MediaGrauniad reports that: ITV is bringing back News at Ten with Sir Trevor McDonald and Sky News presenter Julie Etchingham. Michael Grade, the ITV executive chairman, has hinted before that he would like to resurrect this much-missed broadcasting institution and it is understood that ITV1’s late bulletin will switch from 10.30pm to its historic home at 10pm next year, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal. …after Michael Grade admitted in March that getting … Continue reading →

The original BBC Views Online article, Rocket injures dozens in Israel, was published just after midnight on September 11th, as shown by Newssniffer. The article progressed through a number of drafts, with version 7, at 9am, gaining a box-quote reading: We will act, but I think it’s very important to make the point that there is no reason for this [attack] Mark Regev Israeli government spokesman Skip forward fifty minutes … Continue reading →

Apologies for the brief interruption in posts. Catching up on recent events: Too much management at the BBC writes Jeff Randall in the Telegraph, in an article that expands on the views he expressed on Newsnight last week (see clip below). He starts off once again by pointing out the insanity of cutting news and documentary budgets whilst preserving some of the lowest common denominator dross that passes for content … Continue reading →

Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may be moderated. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

: The Daily Mail reports an anecdote from Mark Thompson that was on News 24 yesterday morning: [Thompson] said that during one recent “eye of the storm” news story he had “one interview request from ITN, one from Sky and 37 from the BBC”. A great example of BBC duplication and triplication in action (should ‘in action’ have a space in it?). Click through to read and contribute comments on … Continue reading →

A Grieving widow has been hit with a £180 fine after her dead husband was summoned to court. Maureen Davies was stunned to be told her husband had been hit with the fine for failing to appear in court – despite the fact he died five months ago…. Following a six-week stay in hospital, the 47-year-old returned home to find that Swansea magistrates had fined husband Leonard, even though he … Continue reading →

Today, Jon Craig, late of the BBC, asks How many BBC men…? On the day the BBC announced cuts and job losses, even the Prime Minister’s mild-mannered and quietly-spoken press spokesman, Mike Ellam, couldn’t resist a little dig at the number of the corporation’s senior correspondents attending the EU summit in Lisbon. At a briefing about Gordon Brown’s so-called “red lines” in the controversial new EU treaty, Mr Ellam was … Continue reading →

Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Scroll down to find new topic-specific posts. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or use as a chat forum. Space here is competitive – comments may be reactively moderated. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

about proposed BBC budget savings, including a filmed report by Liz McKean, Paxman interviewing Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman of the BBC Trust and the best bit, a studio discussion with Stuart Murphy, former Controller of BBC3, Jeff Randall, former BBC Business Editor and Paxman. Liz McKean’s package started off informing us that “[The BBC is] having to do so with less, £2 billion pounds less of the public’s money”, then … Continue reading →

Although I really hate to say this on the week that the BBC bosses will announce job losses in news and current affairs (why don’t they merge BBC3 and BBC4 instead of cutting the very heart of what the BBC should be about?), there was yet another example of massive over-staffing today. When Chris Huhne launched his Lib Dem leadership bid, our cameraman took the trouble to count the number … Continue reading →