Of course - but we're seeing more now - I can only remember The Pledge being on twice a week before and from what I can see with the new series it's now four times. Sundays between 7.30pm and 10pm there is only half an hour of news coverage. Rest is The Pledge, Sportsline and Niall Patterson on Sunday highlights.
I think The Pledge has been on 4 times a week for a while now.
What annoys me about it is that there's no news at the top of the hour when The Pledge is on, so if you've tuned in for the news you have to go to the BBC. I wonder why they can't have a 5 minutes summary instead.
Radio 5 Live's breakfast show also seem to be messing around with the concept of a proper bulletin at the top of hour at 7 and 8am.
Last edited by Joseph Bloggs on 20 January 2018 7:57pm
NHK produce some incredible documentaries for NHK World, and they can't be making those on much more than basic budgets with skeleton crews.
I've watched a few of those NHK World programmes, and they've always made for a great watch when I've tuned in. Well produced, well narrated, in a pared back style that's truly refreshing.
The last one I watched was about the sheer numbers of Chinese entrepreneurs wanting to start up, and often failing, in online retail, and how they have to give up their family for months on end, or have to get their entire family involved.
NHK produce some incredible documentaries for NHK World, and they can't be making those on much more than basic budgets with skeleton crews.
I've watched a few of those NHK World programmes, and they've always made for a great watch when I've tuned in. Well produced, well narrated, in a pared back style that's truly refreshing.
Totally agree. I don't go out of my way to watch them, but when I catch them, I am always blown away by just how good they are. Even on subject matter that wouldn't normally attract my attention, they have a way of making it interesting and compelling.
NHK produce some incredible documentaries for NHK World, and they can't be making those on much more than basic budgets with skeleton crews.
I've watched a few of those NHK World programmes, and they've always made for a great watch when I've tuned in. Well produced, well narrated, in a pared back style that's truly refreshing.
Totally agree. I don't go out of my way to watch them, but when I catch them, I am always blown away by just how good they are. Even on subject matter that wouldn't normally attract my attention, they have a way of making it interesting and compelling.
NHK World always manage to produce outstanding content, whether it relates to Sport, Geography, History or the latest news from Asia every single hour. If anybody wants to see any of this content, you can find most of it on catch-up for up to a year after broadcast at: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/vod/
Of course - but we're seeing more now - I can only remember The Pledge being on twice a week before and from what I can see with the new series it's now four times. Sundays between 7.30pm and 10pm there is only half an hour of news coverage. Rest is The Pledge, Sportsline and Niall Patterson on Sunday highlights.
I think The Pledge has been on 4 times a week for a while now.
What annoys me about it is that there's no news at the top of the hour when The Pledge is on, so if you've tuned in for the news you have to go to the BBC. I wonder why they can't have a 5 minutes summary instead.
Radio 5 Live's breakfast show also seem to be messing around with the concept of a proper bulletin at the top of hour at 7 and 8am.
I must agree about that, I don’t even think a 5 minute bulletin is needed, but even a TOH or straight into a 2minute headline summary rather than a typical TOH. I find it a little odd going straight into documentaries and programmes.
In my view The Pledge should be on Sky One as opposed to Sky News- at best you could pretend it's a current affairs discussion programme, in reality it's tabloid style title tattle that can neither be seen as news or journalism. I agree with other posters, the most infuriating thing is that there's no news for an hour several times a week whilst reruns of this programme is aired. Sky would be far better to scrap this show and invest more in strands like Swipe or their longer-form reports which are actually informative and relevant. Ideally, this should be half an hour or less so there can be a decent news bulletin. That said, where there is actually merit to an hour long specialist programme or documentary, this should at the least be led into by a summary as has been discussed.
In relation to the presentation- There are actually a fair few things I think Sky are getting right. I was a big fan of the previous Sky News Centre and will miss it but I think Sunrise particularly has utilised the new studio well and I'm enjoying the format of presentation that the programme has taken this week since moving in there, with the main anchor presenting a fair bit from the big screen. Sky News at Ten and Kay Burley's slot also suit the glass box quite well in my view, the former the way the studio is lit and accompanying graphics/background and the latter more the way the programme is presented. That said, there are certain areas of the schedule where I think they could learn from the past to reinvigorate things a bit. I was watching Kimberley this morning who is great, but was thinking that Sky misses programmes like Saturday Live with Chris Roberts in this slot, which were distinctive and more engaging than the standard news bulletin entirely from the desk. I think Kimberley would be more than capable of handling a show like this, so it would be nice if they could make it a little more interactive.
I caught The Pledge for the first time the other day and didn't think it was to bad really and certainly not out of place on a news channel. Whether 8pm on a Thursday is the best place for it I don't know - seems odd to cut short Sky News Tonight.
I watch it quite a lot and it’s a good show. Would be nice to get a wider range of people on it - MPs rather than the usual bunch of rent-an-opinion guests.