ITV defends the television news
ITV has said the death of the television news bulletin has been greatly exaggerated, dismissing the BBC’S suggestion that they will disappear within a decade. Michael Jermey, ITV’S director of news and current affairs, says in a letter to The Daily Telegraph today that “television is the main source of news for most Britons”. His opposite number at the BBC, Fran Unsworth, had said the News at Six and News at Ten programmes will soon be redundant.
‘The death of the television news bulletin has long been predicted by some, but they are still in place’
THE death of the television news bulletin has been greatly exaggerated, ITV has said, shooting down the BBC’S suggestion that they will disappear within a decade.
Fran Unsworth, the BBC’S head of news and current affairs, said the corporation’s News at Six and News at Ten programmes will soon be redundant as viewing moves to its iplayer.
But Ms Unsworth’s opposite number at ITV, Michael Jermey, disagrees. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph today, Mr Jermey says: “The death of the television news bulletin on the main national channels has long been predicted by some. Twenty or more years after I first heard the suggestion, the evening bulletins are still in place.
“Television is the main source of news for most Britons, and millions value the curated news programmes that sit alongside entertainment and drama. Many people want to be well-informed but don’t want to search for news. This will be the case for a long time, and high quality, accurate and impartial news will remain a key part of mainstream schedules – on ITV, at least.” Mr Jermey, director of news and current affairs at ITV, was editor of the channel’s News at Ten bulletin from 1990-91 and has also run its regional news operations.
Ms Unsworth made her predictions in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, when asked how television news will change over the next five or 10 years. She said: “I think TV journalism will still be around because of the power of pictures to tell a story, but it won’t necessarily be received in quite the forms it currently is. So I still think, ultimately in 10 years’ time, we probably won’t be consuming linear bulletins exactly,” Ms Unsworth said.
“There might be one [bulletin] a day, or something. I think there’ll be fewer of them. But I think that the power of how you tell stories through television, pictures, video will just be in a different space. It’ll be in the digital space, it’ll be on, you know, iplayer. It’ll be on your tablet, your iphone.” The BBC is “transitioning to a different model for young people, which is all around the smartphone and the tablet”, she said.
The two BBC One bulletins at 6pm and 10pm are regularly among the day’s most watched programmes, behind the regional news. Audiences have doubled for some editions during the pandemic, with the News at Six often drawing eight million viewers and the News at Ten pulling in six million.
But the BBC is chasing younger viewers, and research shows they prefer to access programmes online and at a time of their choosing. Ms Unsworth also indicated that the newsroom at New Broadcasting House, seen in the background during bulletins, will become less populated as the pandemic has proved staff can work from home. Encouraging home working could cut down on the need for expensive office space and make it easier for young journalists on relatively low incomes to work for the BBC without a lengthy commute.
She said: “There are aspects of it that aren’t ideal, but there are aspects of it which actually make people’s lives much better, especially in big metropolitan areas where the commute is long and expensive and quite arduous.”
sir – The death of the television news bulletin on the main national channels (“TV news could go in BBC’S push for younger viewers”, report, August 20) has long been predicted by some.
Twenty or more years after I first heard the suggestion, the evening bulletins are still in place. Television is the main source of news for most Britons and millions value the curated news programmes that sit alongside entertainment and drama. Many people want to be well informed but don’t want to search for news. This will be the case for a long time, and high quality, accurate and impartial news will remain a key part of mainstream schedules – on ITV, at least.
Michael Jermey
Director of News and Current Affairs, ITV London WC1