- Simon Waldman
- 11 Jul 07, 04:36 PM
Mildly apprehensive at something we're trying out for the first time tomorrow - a real-time editor's blog live from the News 24 studio gallery.
So, as well as trying to keep abreast of all the breaking news, getting it on air quickly and accurately, attempting to keep the presenters at least vaguely informed of what might be coming at them next, talking to our correspondents and guests, nagging (should that be "encouraging"?) my hyperactive production team etc etc etc, I will be having a stab at writing a blog at the same time.
If it works, it might give you a fly-on-the-wall insight into how a continuous news channel operates: how and why we reach our decisions on editorial and production issues; the last-minute changes in running orders; which stories merit ditching all other news to 'roll'; how we react when things don't go entirely according to plan (which, since you ask, is rather more often than is good for one's health).
And if the liveblog doesn't work, we'll simply file it under "who the hell came up with THAT daft idea?". Watch this space from 10:00 (UK time) tomorrow morning...
Simon Waldman is morning editor on 大象传媒 News
- Mark Popescu
- 11 Jul 07, 04:31 PM
One of the big stories this week has been the verdict in the trial of four people found guilty of attempting to bomb the London transport network on 21st July.
While a trial is running, vast amounts of information comes out in open court. Much of it is not reported at the time because the news agenda moves on and we rarely report every day of a trial over many months. 大象传媒 journalists also beaver away collecting more background and contextual information. Once the trial ends, and reporting restrictions are lifted, the whole story can be told - including some information which may not have been put before the jury.
One of the difficulties we face in telling the story is illustrating events which did not take place in front of cameras. Sometimes we use reconstructions - when actors show us how something might have been done. They're a useful device as long as they're clearly labelled - it is essential the viewer is not led to believe that they are seeing real events.
We did this on our report on the bomb plot (which you can watch for yourself here) - using information that was given in open court that the bomb was made from hydrogen peroxide and chapatti flour. A number of viewers contacted the 大象传媒 to complain about this, one saying they felt it was "more or less a chemistry lesson on how to make a bomb". In our report, we made it clear that this was an exact science, and that the bomb failed because the chemicals were mixed in the wrong concentration. Indeed how the bombs were actually made, and whether they were viable, became a key issue in the trial.
We gave no details about the actual concentrations that were used - indeed, much more detailed information on bomb making is available on the internet. We used clearly labelled reconstruction pictures of a clear liquid being heated and flour being added - illustrating no more than had been said in court and widely reported in the press. We didn't include details of some of the other ingredients that are used to make this mixture into an explosive (again, this information is widely available). The pictures would be of no use to a would be bomb-maker.
Kate Robinson runs the team which made the background packages - she points out that a great deal of consideration went into what information was included.
"We obviously thought long and hard about what aspects of the bomb-making process we would show. All the information we used was already in the public domain and there are many facts which would be needed to make such a bomb that we did not go into - even though we know them. However, as the defence rested on their claim that this was a protest and not a workable bomb, we felt that it was important to show the public that these were truly viable devices. At all times we have taken into our decision making process the advice that was being given by the police at court. What we did would not enable people to make a device."
One final important consideration is that we need to give people enough information to know, in future, what might be suspicious. For example, had more people known about the use of hydrogen peroxide, then the police might have been warned about unusual purchases of large quantities in advance.
Mark Popescu is editor of daytime news
- Craig Oliver
- 11 Jul 07, 03:08 PM
You may that 大象传媒 One has commissioned a short news summary at eight PM every evening. It follows a successful pilot that recently ran in the West Midlands for a five week period (I wrote about that here).
We experimented with a number of formats (there'll be a further announcement shortly about which format was picked):
i) 60 seconds of national news presented by Natasha Kaplinsky.
ii) A 90 second mix of national and regional news - presented by Natasha and with a sequence coming from the West Midlands.
iii) A 60 second summary - presented from the West Midlands.
You can watch an example of one of the bulletins by clicking here.
Viewers who saw the summaries will have noticed that although they clearly came from the 大象传媒 News stable, there were some significant differences. They were written in a more "chatty" style, there was a higher instance of domestic news, and entertainment news was regularly included.
So why were we doing this - and why the difference in style?
Audience research revealed that although very strong, 大象传媒 News was losing viewers among the young and what the Americans call "blue collar" workers. We decided to find out why this was happening - and what we could do to stop it. We discovered these groups wanted us to be more informal and to include subjects that weren't in more traditional news output. They told us they were interested in the news - but didn't always feel they need to sit through a half-hour programme.
The 大象传媒 believes it is important to meet their needs - they are licence payers too.
There will be those who claim we are dumbing down - nothing could be further from the truth. 大象传媒 One will continue to carry the One, Six and Ten O'Clock News - all of which will remain unchanged.
Audiences are fracturing and changing as never before - the 大象传媒 wants to make sure it meets its public service responsibilities to everyone.
Craig Oliver is editor of 大象传媒 News at Six and 大象传媒 News at Ten
Financial Times: Reports on a speech made by Mark Thompson in which he attacks commercial rivals for the declining quality of their news and current affairs output, saying that if it weren't for the 大象传媒 some foreign stories would go uncovered. ()
Daily Mail: Columnist Stephen Glover criticises the coverage that Alistair Campbell's recently published diaries received on the 大象传媒. ()
