New news summary
| 13:21 UK time, Friday, 11 May 2007
Viewers in the Birmingham area may have noticed something different at 8pm on BBC One.
It's a short summary of the day's news (which you can click here to watch), presented by Natasha Kaplinsky. We're piloting it in that area, in the hope that it will be commissioned to go national later in the year.
The summary is above and beyond current BBC output, and came out of a desire to attract people who might not traditionally watch BBC news, particularly younger adults.
Inevitably, some papers have got the wrong end of the stick and claimed it is a case of the BBC "dumbing down". One article even ended with the line "The BBC still intends to continue with the Ten O'Clock News" (which I happen to edit) as if we would ever consider scrapping the programme in favour of a one minute summary!
BBC News is not dumbing down in any way - as anyone who saw yesterday's comprehensive coverage of Tony Blair's departure plans will have seen.
What we do understand, is that the audience is fracturing as never before - different groups have different needs - and the BBC needs to be able to speak to them all. That doesn't mean the summary will be the Daily Star on air, but it does mean that we will explore some areas that are not in our main programmes.
I hope that people who like their news pure and traditional will understand that because we use new programmes to appeal to different groups, does not mean that the Ten O'Clock News will be any less serious.
© MMXI
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~19~RS~)
Comments
The concept of the additional news summary is excellent. Its implementation on the other hand has been poor.
It was almost embarassing - and insulting - to watch Natasha Kaplinsky segue into the latest updates on missing child Madeleine McCann with "still no good news from Portugal, I'm afraid". Why the need for this 'chummy', colloquial approach, when all it does is undermine the seriousness of the news being delivered?
And why force the presenter to act as a continuity announcer as well? "Watchdog in a moment, but first, let's see what's going on in the world". Yuk yuk yuk.
The BBC One Daytime news summaries are brief yet professional - why break away from this format for an evening news summary?
And if you want to find the right balance between that and the less 'stiff' approach to newscasting, then consider that the BBC has already got this right with its "60 Seconds" bulletins on BBC Three.
The new 8pm summary is no "60 Seconds" by any stretch of the imagination, and expecting us to take Natasha Kaplinsky - and BBC News - seriously when she jauntily skips her way between news stories with banal banter is just too much.
The first 8pm summary really was dumbed down - a phrase I usually despise - in that it assumed that its audience was too stupid or too indifferent to care about the news unless it was presented as though Kaplinsky was a mate chatting to us in a bar. If you're genuinely considering implementing this summary on a permanent, national basis, then try taking it a little more seriously. Then, and only then, will audiences old and young take it seriously too.
The fact that rumours about the death of the Ten O'Clock can gain credence tell you more about the state of TV news bulletins than I ever can.
Radio programmes like PM and TV like Newsnight is excellent. But the news bulletins, especially the Six are shockingly abysmal.
The jovial, shiny-happy nonsense from George Alagiah and the dreadful Natasha Kaplinsky are so dumbed-down that they are now regular features in the pages of Private Eye.
Bring back Anna Ford and shove Kaplinsky off to lightweight tosh like Sky News where she would be far happier.
I do sometimes wonder if we're in danger of suffering 'news overload'. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for giving people information about the world around them, but I do think the quality of that information has suffered even as quantity has mushroomed, with a increasingly narrow news agenda focusing on the same few tired stories; saturation coverage which often takes a mainstream or centrist approach when there is actually now more opportunity than ever to present a more in-depth analysis.
The Breakfast programme and Six O'Clock bulletin have become particularly notable for the introduction of this 'chummy', matey style, with lots of chit-chat about irrelevances like fashion, celebrity culture and the latest dubious health 'research' which in all honesty do not belong in a news show, much less one shown on the Beeb.
Although I haven't seen it, relatives in the Midlands confirm that this seems to be more of the same 'dumbed-down' agenda. I know there's much hand-wringing at TV Centre as regards attracting Cs, Ds and Es and not appearing elitist - but then I thought that was the whole purpose of BBC Three and EastEnders... after all I appreciate that Heat magazine readers pay the license fee too ;)
As it is, we currently have News 24, regular programmes and headlines throughout the day on BBC1, Newsnight on Two, 60 Seconds on Three, supposedly in-depth coverage on Four and of course the BBC News website. Why then am I finding myself increasingly reliant on blogs and external sites for a fresh or alternate perspective on the main stories and many others which the BBC fail to even acknowledge?
It doesn't bode well for the long-term future of the broadcast news model - and sooner or later people will become tired of being spoon-fed.
A short summary of this editor's post: "BBC always right, papers always wrong."
If you don't like it, don't watch it - stick to the ten o'clock news instead. I'm sure the summary appeals to a lot of younger adults - which is the BBC's intention.
I dread to think how BBC television news programmes could possibly dumb down any further.
I hear that the one-minute summary replaces the endless reel of trailers that gets played just before 8pm. The summary is far better! This is what we pay our license fee for - not advertising.
Will those to make accusations of "dumbing down" kindly stop dumbing down our language.
I think it's a great idea - please roll it out across the whole country!
When will we get to see the 90 second bulletin with the regional opt?
Regards,
The first post really has captured it perfectly. In your current state, you deserve to be lampooned.
The Six O Clock when delivered by Ms Kaplinsky had already become unwatchable short of being viewed as some kind of self-parody. Incredibly, this brief news summary has plumbed even lower depths.
I don't know why you didn't just hire John Craven and be done with it.
Have you ever stopped to consider that, intellectually and tonally, maybe you're aiming *too* low? And what's more, it's not elitist to say so?
Don't dismiss these views as those of a snob who should be listening to radio 4. I'm 30 years old. I'm working class. I'm not university educated. I would never listen to radio 4! Yet even I can pick up on how you're patronising your audience with cuddly lightweight fluff in your TV bulletins - in style and occasionally in substance. It genuinely makes me switch off. (It's not like ITV or Sky News are any better)
I do understand that you need to make your news accessible to younger viewers, and those with less natural interest in news. I just think you've set the standard way too low, and you have a responsibility for pulling them up to your level rather than always sinking to theirs.
And please - lose the cuddly cosy delivery style. It really does make many of us wince.
Surely if younger generations are the target of this new output, then they're more likely to be getting such a summary from online.
I can't imagine young adults all tuning in to see a one minute summary of the news. We already have a lot of news content online, on BBC One, News 24, BBC Three, BBC Radio... we're now trying to find places to escape news!
I love the style of the new summaries bbut one minute isn't really enough to inform anyone. Maybe if the BBC did a two to five minute summary it could work.
Failing that, just use the new graphics and style for your two minute summary on the website, that will surely be a success.
It's great to see the BBC trying out new things though.
Just because the language is `chatty` I do not think the bulletin has been `dumbed down` as people have suggested.
It's a welcome addition, some regional news would be great too.
A regional news update int the morning around 10/11am would be a useful addition too.
How is this summary different to the one that BBC THREE put out every hour from 7pm until midnight?
Don't get me wrong, I like the ideas of summaries like Channel 5 do at night, but why not get BBC THREE to provide the summaries on BBC ONE - it would be a good chance at cross-promoting the networks... and also a chance for a different presenter to read the bulletins.
I am not quite sure if Natasha does the chit-chat "down the pub" kind of speak quite as well.
Also, the way she keeps pointing to the video wall looks awkward!
"Viewers in the Birmingham area may have noticed something different at 8pm on BBC One."
I don't thing viewers in Stoke or Hereford will take kindly to being described as being in the "Birmingham area." Did you mean to say Midlands?
Dear Craig:
Great idea, but why do not do it in a news agency or International Herald Tribune style for example? Since I had my child who is now well half-way through infant school education, besides being a journalist I stopped watching evening news, as they are the worst thing children can see on a regular basis, crime, violence, war, etc. At the age of six, my child is interested in climate change and politics and news about everything, but neither of us can sit and watch the youngsters' special edition earlier as we are never back at this time and we do not quite like it anyway. Good short professional UK and international news about anything for I guess more 1 min, may be 10-15 at 8 o'clock will serve a lot of people and make them more engaged with society, do not you think? Now that BBC4 News at 8 pm has been moved at 7 pm, this only chance for family viewing of news (still including the same things that I would not like show to my child at this stage of life)has been wasted. In our profession we have access to choice of news, but most people do not, why not share some of it with them in a more inclusive way? Finally, why do you have only one way to communicate about postings 'complain' instead of 'comment' for example?
Rumy Vakarelski
Dear Craig:
Great idea, but why do not do it in a news agency or International Herald Tribune style for example? Since I had my child who is now well half-way through infant school education, besides being a journalist I stopped watching evening news, as they are the worst thing children can see on a regular basis, crime, violence, war, etc. At the age of six, my child is interested in climate change and politics and news about everything, but neither of us can sit and watch the youngsters' special edition earlier as we are never back at this time and we do not quite like it anyway. Good short professional UK and international news about anything for I guess more 1 min, may be 10-15 at 8 o'clock will serve a lot of people and make them more engaged with society, do not you think? Now that BBC4 News at 8 pm has been moved at 7 pm, this only chance for family viewing of news (still including the same things that I would not like show to my child at this stage of life)has been wasted. In our profession we have access to choice of news, but most people do not, why not share some of it with them in a more inclusive way? Finally, why do you have only one way to communicate about postings 'complain' instead of 'comment' for example?
Rumy Vakarelski