Mark austin on ITV Weekend News

Just seen the intro to the weekend news and it seems weird Mark to be there after I saw him on Surviver, that and seeing him in smart clothes

Speaking of ITV News, I saw the 5:30am bulletin for the first time in ages today (Saturday 25th). It was presented by Owen Thomas, whom I've never even heard of before, never mind seen. He seems VERY laid back, smiling and chuckling the whole time. Thank goodness there weren't any drastically tragic stories, as this would have been quite inappropriate.

(Edited by sittingovation at 9:01 pm on Aug. 25, 2001)

Owen is fantastic! He is a regular on the ITN Channel, and he copes very well with heavier stories as well. A bright future ahead for this bloke I predict.

I agree Owen is a really nice bloke. He used to be at the BBC - started at Newsbeat, did some Business News on BBC World, then some general reporting for BBC News, then he went to London Tonight and now he's at ITN.

Talking about the ITV morning news, does anyone know why their astons are never animated like the other bulletins? It seems really strange, but it's always been like this - years ago when they had the translucent blue aston with the grey bars at the top and bottom, the morning news never had the bars!

Yeah, Owen seems like a great bloke.

Also, anyone know why the nighttime news on ITV changed to the current style several months after the main ITV News changed? They carried on using the blue and yellow graphics and blue studio!

Yeah! They probably would of continued using that studio as well, had it of not been for the ITN News Channel wanting that studio.

I liked the old ITN News studio, and the titles, it was all very nice. At least it hasn't gone to waste and can still be seen.

They don't even let the ITV Morning News have proper titles, all they get is a zoom in on the studio with the ITV Morning News as usual at the top and the out of the break music used on other bulletins. I know its not ITV's most watched bulletin but couldn't they at least make look like other bulletins!

Thinking about it though, it's probably a cheaper studio to use, with less lights, no big screen etc, and the graphics are probably done 'from the studio', hence the old ones used for a while. You wouldn't have thought it was that much to use a studio for half an hour, but then again it's probably why many BBC regions use fake studios for some bulletins.

I've noticed that they stick a name caption up for the presenter during ITV Morning News and ITV News overnight
But never during daytime programmes, on the shorter ones, i.e Lunchtime today, nobody knew who she was!

I did! It was Joyce Ohajah! God I'm sad, I know the names of all ITN presenters.