itv news coverage

I don't know about you, but i have found itn's news coverage of recent events very ott. they seem so desperate to go to air that us poor viewers don't seem to know when they are on. instead of waiting until usual tx times there are all over the place.
of course understandable on the 11 th sept with such news breaking, but ever since the start of bombing this week, they've been extended here and there. we've had news specials like nevere before and they've only made themselves look rushed and unprepaired. i know itn has been keen to please messers liddiment at the network centre re contract, but come on itn!!!!!!you are slipping. standards are dropping.
at times of crisis the nation still turns to the bbc.!!!

I don't agree, I think you're just jumping on the 'ITV News are rubbish' bandwagon.

You're complaining that they've put a News Special on at 9.

You'd complain, if they waited until 10.30pm that they wern't putting the news on earlier.

I wouldn't say they were rushed and unprepaired because these schedule changes are usually on Teletext etc from the morning.

Plus the BBC have put on just as many News Specials and of course all BBC ONE do is join BBC News 24!

And this might be of interest...

TV Ratings for Week Ending 16/09/01

(News Programmes Only listed)

TOP 15 NEWS PROGRAMMES ON BBC ONE & ITV1 ONLY:
9.36m BBC 6 O'Clock News (Tuesday 11th at 18:00)
8.84m ITV Weekend News (Saturday 15th at 21:23)
8.27m BBC 6 O'Clock News (Wednesday 12th at 18:00)
7.09m BBC 6 O'Clock News (Thursday 13th at 18:00)
7.07m BBC 10 O'Clock News (Wednesday 12th at 22:00)
7.06m ITV News Special (Wednesday 12th at 21:01)
6.93m ITV News Special (Thursday 13th at 21:00)
6.76m BBC 10 O'Clock News (Friday 14th at 22:00)
6.51m ITV News Special (Sunday 16th at 22:03)
6.51m ITV News Special (Friday 14th at 21:00)
6.50m BBC 6 O'Clock News (Friday 14th at 18:00)
6.14m BBC 10 O'Clock News (Thursday 13th at 22:00)
6.11m ITV Evening News (Thursday 13th at 18:30)
5.91m BBC 10 O'Clock News (Tuesday 11th at 22:00)
5.89m BBC News Special (Wedneday 12th at 19:01)

Notable Mention:
4.55m ITV News Report (Tuesday 11th at 14:14)

So as you can see, a lot of people watch ITV News too!

Sorry, But not all the additional ITV News programmes are put on the teletext in the morning, simply because they are often late changes to the schedules.

I think ITN could have done themselves a lot of good by just waiting until normal news times, save for the september 11th, but particularly this past week, just rushing to get on. And then what do we see hurried reports and muddy green pictures that are supposed to
the latest show the latest bombing mission. I was for many years a real ITN fan Sorry they have lost the plot lately. Particularly on 12 september editing pictures of the World Trade Centre disaster edited to classical music, with planes crashing into the buildings to coincide with particular phrases of music.
Time you realised what good news coverage was.!!!!

Uh huh, but lots more from your stats watch BBC News.

(and lets not forget the regions, who soundly trounce ITV -- but we won't add those in -- that would confuse matters )

9 of the listed programmes: BBC News
6 of the listed programmes: ITN News

I make that about 65-70% BBC ... quite a big margin, you'll agree.

Also, here's another interesting stat for you - and I believe the one that TVSW was complaining about.

Since Sept 11th, number of times main news programmes have moved or started 'a few minutes late'

BBC News: Zero
ITN: Quite a bloody few

By the way, has anyone seen the ITV Ten O'clock News actually START at 10, rather than 10:02, or somewhere in that region?

And, just to shoot the ratings arguement down in flames (just from your top 15) ...

Total viewers in the top 15:
BBC News: 57.1m
ITN: 41.96m

Which makes a gap of ...

15.14m

My, that's a lot of people.


So, have I successfully proven my point of you can make stats say anything? Or are you going to actually count more than the top 15 the next time you send facts our way?

Y'know, there are people who spend all day adding these things up

Over the last couple of weeks, ITV have taken to moving their news from 10pm to 9pm, which has shifted the 9pm programme to 9.30 to 10.30, when the schedule resumes. ie no extra bulletins, just timeshifts.

This would be fair enough if there was new breaking news, but this week it's just been further attacks on Kabul.

Although these changes may be publicised during the afternoon/evening, most people use papers/listings mags, and don't really expect News at Ten to be on at nine. Surely, this can't be good for ITN, as viewers switching on at ten and finding they have missed the news will switch to the BBC.

This shows contempt for the viewers - especially anyone setting videos to record evening shows. (When I'm working nights, I leave by 3.30pm, and more often than not the changes aren't made until later than this.)

Steve

I really can't find any problem with ITV News. Watching it right now, the current report about the situation in Afghanistan in thorough, in depth and, above all, understandable. So they try to appeal to a broad audience, so what? Why should we assume that all people who watch the news want to watch Newsnight-style analysis?

ITV News' coverage of the recent terrorist attacks has been remarkable, certainly outstripping the BBC by far who lazily just showed News 24 whenever something happened (what's wrong with the national news studio, I thought there was a presenter on stand-by for breaking news all day?). There have been major events in the previous weeks, and we're almost at war, so do you honestly expect them to ignore this and carry on waiting until late to tell people what they would probably like to know earlier than this? I think not.

And from a presentation point of view, ITV News once again, in my opinion, whips BBC News' arse to put it bluntly. ITV News is original and fresh, BBC News is, erm, beige. 'Nuff said.

Do you think the people producing the programming for News 24 think they're lazy? Didn't think so.

I'm not saying ITN / ITV is bad - in fact, they quite good. My arguement was with the 'stats' we got quoted ... which if I could be bothered I'm more than capable of spinning to make ITV look good.

Personally I think BBC News is better. Personally, I don't see the point in the BBC wasting money during a breaking news story and essentially having two of their channels doing exactly the same thing at the same time ... I don't think it's lazy using News 24 - I mean, that's what it's there for!!!

If you ask me, Channel 4 News is probably the most in-depth and best 'quality' of the programmes, BBC is great when you just want the facts ... ITN are also worth their salt too when there's something going on ...

Anyway ...

News coverage in britain has always been a strange thing where inherantly BBC is the most watched news as there is a wide belief that it has superior coverage and more indepth. But is this currently true????????????

Personally i feel the general consensus of BBC news being 'better' is incorrect and is being challenged by the strong output from ITN.

On September 11 2001 i watched all channels and found that ITV1 news (from ITN) was the superior 'coverage'
And now since the initial 'euphoria' of the incidents have passed i feel ITV1 have got it just right by extending the lunchtime news to a one hour bulletin which also includes the local news. BBC are going over the top having a bulletin from 12:00 until 13:45!!!

My main gripe with the BBC news is that too often they just link up with BBC News 24 and just 'onpass' that feed rather than having an actual BBC1 news bulletin. ITN provide a service to the ITN News Channel and a SEPARATE service to ITV1 news and also to channel 4 and 5.

Im not saying that its quantity rather than quality that counts but if small inadequate ITN can provide all these different services why cant the BBC (whom everyone thinks is better and seem to watch) stop opting into BBC News 24 for certain bulletins.

With the penetration of digital tv now above 50% of families with children i feel we do not need excessively long bulletins on the terrestrial channels when WE can choose to watch these 24 hour news channels with the flick of a switch. BBC please reduce the length of the mega lunchtime bulletin.

i think thats its.............

Firstly, thats ITV Network Centre which mess around with the times, That is the bit of ITV which I don't like.

Companies like YTV, Granada, ITN etc are just trying to make the best of a bad job.

In relation to the stats, yes they do show that more people watch BBC News, but they do also show, that ITN are still in there with decent figures, so they can't be doing that bad a job.

The only poor sections of ITV News that I find are.
'And finally' stories about Pop Idol, other ITV1 Programmes etc
'Join me in 10 minutes after TV Nightmares'
'Thats it, coming up next, The Grimleys'

I hope that ITN and Trevor McD are cringing when they have to say those things, but then they've got David Liddiment looking over them, so they have to do it!
Or at least I hope that's what happens

(David Liddiment and ITV Network Centre who are responsable for News at When?, adding a 3rd advert break per hour long programme, squashing credits, survivor breakbumpers, Rowing with Bruce Forsyth, putting Millionaire on for 8 months at a time......etc etc!)

Thoughts on why BBC One should use News 24 for News Specials rather than provide a separate service on BBC One from the National studio. It is not just laziness - it is just being realistic...

The aim is to avoid duplication - especially on lives. If you have people in the field, it is better to have them when you want them, and not have to compete internally with another outlet.

ITN have a separate reporting team for ITV, C4, C5 - they have to to avoid cross-subsidising the costs of reporting between the different channels they have contracts with (though they share these sometimes with the News Channel - something ITV are not entirely happy with I believe) and separate facilities for these channels. The BBC do not, and share reporters between TV (BBC One, News 24, World) and Radio (BBC World Service, R4, R5 Live etc) Whilst some reporters specialise on reporting for one network, others work across the range.

You are far better equipped to provide a comprehensive TV news show if you are merged on BBC One, News 24 and World, because then you are not competing between production teams and studios of different programmes for link circuits, facilities etc.

This is especially important for reporters in the field - say in Afghanistan. It is obviously more stressful and possibly dangerous for them have to repeat the same live interview on different networks, rather than doing a single interview on a joint programme. It also allows an interview in greater depth, as you don't have to finish by a certain time to allow the correspondent to move to the next studio...

The News Specials are much more live, and a bit more 'breaking', than the BBC One shows, and benefit from the News 24 production team and systems, who are more used to this style of programme. Also News 24 has two presenters during these specials, which makes the presentation of breaking news much more polished (you can brief one presenter, whilst the other is on-air, rather than having to interrupt their train of thought during an interview, or waiting for a recorded report)

need i say anything.........

If you ask me, BBC ONE joining BBC NEWS 24 for Breaking News doesn't benefit any viewers

(Having full programmes such as 12-1 on 1 and 24 are ok though)

BBC ONE:

BBC One viewers are thrust into an unfamilar environment, Firstly an unusual opening title, usual studio, then presenters they've never seen before, The whole thing is uncomfortable for viewers with only 4 or 5 channels.

BBC NEWS 24:

Viewers on this channel already know what news is breaking, and want to know the latest from another reporter or see further footage, but then suddenly:
'You're watching BBC News 24'
<BBC News 24 sting>
'This is a BBC News Special, such and such has just happened...'
News 24 viewers are then brought right back to the start, and told everything again that they already know, so these viewers are effected too.

Ideally what I thing should happen is:
There should be a BBC News Report broadcast on BBC ONE in the national news studio with a familar face.
Then after 10-20 minutes, when everybody is up to speed, they then can join News 24 for continued reports and analysis.
This would be better for all viewers concerned:)