I switched BBC WORLD on at 2000 when Coronation Street finished and they were already rolling with BBC News 24's coverage. Between 1945 and 2100 (approx) the BBC WORLD newsroom is unable to provide their own coverage of breaking news because they have to make BBC4's "The World". If any major news breaks during this time BBC WORLD usually takes a feed of BBC News 24, which is what they did tonight. They left BBC News 24 at 2059 with a short countdown and straight into World News Today.
And it wasn't!, Sky stuck with the story and now reporting Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was the pilot of the plane.
Actually have to see impressed with the American coverage we have heard can understand the initial panic but they have seemed to tone it down and realise its a tragic accident.
The BBC News online "what's popular now" tracker is fascinating at times like this.
The global traffic is currently 30% above normal levels (34% up in the UK, 28% in the US)
This NY story dominates the top two read links, but where in the UK the biggest hit is on the text story and then the pictures, the number one hit in the US is on the pictures, then the text.
Do Americans like pictures more than us, or are they simply getting the meat of the story from local providers leaving the BBC News website only as a secondary resource?
Perhaps more interestingly, the story that led the Ten in the UK, on the new figures about Iraqi deaths doesn't even hit the top ten stories in the UK, but is at number 5 in the US. That probably goes against many perceptions about the US readers.
The BBC News online "what's popular now" tracker is fascinating at times like this.
The global traffic is currently 30% above normal levels (34% up in the UK, 28% in the US)
This NY story dominates the top two read links, but where in the UK the biggest hit is on the text story and then the pictures, the number one hit in the US is on the pictures, then the text.
Do Americans like pictures more than us, or are they simply getting the meat of the story from local providers leaving the BBC News website only as a secondary resource?
Perhaps more interestingly, the story that led the Ten in the UK, on the new figures about Iraqi deaths doesn't even hit the top ten stories in the UK, but is at number 5 in the US. That probably goes against many perceptions about the US readers.
I really like that new feature on the BBC News website. The new 2100 edition of World News Today on BBC WORLD makes use of it - Nik Gowing gives viewers a brief summary of the most popular stories viewed on bbcnews.com each day.
Martin Stanford has just reassured us that PMQs will still be shown at 21:30.
Although he did excel himself when talking about the Yankees and started it as Wan but corrected himself.
Fox really does suck as news org. They had a reporter interviewing a fireman who was at the scene and every question the reporter had managed to use words either about 9/11 or terrorism. One mention, fair enough, there is some sense in seeing a link but every question! The fireman just kept going on about the job he does and spot on for him doing this.
Do Americans like pictures more than us, or are they simply getting the meat of the story from local providers leaving the BBC News website only as a secondary resource?
I think the latter. I think the majority of UK Internet users instinctively go to bbc.co.uk/news or sky.com/news when a story breaks and early on the text is the only article available. Americans would probably instinctively go to CNN.com or another American network's website, and maybe come to the BBC aftwerwards to seek more in-depth coverage i.e. the pictures in this case.
It was my first time watching the Situation Room on CNN last night, as CNN International took their US coverage of the NYC plane crash and I was most impressed - the format of a bank of screens showing coverage from many different sources works so well when covering breaking news like that.
CNN's coverage last night in general was a cut above Fox and the UK channels - it seemed have better pictures (theirs showed the fire being out while other channels were showing shots of flames pouring out of the building as being 'live'), and they beat all the above to the news of the Yankees star being the pilot.