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if news 24 is going to down the "oi! come and 'ave a look at THIS" road of sun-style tabloid journalism (where the catchcall was actually more to do with getting doris to 'ave a look and was delivered with a "hey" instead of an oafish "oi!") what's the point in calling yourself a news channel? why not just rebrand youselves as "tabloid 24" - it seems to be what you're aiming for.

still, at least it wasn't a cat on a skateboard or a dog saying sausages - you're at least moving on from that earlier bbc era.

btw - when are news 24 going to catch up with sky by offering updated video podcasts of the headlines and top news stories? wouldn't working on that be a lot more beneficial than wasting time and effort showing and justifying the use of fur balls?

I have to agree with you, the news is dominated by serious stories (and rightly so) but it's good to have some lighter relief every now and then.

As for tbe video popularity ratings though, surely it depends where on the site the video is placed (if on the main page, it'll obviously attract the greatest number of hits).

Talking of whether items are worthy of being on a news program surely the previous item to this on the 6 'o'clock News begs even more questions?
We had a piece about last years winner of a ´óÏó´«Ã½ Program. They hadn't invented something amazing, cured world poverty or balanced the trade deficit, she had simply resigned the job she had won in what appears to be a sort of Lucky Stars for business people. This was a glaring example of the dumbing down of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ News and its corruption from its supposed purpose of being a respectable, objective outlet for news to becoming ever more an organisation for promoting the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s business interests. We already have to put with whole minutes of promotion between programs, is it too much to ask that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ save the News slot for actual news?
One last thought.... wouldn't it be an amazing coincidence if this years series (assuming it comes in an annual series) were to start in the next week or two?

The pandas should have been covered, but not as frequently throughout the day, and with more about the history and work of China's sanctuary. I thought a recent item on Reuters about the guided panda tours was pertinent to the story too, but it didn't get a look in.

The "not as frequently" for me highlights the big problem with News 24 these days. Everything has to fit into a rigid half-hour programme which seems just to be repeated throughout the day. So it's not really a "24 hour" news channel at all.

When I first started watching News 24, there were identifiable times of day when you spent half an hour on World Service news or business news and so on. The business news has been moved to the middle of the night, and the World Service segment has evaporated into a few stories inserted apparently at random between 9 and 10 every morning - by the time I've registered them, they're over!

Please either consider bringing these back or switching to an hourly, instead of a half-hourly format.

I would disagree with your comments on the panda cubs. Seeing as how pandas are endangered, and to date breeding programs have not exactly been successful, the birth of nine cubs is news.

As for the gold rocking horse and the mistimed tackle, well maybe everyone needs something to smile about. At least, unlike the tabloids, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ keeps these stories brief and to a minimum. Besides you only have to look at the "most read" and "most emailed" stories to see that items such as "man marries goat" are popular. As such, if it wants to justify it's budget the ´óÏó´«Ã½ webpage will be forced to offer occasional amusing stories like that.

pandas are not only cute they are also endangered. for this reason they are bred in captivity and are not that easy to breed so any sucesses in the international breeding programe are important. also seeing pictures of an animal helps people to identify with it and support the effort to preserve its habitat, which in the case of pandas is dwindling. thirdly, should pandas become extint or go into a more severe decline footage of them taken now would become the only way for most people to see them and would be the record of an extinct species. therefore it is both newsworthy and important to show pictures of baby pandas.

Oh dont be such miseries! Just because they are cute doesn't make the good news on the conservation front invalid and there is little enough positive reporting we are far more likely to hear about gobal warming the extintion of many plants and animals etc so let have the good news as well and if it happens to bring on an ahh reation as well so much the better remember good news is news as well

Half of the "news" is about celebrity and sport anyway. Even the recent blackmail case was reported more for the titillation than for the importance of the story.

I do applaud the choice to list the top 10 items on the website - this in itself is news.

If news programmes are about what is happening that changes lives - editors need to decide what is newsworthy. There is room for a little light stuff - but please leave the gossip to the chat shows.

The reason why new born pandas should be in the news has nothing to do with the fact that they are cute and fluffy, it is because they are a very endangered species. If we do not look after all our wild life; cute & fluffy, knobbly & ugly, then eventually the world will not be able to sustain human life in any form. It is important for the public to be informed that another species is still managing to procreate, even with man's help, as we are the only species who are able to give other creatures, and ourselves the chance of long-term survival. We do enough damage to the whole of our world as it is, so it is good to hear that we have been able to achieve some success by preventing the extinction of another species for a little bit longer.Every panda which is born means that another rare creature's survival is maintained for a few more years. Perhaps the 'cute and fluffy' success stories should be balanced by stories of the 'knobbly and ugly' species being helped to maintain their survival.

Items like this need to be included. The news these days is so depressing and negative that if you didn't include some good heart warming items, many people would just switch off and stop watching/ reading any news at all. Also, the fact that there are more pandas in the wild than previously thought is a very important piece of information- we don't want them to become extinct after all, do we!

I think that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ should report "good news" as well as all the hideous stuff that goes on in the world today. Conservation is a vital issue, a few years ago the Giant Panda was desperately on the decline. It is heartwarming to see this story. Who knows - stories like these may inspire previously unconcerned viewers to take an interest in the welfare of these and other wonderful creatures. I loved the article it's not just the "ahhh facter" it put a smile on my face for the day!

It may not be news, but it's nice to see something just for once on the news channels that makes you smile.

The latest headlines are always available online in about 2 minutes. By the time you've downloaded, transferred and watched the headlines on your podcast they might be slightly out of date. Many other stories are available for playback too.

Considering there's 1,440 minutes to fill a day, using 2 or 3 of those on a Panda is hardly an outrage. News programmes have been following animals like Panda's for years. I don't gush and call them cute, but I still find it newsworthy and interesting. :-)

I actually thought the message behind the story wasn't just "Ohhh, aren't they cute!" (which of course they were) but more the fact that the Chinese Panda breeding programme has actually been doing so well they have a 'surplus' of Pandas. This is great news for a particularly endangered species and the news item might actually spark debate in the conservation world on what to do when a captive breeding programme like this succeeds 'too well'.

Whilst I fully understand the annoyance of some people at such a 'cutesy' piece, I think that it is important to have the occasional "and finally" item of good news.

And since the panda is an endagered species, this particular event is hardly at the level of skateboarding ducks!

It's hardly "non-news". Pandas are one of the most severely endangered animals on the planet, the fact that there may be a glimmer of hope for their future through breeding in captivity - which has never been successful previous - is surely big news indeed?

Why not show a baby panda?

We have to put up with lots of media rubbish with regard to celebs who have marriage/divorce problems - certainly not news but we are forced to have that sort of thing flashed on our screens at the beginning of many news programmes.

With all the problems across this world of ours a little 'light' relief is welcomed.

Who says baby pandas aren't important?? That's a value judgement if ever I heard one! Considering that for years these creatures have been critically endangered, that they're the symbol of the world's most recognisable wildlife organisation and that they're natives of the fastest growing economy on earth, I'd say that this new-found panda glut is something to wonder at and to celebrate. Or do you simply want a world full of gory pictures of the latest terrorist outrage? The world is more than the sum of its failures, you know ...

I remember seeing this yesterday evening. It makes a change to see a 'good' news story in the news - if we are constantly exposed to war and strive then we become conditioned to expect that all things that happen are bad. There needs to be a balance and if this story tries to balance things up then what's wrong with that?

We need to remember that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is funded through a license fee that's paid by 'everyone' which means that a range of opinions that need to be catered for (and not just the opinions of those who work there).

The other aspect of this story that's seems to be overlooked is the panda has been pushed to the verge of extinction in the wild through human excesses and this story brings some small hope for those who care about such matters. If things continue and they do become extinct then maybe the news staff and presenter who think it's worthless to run will be happy to know they'll never be able to report such an event again.

One last point is regarding what people have to put up with in their working lives - some people have to empty bins, clean toilets, fight wars against terrorism, save people from burning buildings. But then there are people who work for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ who moan that they have to tell the news that 9 baby pandas were born. That's so degrading for them. Time for a reality check folks!!

I would argue that this IS a newsworthy story. If the panda became extinct then no doubt it would come rather high in your "running order", so why not celebrate the success of the Chinese breeding program?

After all, good news may not be as dramatic as bad news, but it's still news.

Keep the pandas and other similar stories.

On the news.bbc website, often such items are the only bits of light relief in a page of headlines about rape, murder, crime, plane crashes, suicide bombers, George W Bush, litigation, what we shouldn't eat, NHS horror stories ... etc, ad infinitum. Usually after a visit to the website (or listening to the World Service) it makes me just want to go outside and end it all!

(Not in the UK.)

I admit that I am amongst the half that let out a big "Aaaaah! They're so cute!" response to the baby pandas. I like to keep updated on what is going on in the news, but the majority of news that we hear is of course, bad news.

So after reading horribly sad stories of suicide bombers and plane crashes etc, I'm pleased to be given the opportunity to let out a smile a basket of gorgeous pandas.

"Pandaphilia" seems to be all too common in the media; just look how often London's Metro paper has some panda related article, accompanied of course with pictures (once a week on average I reckon, not bad for an animal that doesn't actually do much). As long as we get real news in the meantime as well...

Well, I think many people, particularily on a non-stop news channel can't really mind having 3 minutes in the hour dedicated to something a bit more "light". Considering many newspapers are about 50% "light" news, theres clearly a demand for it...

I say carry on Auntie - the Beeb must strike a balance between the needs of it's audience and it's audience's preferences. Reith himself would be proud of today's ´óÏó´«Ã½, something for every audience, from the masses to the intelligentsia. Remember, oftentimes even geniuses have very childish tastes - Archimedes was murdered by a roman soldier whom he had told off for disrupting his game of marbles.

With pictures as appealing as this, it can be viewed as a newstory more typical of tabloid papers. However, you regularly report on environmental issues and threatened species. Surely the birth of pandas can fall under the latter, making this 'worthy' of news?

Airing stories about new born Pandas in China, solid gold rocking horses for the Royals in Japan, and a Paris St Germain defender tackling his coach strongly indicates there is a pandemic at ´óÏó´«Ã½ of desperate efforts to find ways to fill up time and space. That a blog entry was devoted to it merely serves to confirm the case.

I am the first to appreciate a well written and informative or debatable article or news presentation. However, in this day and age of horrific news stories about fraud, deceit, murder, terrorists, questionable politics, and misbehavior of religious leaders, our psychiatric health dictates the need for interspersed "cute furry panda baby" presentations. Isn't it possible that there is a direct relationship between our level of pompous "nose in the air" attitiude and our level of need for light-hearted content. If you are suffering a nose bleed from the altitude, perhaps you are in most need of a laugh. Let the individual decide for themselves whether to tune out "fluff", rather than to censor what may be the cheapest form of psychotherpy. News is also meant to mend our hearts, not just tear them apart.

Why does the news have to be all doom amd gloom? Pandas are an endangered species and it is news worthy that there are a few more on the planet. I live in the Middle East and only get to see th e´óÏó´«Ã½ news on-line. I choose what I read and watch and have to say that the lighter reports are always welcome. The news is so depressing most of the time, that a "cute" story shows that it isn't all bad.

Ive given up watching bbc news, there are so many stories now of the tabloid variety that its laughable. The other thing thats often done is a story to trail some 'special' programme thats coming up later in the week. They must think the audience is stupid! - its like they have to fill the time with something, anything as long as its banal

meanwhile bush passes legislation to allow torture and get himself out of possible future war crimes and where is the coverage on the bbc?

You really have to listen to the today programme, channel4 news,the world service or read blogs to find out whats really going on.

And we have to pay for this crap thru our licence fee

It's such a change to see news that isn't completely miserable that I'm all for it. When did 'news' become a synonym for 'misfortune'?

There is so much bad news that once in a while a story that makes you smile and think the world isn't all evil is nice.

I would have to respectfully disagree with you. News is not always negative. It is quite a subjective judgment to make as to what is or what is not news.

Everyday when I read the paper or watch the TV news, I invariably see destruction, conflict, poverty and so on in the world. I don't think that we should have such a narrow definition of 'news' so that only those stories are covered.

Obviously, stories in categories such as those mentioned above are very weighty ones and deserve to be covered. But it should not preclude other stories, which might legitimately be considered news, from being covered.

So, in the end it comes down to the definition of news. I think that light-hearted stories have as much substance as stories on US foreign policy (yes, I'm a big follower of world politics). They should be considered stories of differing news categories, not as being of differing substance. We should judge news-worthiness as between stories within the same category.

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ undoubtedly has a wide viewer/listener/reader base, and I very much doubt that they all the same interest in the broad spectrum of news topics. e.g. some may be averse to politics, but are interested in business news. Should we limit coverage to business news only? As I said earlier, what is news is a subjective thing. If you can prevent news of a certain type from being aired because you yourself are averse to it, why should your preferred news stories not be covered either?

Looking at current ´óÏó´«Ã½ coverage, 'light-hearted' stories are very much in the minority. They are few and far between. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ does not even have an 'oddly enough' or 'strange news' section, as Reuters and AP have. I don't think Reuters or AP have had their reputation diminished in any way because they carry such news. They remain, as the ´óÏó´«Ã½ itself is, reputable sources of news and information. Open any paper (broadsheet or not), watch any news program, and you're bound to find a Reuters or AP story.

I've simplified issues a bit (e.g. with the categorisation of stories), but I hope that the gist of my argument is getting through.

Bottom line: I don't think we should judge whether something is worth reporting purely on the basis of whether something is light-hearted or not.

This reader/viewer/listener of the ´óÏó´«Ã½, at least, has a sense of humour.

You know what? There's so much foul, disturbing news in the world today that I welcome the baby pandas. I don't know why the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and other news outlets don't give us more reasons for optimism. Not just the whimsical stories but real good news.

Please stop panda-ing (sorry) to the public's baser instincts. We're not all titillated by murders and war - there should be equal amounts of good news reported too. I think the national psyche would benefit from some encouragement, quite honestly.

The decision about the strength of image versus the solid 'newsworthiness' of the story is always going to be a subjective decision, and I don't have a problem with that.

However, I don't think you can equate what people want to look at online with what should be scheduled in a news bulletin, rolling or not. The strength of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ site is that it has room for a bit of everything. People log on (I think) for different reasons and with different expectations than when they switch on the news. If people want to choose baby pandas over an IMF report, then fair enough (I generally would, on a website), but I wouldn't expect the same rules to apply on broadcast media, where space is tighter.

Course skateboarding ducks are different...

"Oi come and 'ave a look at THIS" ? How glorious it is to see what you nice, liberally-minded, middle class white chaps at the beeb think of the viewing public. Good grief.

Well for me the baby pandas where a welcome break from the repitition of bombs exploding here there and everywhere and stories of stabbings in cities along with gun crime else where. The Pandas made me sit back and smile as i realised that presidential egos and gang culture are not what makes the world go round. It is those things of beauty that make us sit back and take a breath.

Please let's have more stories like this. Between all the fighting and violence it is nice to show how environmental efforts are helping species survive, or how a community group is improving prospects for local kids.

I can't do anything about a man going nuts and killing innocent girls in a U.S. school; I can be inspired by positive stories of good peoples' achievements.

The so called news which is heavily censored, also the media in general, is tailored to the mentality of the majority of viewers and readers.