Comments on: Close BBC News 24? Can we reinvent rolling news?

By: David Mackay | BBC: How to put on a duvet cover

David Mackay | BBC: How to put on a duvet cover — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:19:30 +0000

[...] a roundabout way of explaining how I came to be reading Charlie Beckett’s post of 1 July on reinventing the rolling news format. And that, in turn, led me to [...]

By: Nich Starling - Norfolk Blogger

Nich Starling - Norfolk Blogger — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:00:31 +0000

Its called BBC News, not News 24, and has been for about a year now. But I do agree with you about BBC World – SO boring !

By: Bugger Lugs

Bugger Lugs — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:40:19 +0000

I find BBC World quite useful.

When I am all over the World in the time zone sense and need to get some sleep I get into bed and put the channel on.

It works every time, problem is that I have done it so often I cannot watch any television in bed any more if the BBC news comes on.

By: Bill Quango

Bill Quango — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:59:07 +0000

Totally agree. Nothing worse than being stuck in a hotel with only BBC World for company. When it goes off on one of its ’30 minutes to see how Chinese peasants have adapted to the Wii’ or whatever dull documentary / feature is running I switch to anything else.

By: duckrabbit

duckrabbit — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:35:56 +0000

@T Raynor,

‘Rolling news captures the imagination’

No, it provides a function, at certain times. Mostly its wallpaper, and not even pretty wallpaper at that.

As for a hybrid, have you spent time with Al Jazeera? Its a much more interesting and stimulating channel.

By: T Rayner

T Rayner — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:21:40 +0000

Your last paragraph says it all.

24 hour news channels are not intended to be watched throughout the day. People turn to them when they feel they need to know what’s going on straight away.

The immediate live content provided by 24 hour news is what separates it from the polished scheduled network bulletins, which people turn to because they feel they ought to know what’s happened that day.

The reason 24 hour news channels need to deliver ‘news’ (as opposed to docs or features) around the clock is very simple. The reputation and brand identity of the stations rests on viewers feeling they can rely on the channel to be ‘on-the-ball’ and ‘rolling’ the moment a story emerges.

A good breaking news story should make the viewer feel that they are part of a developing situation – the output should convey the excitement and energy of the newsroom whirring into gear.

The fact that information comes out piecemeal should not be used as a way of deriding 24 hour news – it’s what makes it watchable. People follow developments in the the same way that they will continually watch twitter or log on to news websites for updates. Rolling news channels and the web compliment each other in far more ways than they compete.

The BBC has a duty to provide a TV hard news service that delivers around the clock. It should come far higher up the list of priorities than scheduling carefully crafted documentaries and long interviews. As for analysis, ‘conventional’ 24 hour news formats have the space to offer it in spades.

Whether it’s a terrorist attack, the disappearance of a toddler, or just a good old case of extreme weather, rolling news captures the imagination, whether its on TV, online or both.

Just take a look at Sky’s figures since Jacko’s death: 8.6 million people watched Sky News on TV between Thursday and Sunday night.

SkyNews.Com received 2.5 million unique users in the same period.

To think that the BBC could improve its service by transforming the News Channel into a strange hybrid of currentTV, straight talk and the national geographic channel, with a chirpy 2 minute news update every 15 minutes is to misunderstand the central role that 24 hour news plays in the way people digest the world around them.