- Robbie Gibb
- 13 Jul 07, 07:40 PM
It has of course been a very difficult and embarrassing week for all of us at the 大象传媒. It didn鈥檛 start well with Ofcom fining the corporation 拢50,000 over an edition of Blue Peter. If that wasn鈥檛 bad enough it was followed with a misleading edit of Her Majesty the Queen in a presentation to journalists.
Maintaining standards of honesty, accuracy and fairness throw up various dilemmas which programme editors have to grapple with on a daily basis. For example we sometimes get politicians making complaints about an interview or a particular film. We had a recent correspondence from the Treasury about an item made by the independent film maker Jamie Campbell which threw up precisely these kind of issues, although in this instance the film didn鈥檛 breach any of the 大象传媒鈥檚 producer guidelines.
On the day before Gordon Brown took over as prime minister we broadcast Jamie鈥檚 film about his attempts to get an interview with the then chancellor. They were unhappy with the film in general but directed their complaint at how the film portrayed a Treasury press officer claiming the chronology of two events were out of sequence and as such misrepresented the events. However unlike the incident with the footage of the Queen, whichever order the events had been shown the meaning would remain the same. Check out the film for yourself here.
The sequences to look out for are the incident where the then chancellor's car arrives when the press officer and Jamie are talking and the incident at the CBI. Chronologically the CBI event happened first. Watch for yourself and let me know if you think the meaning is remotely affected by the order.
Robbie Gibb is deputy editor, Newsnight
- Simon Waldman
- 13 Jul 07, 04:10 PM
In retrospect, yesterday proved to be what 大象传媒 managers might euphemistically describe as an "interesting and challenging" day to experiment with a real-time blog live from the News 24 gallery. There were - as usual - many breaking news stories to deal with, but what was genuinely unexpected was the way the drama unfolded about the 大象传媒 itself and that documentary about the Queen. I hope we made sense of it on News 24 and across 大象传媒 News.
To answer at least some of the questions and points raised yesterday:
Why lead at 12 on the Queen story?
The 大象传媒 apologising to the Queen was clearly a major news item - as today's newspapers seem to demonstrate.
What other stories have been "spun"?
We all sincerely hope that this unfortunate episode was not symptomatic.
Could we offer a "newsier" service while Breakfast is on 大象传媒 One?
Financially difficult - particularly at present. Although News 24 does - and will - "break away" from Breakfast early when there is major breaking news.
Does popularity of stories on 大象传媒 website influence decision-making?
Up to a point. Many stories prove very popular online, but wouldn't make it into the News 24 headlines (today's example might be "Grumpy old people can鈥檛 help it"). But seeing - in real time - what is driving interest online can help in the choice of stories we chase on News 24.
How many people are in the News 24 gallery?
Generally, seven: editor, studio producer, director/vision mixer (in traditional galleries, the director and vision mixer are two separate people), sound director, communications director (lining up "outside source" contributions), caption writer, autocue operator. Plus our graphics team (of two) sit at the end of the gallery.
Could posts be displayed with the most recent at the top?
I think so, but this would be beyond my technical capabilities - which are akin to those of a caterpillar.
Are Reeta and Shami Chakrabarti related?
No.
Most fraught atmosphere in the gallery?
Big pre-planned, set-piece events - particularly when we're simulcasting a special programme on 大象传媒 One - generally add to the tension.
"Unlikely" testing stories?
Often ones involving the 大象传媒!
Do we liaise with Five Live over chasing stories and guests?
Yes - the Five Live teams sit only yards away from ours, but I'm sure we could do more.
Why the interest in the drugs arrests in Ghana?
Two 16-year-old British girls arrested on drugs charges is not an everyday occurrence - their age made it a more compelling story.
Why was HM Revenue and Customs representative captioned "Customs and Excise" (the name changed some time ago)?
Sorry - it was a mistake made in haste.
How are our on-air maps generated?
We use software called "Curious", which - I'm told - works a bit like Google Earth. And each time we make a new map, we add it to our library.
What went wrong at 10.49?
Ah. Glad it wasn't obvious.
Did you pay for a special "ghost-blogger"?
No, though I didn't type my posts myself - I wouldn鈥檛 have been able to type so fast! A fantastic guy, who is one of our blog moderators, sat next to me and made sense of my random rantings.
Did blogging detract from the actual output?
Hope not, but not for me to judge.
Can a real time blog be done daily?
NO ! It certainly added to the pressure in what is already a 鈥mm鈥ively environment, but it was also oddly invigorating. If the powers-that-be approve, and there is demand for it, we may do it again sometime - perhaps with less of the "watch what's going to happen NOW" and more on how we reach the decisions made about the output. Perhaps you could suggest how it could be done better - if at all - in future?
Simon Waldman is morning editor on 大象传媒 News
- Rod McKenzie
- 13 Jul 07, 03:41 PM
A depressing and ill-informed torrent of newsprint has appeared since the news about 大象传媒 One's new bulletin at 8pm which my colleague Craig Oliver explained in his recent entry.
In case you hadn't seen it - our critics say we are, surprise surprise, dumbing down. How original.
I don't normally blog in TV news areas - leaving my colleagues to do this - but I thought I'd point out a few basic points to the open-minded.
Firstly, this is not happening at the expense of existing output, much of which is highly detailed, analytical and "highbrow". It's an extra which, shock horror, the audience told us they would like us to do and to which we, being public service broadcasters, should be obliged to listen.
If we ask everyone to pay the licence fee to support 大象传媒 News, then 大象传媒 News should serve all audiences from the very young to the very old. But we don't always do that, as Craig explained in his original piece. So this is about an offering aimed at those who don't connect with our existing output - but news matters to them and they want to know - but they don't want us to spend all day telling them with lots of graphs and professors.
It's not instead of anything: we wouldn't expect lovers of the Ten, Today or Newsnight to set their hard disc recorders to 8pm to catch Natasha's news minute - but a difference audience will. Job done.
By the way, far from being a dumb exercise, as any good sub-editor will tell you, writing the news of the day in a 60 second pr茅cis is a far greater journalistic skill than writing it in 60 minutes.
My background has been providing exactly this type of service for radio - both 大象传媒 and commercial - for more than 20 years. You have to really know your stories, understand why they are important and how they can be connected and relevant to an audience that might otherwise want to channel hop or just make a cuppa. It's a tough ask and I wish my TV colleagues the very best of luck.
The truth is that different audiences like the news presented to them in different ways. There is no "one size fits all" - nor in the modern world is there a definition of "news" - to some people it might include entertainment news and sport and to others it never, ever will. That's fine - it's all about choice nowadays: your choice.
The 大象传媒 has an amazing range of news services. To be fair, the majority are canted towards a broadsheet and upmarket audience - we don't want to mess about with them - but why shouldn't the rest of the audience have a chance to be served as they want to be served by 大象传媒 News? If we failed to listen we would be guilty of extreme arrogance and the greatest sin for a public service broadcaster: not caring about or listening to all your audience.
Rod McKenzie is editor of Newsbeat and 1Xtra News
All papers: 大象传媒 apologises to the Queen over promotional clips apparently showing her angry with photographer Annie Liebovitz. ()
Times: Andrew Marr told to stop writing a column for the Daily Telegraph. ()
Express: Frederick Forsyth claims 大象传媒 News is "dominated by a claque of hard-Left, anti-British republicans". ()
