BBC. Like you say, they made a spectacular own goal when they axed NAT in 99, which was fairly swiftly followed by the BBC grabbing the 10pm slot for its own news. Then ITV realised they had made a terrible mistake and so tried to bring NAT back, only to move it yet again after a few years. Then had the gall to bring it back a second time in 2008! Thankfully they seem to be settled with it at 10pm now, even though they pretty much broke all association with the old programme in 2009. It's News at Ten in name only now.

However, I was thinking about their similar pattern in the late 80s and early 90s, this time with the lunchtime bulletin. They'd always dominated the 1pm slot - I think from around 1974 until Leonard Parkin left in 1987. Because the BBC launched the One O'Clock News in 86, they decided to move their news to 12:30. Big mistake and it was back at 1pm within a year. Then it eventually goes back to 12:30 courtesy of the Gulf War in 91 and remains there until it moved to 1.30pm not so long back. Not forgetting the brief period where it was extended to an hour, which again was a big flop.

They've also messed about with the timings of the evening news bulletin too, although to a lesser extent. It used to be at 5:50, before settling at 5:45. Next it was 5:40 to make time for the National Weather, then on to 6:30pm in 1999. Thankfully that seems rather settled there now.

But, it does strike me as odd that ITV mess about so much with their news scheduling whereas the BBC just stick with a time slot come what may. 1pm, 6pm, 9pm/10pm. I think this goes a long way to explaining ITV's lack of credibility now. Moving it around so much can't be good for image. Although, I know it's also much more than that; let alone editorial policy. But I think ITV have scored some big own goals during its time. It's not so much the BBC has won dominance; I think to some extent ITV has lost it.

What ITV obviously need to do is try and not move the damn thing. But that won't happen because of the apparently extended length of shows they make.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it wasn't really Bruce, it was Carlton. It's been a while but the 'And Finally' book published in 2005, the idea of dropping News At Ten was entirely Carlton's. They felt they could move the News to 11.00pm and free the hour and attract more viewers and a younger audience. They mentioned this sometime in 1993/4 when they were the largest shareholder in ITN and eventually persuaded the rest of the ITV network to drop NaT. Remember they had to go to the ITC as each of the licences that won in 1991 promised a half hour nightly news from ITN at 10pm, they couldn't drop NaT quietly.

One problem also was they dropped NaT too quickly, ITV didn't have enough time for new series to be comissioned and created for the 10-11pm when NaT went in 1999, nothing ever permanent was in that slot, the only good thing was that 2 hour Dramas and Movies could start at 9pm, other than that a total failure.

You are correct in noting that it is possibly the worst mistake ITV have made in it's history, something that even Michael Grade acknowledged during his tenure.

Bruce and YTV were also behide the idea, see here:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/broadcaster-rules-out-takeover-of-scottish-tv-but-recognises-its-own-vulnerability-to-move-by-granada-yttv-enjoys-dramatic-profit-growth-1.462286


Carlton got there 18% shares in ITN in 1993, and remember with no single company was allowed more than a 20%
Around the same time in September 1993 there was talk of moving the evening news to 7pm! but again that BOOK whitewashes this event! it was in the papers....

I have to ask why do you always have to argue with the facts, even when they are there in black and white? Don't believe all that you read in the papers.

Feb 1974 General Election presented by Alastair Burnet ....

Sat 1st September 2012 - 0900 - BBC Parliament.


more details ……..

PROGRAMMES on BBC.CO.UK
28-Aug-2012 @ 13:09

Memorial Service of Thanksgiving, celebrating the life of Sir Alastair Burnet.

St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London. 12th November 2012.