it wasent at 7.30 it was between 7.20pm - 7.25pm, with Sky breaking first.
ITV News Channel was the first to screen pictures via MSNBC showing the Arabic Networks
CNN dipped in and to CNN US
Yes sorry for not being that precise- the news was broken by Reuters...Sky perhaps stuck their strap up a few seconds before the others. Still looked amateur to watch though.
ITVNC showing the pictures via MSNBC is a bit bizarre- you would have thought by now (given the number of terrorist attacks in the Middle East) that ITV would have an Al-Arabyia (spelling perhaps a bit off!) feed sorted by now.
Sky news are currently getting mauled by News 24 on the Jordanian Bombs story- and I think it absolutely shows the key problems with the new Sky News setup.
The story broke at 7:30 in the middle of the Sky Report and News 24 Tonight- with Echingham presenting Sky's effort from College Green for the Terrorism Report. A bit useless when bombs start going off in Jordan and you've got no other anchor. Eventually Echingham had to hand back to the studio for a presumably stand-by presenter to pretty much take over.
News 24 on the other hand simply handed back from Sopel (next to Echingham on College Green) to Eakin and Hill in the studio.
Take note Sky- that's how 3 presenters can make sense, and yet Sky had just the one.
Then of course it comes to 8pm and suddenly even the Sky News gallery must be sh"tting themselves- major breaking story and Rubin has to deal with it. News 24 obviously roll with Jordan/Terrorism Bill over the TOTH....Sky go to ads (presumably because the studio teams have to change over??), and return with Rubin's "coming up" slot.
He fluffs it up and breaks nearly every rule of English grammar, but nothing new here.
Then the weather. WTF?? Two major rolling stories and Sky news go to ads, a programme advert and the weather? This is the kind of thing News 24 were doing 12 months ago but have learnt from. Sky have NEVER been this dumb before.
And no surprise, Rubin has to be rescued by a correspondent (the vaguely intelligent Emma Hurd in Jerusalem) on the breaking news.
Of course it doesn't help when your main rival has a correspondent on the phone from the scene of the blast (having been in the hotel at the time of the explosion) within 10 minutes and a further correspondent to speak to from the BBC bureau in Amman.
But hey, Sky have spent £20m on a relaunch (to f*ck up breaking news coverage) and have a correspondent on the hill in Jerusalem (seemingly covering "The Middle East").
If it was boxing, the towel would have been thrown in long ago.
Erm, hold on...
Sky broke it, then took it down at about 7.05/7.10. Oddly, News 24 did exactly the same thing about five or ten minutes later, so my initial assumption was that there was some doubt about its authenticity.
Sky then finished their report and went back to Julie Etchingham in Westminster, who explained the breaking news and carried on. News 24 finished their report and went to Sopel in Westminster who said nothing and there was no strap.
A few minutes later, Sky went to the studio in Osterley where the story was done in more detail and included as part of the news summary. It was only after this that News 24 put the strap back up and Sopel eventually mentioned it and handed back to the studio, where they said pretty much what Sky already had.
The Beeb took a correspondent from Amman about ten minutes later. Sky cannot do that because they don't have the funding in place (this is the **** argument from the BBC about how News 24 costs X amount of money... it doesn't exist only on its own budget but the resources of the main BBC News operation as a whole, so any budgeting figures put out are crap).
I've not seen the last 30 minutes, but from what I saw when the story broke, Sky handled it far better than News 24.
And given that it says the Beeb's Caroline Hawley was staying in the hotel it's a pretty p*ss poor effort that they had to rely on Reuters for the first 20 minutes.
And given that it says the Beeb's Caroline Hawley was staying in the hotel it's a pretty p*ss poor effort that they had to rely on Reuters for the first 20 minutes.
Yes because when staying in rooms just above a massive explosion, first priority is to get on that mobile to the office.
Forget about getting out of the bloody building why don't you.
However, perhaps my attack on Sky should have been a bit less vitriolic- it appears I must have tuned in after they took down their graphics the first time, so I assumed they hadn't broken the news yet.
So at least they haven't lost the ability to copy and paste the wires faster than anyone else in the business. That's what breaking news is all about after all
Some interesting stuff from Rubin in the Evening Standard interview..
On ratings he says- "I always though you judged a race after its over. This is more like a marathon than a sprint, but they seem to have drawn conclusions after the first 50 yards"
Also the piece says "He readily admits live TV is harder than he though, and maybe his questions could be shorter, his delivery smoother. He also suggests he may not continue to present for five nights a week. "
And given that it says the Beeb's Caroline Hawley was staying in the hotel it's a pretty p*ss poor effort that they had to rely on Reuters for the first 20 minutes.
Yes because when staying in rooms just above a massive explosion, first priority is to get on that mobile to the office.
Forget about getting out of the bloody building why don't you.
However, perhaps my attack on Sky should have been a bit less vitriolic- it appears I must have tuned in after they took down their graphics the first time, so I assumed they hadn't broken the news yet.
So at least they haven't lost the ability to copy and paste the wires faster than anyone else in the business. That's what breaking news is all about after all
Which is exactly what the BBC did for the first 20 minutes. Well, they weren't the fastest, but they did the old cut and paste job.
Sorry, but if I were Hawley I'd have been on the phone during my exit from the hotel. They shouldn't have to rely on Reuters to break the story when they have a person right there when the thing went off. They're always criticising Sky for being a 'news agency news channel', but when it came to it with breaking this story they were exactly that.
And given that it says the Beeb's Caroline Hawley was staying in the hotel it's a pretty p*ss poor effort that they had to rely on Reuters for the first 20 minutes.
Yes because when staying in rooms just above a massive explosion, first priority is to get on that mobile to the office.
Forget about getting out of the bloody building why don't you.
However, perhaps my attack on Sky should have been a bit less vitriolic- it appears I must have tuned in after they took down their graphics the first time, so I assumed they hadn't broken the news yet.
So at least they haven't lost the ability to copy and paste the wires faster than anyone else in the business. That's what breaking news is all about after all
Which is exactly what the BBC did for the first 20 minutes. Well, they weren't the fastest, but they did the old cut and paste job.
Sorry, but if I were Hawley I'd have been on the phone during my exit from the hotel. They shouldn't have to rely on Reuters to break the story when they have a person right there when the thing went off. They're always criticising Sky for being a 'news agency news channel', but when it came to it with breaking this story they were exactly that.
I'm sorry but that's bullsh!t- try getting caught in an explosion before making grandiose statements about how noble you would be.
And the BBC added to the Reuters info from their bureau in Amman- that's how to run breaking news...to add to it from correspondents from the scene. Sky are hundreds of miles away and haven't got a hope in hell of developing the story from anything but Reuters AFP/AP.
And if you're looking for accuracy, News 24 were meticulous in pointing out what info came single-sourced from agencies and what came from their correspondents on the ground.
Sky had straps reading "TWO BLASTS IN JORDAN" early on which was coming solely from AP- turns out there were more but it's this kind of slackness that leads to the "never wrong for long" tagline.
And you switched off at the right time- you can imagine how poor Rubin was covering it.
