How strange (odd choices in news programmes)

Can't find it right this second, but didn't somebody a couple of years ago post a Brazilian news bulletin doing just that?

I guess you have to see that in the context of the BBC News bulletins of the era where the correspondent would come into the studio, the newsreader would hand to them, they would give a monologue report linking to interview clips and actuality etc.

This isn't that different in concept, just with a set that is made to look like a newsroom and a presentation style of the newsreader dropping by each correspondent's desk in the newsroom for their bit.

Less formal and more cheesy for sure, but conceptually not dissimilar.

True, live conversations with reporters were not new at the time (they were the hallmark of the original Eyewitness News format, for instance), but the sum of all the elements -- the anchor not just standing up but also walking around, the working newsroom set, the relaxed style, the bumpers showing newsroom staffers in action, etc. -- results in a look and feel one wouldn't expect in 1977. (This was, after all, a full 21 years before Channel 5 in the UK made waves with its CityTV-inspired format.)

For reference, here's the newscast in its entirety -- all 58 minutes of it:

Believe it or not, the station actually held a contest to pick the new theme here!

That's a beauty. Always thought CityTV in Canada got the credit for that style of news presentation.

Avisen is actually Danish for Newspaper.

Yup! BBC World set up a small secondary set a few feet away from the main desk in N8, known as the “Pod”, with a high circular table and Val Doonican style stools. Said pod was used for LIVE bulletins from 8am to 1pm daily (before the advent of GMT and Impact) and for a shorter number of hours per day after their launch.

Occasionally, said pod was used to do an apparent DTL interview with a guest or a correspondent when, in actual fact, the main anchor was standing just a few feet away at the main set (in front of the news wall in the case of The Hub with Nik Gowing).

World Have Your Say would also use the stools area as a spot for one of their LIVE guests, appearing to speak down the line to Ros Atkins who was actually inches from them.

I think when they first launched GMT, Impact etc had a newsreader who did a summary bulletin from that pod area too.

Yes, you’re right.

Here's another CityTV-type newscast from the U.S. (with plenty of creative camera shots and unusual anchoring locations), this time from 1991:

Absolutely love this “CityTV-type” style of presentation, as we seem to be referring to it as. Surprises me that none of our local TV channels have taken this approach (although I suppose it would expose the size of their newsroom, or lack of).

Channel M in Manchester was partly based on CityTV, but it's obvious that its budget was much, much smaller:




By the way, the closest CityTV-branded station to the UK was CityTV in Barcelona (also defunct):