- David Kermode
- 7 Jun 06, 04:54 PM
This came through our 'duty log' for feedback this morning:
"[Caller] feels that the background studio colours used by the programme are politically motivated. "I have noticed that they have been a red colour since the late 1990s and have now changed to a blue colour. Is this political psychology? I think the ±«Óãtv are using background colours to influence people's political thinking."
What this particular viewer neglected to mention was that we have, this week, 'warmed up' our studio to incorporate far more oranges and a bit of brown. Does this mean we've switched allegiance to the Liberal Democrats?
If so, we'd be a pollster's nightmare. The ultimate swing voter. We'd have backed all three main parties in a month.
I'm not sure whether there could be any subliminal advantage for a particular party in news branding? Personally, I suspect our viewers wouldn't fall for it, even if there was.
We have run into these sort of problems before. When we launched our general election coverage with an ambitious outside broadcast from Bristol, it poured with rain. Dermot broadcast the entire show protected by a ±«Óãtv Breakfast umbrella, in our house colours back then - red and yellow.
We had three complaints about the absence of blue in our brolly, including one man who wrote to me suggesting the choice of umbrella reflected Dermot Murnaghan's own political preferences. I wrote back to our viewer, assuring him that, to my knowledge, Dermot had never revealed anything about his political persuasion and that he'd certainly not got involved in the programme umbrella ordering process.
Anyway, try putting red, yellow and blue together. It might look balanced - but it also looks hideous.
David Kermode is editor of
- Paul Brannan
- 7 Jun 06, 04:20 PM
After a gestation period akin to that of an elephant, the News website has rolled out a new version of its popular desktop ticker.
Operating system changes saw the old one run into the sand, bedevilled by gremlins which meant it became increasingly high maintenance.
The latest version to come out of the hangar replaces the former breaking news desktop alert and updates the sport version while retaining the sheepskin-clad character. Quite remarkable.
The shiny new application was developed with an external firm called Skinkers and offers a greater range of personalisation.
There are up to 300 content options with variable speed scrolling for headlines from a range of categories including health, science, technology and entertainment.Click on a headline and you get a four-paragraph summary of the story. If you want more detail another click takes you to the full-blown web version. It also triggers desktop alerts about forthcoming TV and radio current affairs programme.
So far, we haven't made too much of a song and dance about it because we're a cautious lot and want to see how it beds in.
But if you want to join the pioneers and offer feedback to product manager Anthony Sullivan, the application is just .
This being the ±«Óãtv you may have some permissions issues about downloading software to your machine, but don't be put off.
Because we wanted this up and running before the World Cup we weren't able to bring out a Macintosh version, but that has been pencilled in for later in the year.
And Anthony is already looking at expanding personalisation with things like keyword alerts and five-day weather forecasts. If there are any things you'd like to see then do let him know.
Paul Brannan is editor of ±«Óãtv Emerging Platforms
- Craig Williams
- 7 Jun 06, 12:44 PM
I might as well be up-front about this. I will not be supporting England in this World Cup. Or indeed in any World Cup. Or any other game for that matter. I don’t actually wish any ill to Sven’s boys. But the fact is I’m not English, my team isn’t playing, so I can support whoever I want. This year, as in most competitions in which Scotland don’t appear, I will be shouting for the French, though I do like the Croatian strip.
Should Scots support England? The question comes up every time our neighbours play. In the past few weeks, the public prints and airwaves up here have been full of it. Most of the coverage has centred on the Chancellor’s declaration that he will be supporting England, while his colleague, Scotland’s First Minister, Jack McConnell, says he’s a Trinidad and Tobago man.
That stance led to equal praise and brickbats, and much subsequent punditry about why we can’t ever bring ourselves to support England. As a programme editor, this is a gift as we slip into the silly season. There’s nothing like football, mixed with a dose of sectarianism and dirty politics to get an audience interested.
In truth, no matter how much time we devote to discussing this, it tells us very little about the Scottish character. But it is amusing, it takes us away from the every day reporting of grey politics, and gives us the chance to show THAT GOAL by the great Archie Gemmill time and time again. And no Scot will ever tire of that.
Craig Williams is editor of
- Craig Oliver
- 7 Jun 06, 11:52 AM
The Ten O'Clock News nearly brought new meaning to the word "newsflash" last night.
Andrew Cassell was doing a "live sandwich" - a report on tape that is surrounded by a live top and tail from location. He was outside the bank in Edinburgh's Princes Street where a manager had stolen £21 million.
The live top was a little troubled - viewers will have seen someone attempting to put him off with a red laser light (see picture).
As his tape rolled we could see Andrew on our preview monitors turning to have a discussion with a number of drunks... suddenly a woman was in front of the camera flashing her breasts. We asked Andy if there was any danger of this happening live on air - he assured us he was fine, and he completed his live tail like the true professional, leaving viewers none the wiser.
Craig Oliver is editor of ±«Óãtv News at Six and ±«Óãtv News at Ten
The Guardian: "The ±«Óãtv that Chris Moyles is supposed to be down with the teenagers - but that doesn't necessarily mean that he should behave like one" ()
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The Telegraph: Andrew Marr's notebook - "I am beginning to wonder whether the much-discussed decline of journalism is 100 per cent explained by the commercial threat of the web" ()
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