BBC News

BBC News and Current Affairs is a major arm of the BBC responsible for the corporation's newsgathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. It is the largest news broadcaster in the world and produces almost 100 hours of output daily. The current director is Helen Boaden.

BBC News carries out a key objective of the BBC's Royal Charter: to "collect news and information in any part of the world and in any manner that may be thought fit".

BBC News is based at the News Centre at Television Centre (TVC), Wood Lane, W12 and operates regional centres across the United Kingdom as well as 44 newsgathering bureaux around the world. Of these bureaux, 41 are based overseas. Political coverage is based at the Millbank Studios in Westminster. Due to the non-central location of TVC, however, in 2008 the News Centre is due to move to BBC Radio's headquarters, BBC Broadcasting House at Portland Place in Central London. The News department consists of 3,500 staff of which 2,000 are journalists. The annual budget of BBC News is £350 million.

Within the United Kingdom, BBC News faces competition from Sky News and ITN, although the ITN News Channel (also known as the ITV News Channel) has now ceased broadcasting in the UK. In 2005, it was announced that the Six O'Clock News was the most popular daily news programme, whilst the corporation's 24 hour rolling news channel, BBC News 24, was the most popular 24 hour news channel in the UK. ^*.

History

The early years

The British Broadcasting Company broadcast its first radio bulletin on November 14 1922. On July 5 1954, the first television news bulletin was broadcast. The BBC celebrated 50 years of Television News on July 5 2004. The BBC television service originally carried news in the form of images with a newsreader narrating but off camera, having decided that a newsreader on screen would distract viewers from the stories. Newsreels had been in use for some time, shown at cinemas and other places of public gathering. These were adapted as Television Newsreel programmes.

During the mid/late 1970s, the afternoon news was broadcast from the BBC News Room itself. The newsreader sat on the edge of a desk reading the news to the camera, while behind him the news staff would seen at their desks busily working.

1993-1999

Several variations in how the main news programmes were named and shown occurred with programmes such as Nationwide coming and going. A major relaunch of BBC television news output on Tuesday, April 13th 1993 included abolition of variation in sets and titles in favour of a single set with a common theme. The times of the main bulletins —one o'clock, six o'clock and nine o'clock, were, however unchanged, and the music, whilst consistent in style, was based on the previous theme adopted by each programme. The new set was a small one which took advantage of Silicon Graphics systems to create a virtual studio which appeared to be huge. The titles commenced with the BBC News logo imposed on a spinning globe, widening to reveal a glass sculpture of the BBC coat of arms (again computer generated) in front of a panoramic view of the studio. The colour of the sets varied, getting progressively darker throughout the day. Likewise the style of the theme changed, from a bright and driving theme for Breakfast News to an authoritative and more sombre version for the Nine O'Clock News. In 1997 the programme titles were altered slightly to incorporate the new corporate logo.

1999-2003

On Monday, May 10th 1999 the biggest relaunch occurred, with BBC One bulletins, BBC World and BBC News 24 adopting a common style. Most significantly BBC regional news programmes adopted the new corporate image for the first time, giving a common style across local, national and international BBC television news. It also caused changes to regional news. Regional stories were incorporated into the six o'clock news headlines. The English regions lost some time, however, as these regions now rejoined London for a national round-up at 6.55. Over the next few years the regional news programmes began adopting a unified look in line with the national news. Regional headlines were also added to the one o'clock news, and the main evening news, when it moved from nine o'clock to ten o'clock.

2003-2006

On Monday, January 20th 2003, another relaunch saw the 1pm, 6pm and 10pm come from a smaller, square studio. This time, the backdrop was not a real newsroom, and consisted of many faint, made-up objects. The titles, however, remained the same. That was until Monday, February 16th 2004, when they were changed to look like the one used for BBC News 24, introduced two months previous.

2006-present

A new look was launched on Tuesday, May 2nd 2006, with slightly different opening graphics and a lighter studio featuring a back-drop of the London skyline. The studio was markedly larger than the previous one, with large projector cubes dominating the walls. This is in-line with similar changes ITV news made in 2005. Now Breakfast, 1 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 10 o'clock news is broadcasted from the same set, the difference is the background visual display. For breakfast, it was originally a display of cirrus clouds against a blue sky, but viewers complained that it looked too cold for the time of day, and it was changed to a set of orange squares a month later. The 1,6 and 10 o'clock bulletins have a view of central London, which gets darker once the sun has set. The weekend/bank holiday bulletins also have a dark background if the bulletin is after dusk.

The Future

In 2008 all BBC News, national radio and BBC World Service broadcasts will be moved to Broadcasting House in central London. The building is planned to have the largest live newsroom in the world. But due to delays may not open till late 2010.

In June 2006, Media Guardian announced that the BBC News website and News 24 presentation would be matched to the new style of presentation BBC One news output. It also quoted Director General Mark Thompson as having let slip in a meeting that BBC News 24 would lose the "24" in favour of maintaining a BBC News brand across all output. TV Newsroom, a television presentation collection website later announced that a senior BBC source had informed them that the changes speculated on by Media Guardian were not in planning, and changes to News 24's on screen appearance would not be happening "anytime soon".

According to the BBC, the new colour scheme used on the BBC One bulletins were to distinguish them from the rest of the bulletins on News 24 when they were simulcast on the channel.

News output

Television news

The Television News section of BBC News is responsible for the main news bulletins on BBC One and BBC Two, news output on BBC Three and BBC Four and the news networks BBC News 24 and BBC Parliament. It also provides news on Ceefax and the BBC News Website.

BBC News provides 22 hours of programming each day for the international news and current affairs channel BBC World.

The distinctive music on all BBC television news programmes was introduced in 1999 and composed by David Lowe. It was part of the extensive rebranding which commenced in 1999. The general theme was used not only on bulletins on BBC One but News 24, BBC World and local news programmes in the BBC's BBC Regional News programmes. Lowe was also responsible for the music on Radio One's "Newsbeat". In 2003, following another relaunch of the corporation's output, all title music and graphics were altered with Lowe remaining as composer.

The controller of television news is Peter Horrocks, he succeeded Roger Mosey who moved to BBC Sport.

On the 8th of November 2005, it was announced that a controller of BBC News 24 would be appointed and that a single editor for the One O'Clock and Six O'Clock news programmes would be used rather than two individuals. On the 16th of December 2005, the News 24 editor was named as Kevin Bakhurst, whilst Amanda Farnsworth became editor of the One and Six O'Clock bulletins. Craig Oliver was later named editor of the Ten O'Clock News.

Radio news

BBC Radio News produces bulletins for the BBC's national radio stations and provides content for local BBC radio stations via the General News Service (GNS). BBC News does not produce the BBC's regional news bulletins, which are produced by the BBC nations and regions. The BBC World Service broadcasts to some 150 million people in 40 languages across the globe.

Online news

BBC News Online is the BBC's news website. Launched in November 1997, it is one of the most popular news websites in the UK with around 15 million visitors every month. The website contains exhaustive international news coverage as well as entertainment, sport, science, and political news. Many reports are accompanied by audio and video from the BBC's television and radio news services. Certain BBC current affairs programmes such as Newsnight and Question Time are available to view on the site after they have been broadcast. The same is available with BBC News television bulletins and radio programmes. Certain radio broadcasts are available for download as podcasts as part of the BBC's download trial.

Interactive

BBC News content is also output onto the BBC's digital interactive services under the BBCi brand, and the legacy analogue CEEFAX teletext system.

Opinions of BBC News

The BBC is one of the most respected news broadcasters in the world and garners respect in the UK and around the world. It has won praise for its unbiased and balanced reporting. Research has shown that for coverage of major events, such as the Iraq war and September 11th attacks, viewers turn to the BBC. It is, however, not free from controversies and criticism from some commentators.

Political and commercial independence

The BBC is required by its charter to be free from both political and commercial influence and answers only to its viewers and listeners. Nevertheless, the BBC's political objectivity is sometimes questioned. For instance, The Daily Telegraph (3 Aug 2005) carried a letter from the KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky, referring to it as "The Red Service". Books have been written on the subject, although rarely from people writing neutrally themselves, including anti-BBC works like Truth Betrayed by W J West and The Truth Twisters by Richard Deacon.

The BBC is regularly accused by the government of the day of bias in favour of the opposition and, by the opposition, of bias in favour of the government. Similarly, during times of war, the BBC is often accused by the UK government, or by strong supporters of British military campaigns, of being overly sympathetic to the view of the enemy. This gave rise, in 1991 during the first Gulf War, to the satirical name "Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation". Conversely, some of those who style themselves anti-establishment in the United Kingdom or who oppose foreign wars have accused the BBC of pro-establishment bias or of refusing to give an outlet to "anti-war" voices. Some have argued that a current of anti-BBC thinking exists in many parts of the political spectrum and that, since the BBC's theoretical impartiality means they will broadcast many views and opinions, people will see the bias they wish to see. This argument is buttressed by the fact that the BBC is frequently accused of bias by all opinions in a dispute.

Prominent BBC appointments are constantly assessed by the British media and political establishment for signs of political bias. The appointment of Greg Dyke as Director-General was highlighted by press sources because Dyke was a Labour Party member and former activist, as well as a friend of Tony Blair. The BBC's current Political Editor, Nick Robinson, was some years ago a chairman of the Young Conservatives and has, as a result, attracted informal criticism from the current Labour government, but his predecessor Andrew Marr faced similar claims from the right because he was editor of the liberal leaning Independent newspaper before his own appointment in 2000.

Despite these criticisms, many still regard the BBC as a trusted and politically neutral news source across the globe, and in some areas the BBC World Service radio is the only available free media.

Iraq War

During the invasion of Iraq the BBC was accused of pro-Iraq War bias. There were anti-war protests outside its offices.^*

A Cardiff University report found that the BBC "displayed the most 'pro-war' agenda of any broadcaster". Over the three weeks of the initial conflict, 11% of the sources quoted by the BBC were of coalition government or military origin, the highest proportion of all the main television broadcasters. The BBC was less likely than Sky, ITV or Channel 4 News to use independent sources, who also tended to be the most sceptical. The BBC also placed least emphasis on Iraqi casualties. [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,12123,991227,00.html

Andrew Bergin, the press officer for the Stop The War Coalition, told Media Lens: "Representatives of the coalition have been invited to appear on every TV channel except the BBC. The BBC have taken a conscious decision to actively exclude Stop the War Coalition people from their programmes, even though everyone knows we are central to organising the massive anti-war movement...". ^*

Hutton Inquiry

BBC News was at the centre of one the largest political controversies in recent years. Three BBC News reports (Andrew Gilligan's on Today, Gavin Hewitt's on The Ten O'Clock News and another on Newsnight) quoted an anonymous source that stated the British government (particularly the Prime Minister's office) had embellished the September Dossier with misleading exaggerations of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities.

The Government angrily denounced the reports and accused the corporation of poor journalism. In subsequent weeks the corporation stood by the report, saying that it had a reliable source. Following intense media speculation, David Kelly was finally named in the press as the source for Gilligan's story on 9 July 2003. Kelly was found dead, apparently by suicide, in a field close to his home early on 18 July. An inquiry led by Lord Hutton was announced by the British government the following day to investigate the circumstances leading to Kelly's death, concluding that "Dr. Kelly took his own life."

In his report on January 28 2004, Lord Hutton concluded that Gilligan's original accusation was "unfounded" and the BBC's editorial and management processes were "defective". In particular, it specifically criticised the chain of management that caused the BBC to defend its story. The BBC Director of News, Richard Sambrook, the report said, had accepted Gilligan's word that his story was accurate rather than checking Gilligan's records more thoroughly.

Davies had then told the BBC Board of Governors that he was happy with the story and told the Prime Minister that a satisfactory internal inquiry had taken place. The Board of Governors, under BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies' guidance, accepted that further investigation of the Government's complaints were unnecessary.

Due to the level of criticism of the corporation in the Hutton report, Davies resigned on the day of publication. BBC News faced an important test, reporting on itself with the publication of the report, but by common consent managed this both independently and impartially. Davies was followed by Director General Greg Dyke the following day and Gilligan on January 30. While doubtless a traumatic experience for the corporation, an ICM poll in April 2003 indicated that it had sustained its position as the best and most trusted provider of news.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

In 2006, an independent inquiry set up to "assess the impartiality of BBC news and current affairs coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with particular regard to accuracy, fairness, context, balance and bias"has determined that there is no systematic bias, but that coverage sometimes gives an incomplete picture which may mislead viewers and affect their understanding of the situation see the ^*. The commission's report suggested that the BBC's news reporting was not sufficiently covering the suffering of Palestinian civilians, and was too focussed on the Israeli perspective of events.

Previously, the BBC's news coverage has been accused of 'systematic anti-Israel bias' ^*." target="_blank" >Similarly, Anglicans for Israel have berated the BBC for apparent anti-Israel bias[http://www.anglicansforisrael.com/docs/2006/05/24/afi-acts-against-bbc-bias/.

Anti-Americanism

In recent years, some on the right in the US, particularly those close to the Bush Administration, have accused BBC News of having an anti-American bias. In January 2004 after the publication of the Hutton Report, John Gibson, a presenter of Fox News accused the BBC of having "a frothing-at-the-mouth anti-Americanism that was obsessive, irrational and dishonest". He also claimed that reporter Andrew Gilligan, who was covering the 2003 Iraq War for BBC Radio 4 in Baghdad had "insisted on air that the Iraqi Army was heroically repulsing an incompetent American Military": Gibson's criticisms were roundly rejected by the UK media regulator Ofcom, which following viewer complaints, strongly reprimanded Fox News for broadcasting the comments [http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/obb/prog_cb/pcb_11/upheld_cases. Ofcom found Fox News in breach of Sections 2.1 (respect for truth), 2.7 (opportunity to take part), and 3.5(b) (personal view programmes - opinions expressed must not rest upon false evidence) of the Programme Code."''.

Use of the English language

Another criticism made of BBC News since the bombings in London on 7 July 2005 is its perceived reluctance to use the word "terrorist" in reporting. For example, Palestinians who bomb civilians in Israel are often referred to as "militants". Alternatively, those responsible for the attacks in London were called "suicide bombers" in some reports. In its defence the BBC says that the word "terrorist" is not banned, but it prefers to use more precise wording. That is, using the word "suicide bombers" to describe those who carried out the London bombings is more precise than just labelling them with the generic term "terrorists". The implication is that a terrorist can take many forms and most people know that (in the context of the London bombings) a suicide bomber is a type of terrorist. The BBC is not alone in discouraging the use of the word "terrorist". The Guardian's style guide ^* also discourages the use of the word. It notes that extreme care should be taken over the use of the word terrorist, and adds that the paper should not be seen as taking sides because of the language that it uses.

The View of Foreign Governments

BBC News reporters and broadcasts are now and have in the past been banned in several countries primarily for reporting which has been unfavourable to the ruling government. For example, it correspondents were banned by the former apartheid régime of South Africa.

The BBC is currently banned in Zimbabwe, whose government has proscribed it as a terrorist organisation ^*.

Other current examples include Uzbekistan ^*, China Sri Lanka Pakistan[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4437494.stm" target="_blank" >^*.

The Views of Other Media Outlets

A number of media outlets, particularly newspapers, publicly voice disquiet about the BBC's news coverage. However, some of these are seen as having an axe to grind as the BBC is a direct competitior with their business.

The news outlets of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which owns Fox News, have been some of BBC News's greatest critics. It is worth note that in the UK market, the BBC is a competitor for News Corp's Sky Digital pay-tv service, and that BBC News is a serious competitor for the News Corp owned Sky News, The Times, The Sun, and the News of the World.

The right-wing British taboid newspaper the Daily Mail is also a strong critic of the BBC. The paper says the corporation is left-wing, anti-American, pro-European, pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli; and, further, that it is composed of university graduates who don't live in the real world.

BBC News People

Editors

Political Editor: Nick Robinson
World Affairs Editor: John Simpson
Economics Editor: Evan Davis
Business Editor: Robert Peston
Europe Editor: Mark Mardell
Middle East Editor: Jeremy Bowen
Home Affairs Editor: Mark Easton
Environment Editor: David Shukman

Presenters

Breakfast

Dermot Murnaghan (Mon-Thu)
Sian Williams (Mon-Thu)
Bill Turnbull (Fri-Sun)
Mishal Husain (currently on maternity leave)
Susanna Reid (Fri-Sun whilst Mishal Husain is on maternity leave)
Simon McCoy (stand-in)
Kate Silverton (stand-in)
Charlie Stayt (stand-in)
Chris Hollins (sport)
Sue Thearle (sport)
Mike Bushell (sport)
Carol Kirkwood (weather)
Helen Willetts (weather)
Louise Lear (weather)
Matt Taylor (weather)

One O'Clock News

Sophie Raworth (anchor)
Darren Jordon (secondary presenter)
Jane Hill (stand-in)
Sian Williams (stand-in)

Six O'Clock News

George Alagiah(anchor)
Natasha Kaplinsky(anchor)
Sian Williams (Secondary presenter)
Dermot Murnaghan (Secondary presenter)
Bill Turnbull (Stand-in)
Jane Hill (Stand-in)

Ten O'Clock News

Huw Edwards (Mon-Thu)
Fiona Bruce (Fri)
Dermot Murnaghan (Stand-in)
Darren Jordon (Stand-in)
Natasha Kaplinsky (Stand-in)

Weekend and bank holiday news

External links

BBC | 1922 establishments | BBC television programmes

BBC News | BBCニュース | BBC News

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