You've got to say there's something very immediate about anchoring news on location, I expect in future all news will be presented from crime scenes / parliament buildings / any relevant location with a presenter in studio just for summaries etc, even if it is a gimmick and rarely provides any new information. But thats a debate for another time.
Like I said in the ITV News thread about Mark Austin, what is the point in sending Emily Maitliss all the way over to the US? She's only going to present a few minutes worth of the bulletin - why not let Huw do it all from the studio in London? Emily's opening link could easily have been read by Huw and what's more, she linked into a report by Matt Frei! If she was doing everything, then that's fine, but Frei is doing the reporting. Even if she interviews someone at the scene, couldn't they have been linked up with London and let Huw conduct the interview? As far as I am concerned, sending a presenter to the scene adds nothing to the journalistic quality of the bulletin. In fact, at the moment with the strong winds in Virginia, it is detracting from the quality of the bulletin. All the noise of the wind going over the microphone and Emily being blown around is quite distracting.
Like I said in the ITV News thread about Mark Austin, what is the point in sending Emily Maitliss all the way over to the US? She's only going to present a few minutes worth of the bulletin - why not let Huw do it all from the studio in London? Emily's opening link could easily have been read by Huw and what's more, she linked into a report by Matt Frei! If she was doing everything, then that's fine, but Frei is doing the reporting. Even if she interviews someone at the scene, couldn't they have been linked up with London and let Huw conduct the interview? As far as I am concerned, sending a presenter to the scene adds nothing to the journalistic quality of the bulletin. In fact, at the moment with the strong winds in Virginia, it is detracting from the quality of the bulletin. All the noise of the wind going over the microphone and Emily being blown around is quite distracting.
Have to totally agree, it was just pointless having Emily there. The Six O'clock News worked fine without a presenter on location.
The last 3 mins of the ten was totally crap, Huw hands over to Emily who is standing next to Matt Frei and she interviews him for 2 mins, then hands over to local news.
Huw didn't look happy with Emily doing the headline from the location and him being the second presenter.
Journalistically speaking, there is no reason for it. But from a television production point of view it gives so much more to the bulletin, as you are being given the information from the scene. TV is all about the creation of an illusion and by sending presenters on location it just feels like you are getting the information from the horse's mouth, as it were, even though the bulletin was most likely prepared in London.
A similair example would be sports, it always looks pathetic when say a football match taking place in Berlin is anchored from London, even though you know the presenter has the same resources and information available to them as they would would they be in Berlin.
Its a nice gimmick which in my opinion adds to the weight and viewer's emotional connection with the story, seeing someone they "know" (i.e. the presenter, although Emily is hardly the Beeb's most high profile face) at the scene rather than just seeing a map of somewere they probably haven't visited. But I'm a TV person, not a journalist.
Like I said in the ITV News thread about Mark Austin, what is the point in sending Emily Maitliss all the way over to the US? She's only going to present a few minutes worth of the bulletin - why not let Huw do it all from the studio in London? Emily's opening link could easily have been read by Huw and what's more, she linked into a report by Matt Frei! If she was doing everything, then that's fine, but Frei is doing the reporting. Even if she interviews someone at the scene, couldn't they have been linked up with London and let Huw conduct the interview? As far as I am concerned, sending a presenter to the scene adds nothing to the journalistic quality of the bulletin. In fact, at the moment with the strong winds in Virginia, it is detracting from the quality of the bulletin. All the noise of the wind going over the microphone and Emily being blown around is quite distracting.
Have to totally agree, it was just pointless having Emily there. The Six O'clock News worked fine without a presenter on location.
The last 3 mins of the ten was totally crap, Huw hands over to Emily who is standing next to Matt Frei and she interviews him for 2 mins, then hands over to local news.
Huw didn't look happy with Emily doing the headline from the location and him being the second presenter.
But what everyone seems to be forgetting is that the 10 is not the only BBC programme, she will also present on News 24 and probably across other bulletins tomorrow. I got the feeling that she has only been at the scene a couple of hours tonight, so did not have time to prepare anything for tonight's programme, but will she be able to contribute tomorrow? I also think that one of the reason's for sending Emily is to raise her profile somewhat, and maybe Huw did not want to go, he has only been back from Iraq for a couple of weeks.