Blogging News 24
- 12 Jul 07, 09:00 AM
So, just an hour to go until we start the liveblog from the News 24 gallery - as discussed here yesterday.
In response to yesterday's post, a reader asked for an outline of my day before and after I'm on air. Are you sure, Kenneth?
I get to the newsroom at 06:30; our first editorial meeting with the News 24 team is at 07:15 - where we talk through what we're expecting from the day's news agenda, and how we'll cover the stories, which angles to pursue, which guests to chase; another meeting (this IS the ±«Óãtv, after all) at 08:00 - where we talk logistics with our newsgathering colleagues and the One O'Clock News team: this essentially agrees where to send camera crews, live trucks and correspondents.
Then grab a coffee and into the gallery for 08:20, and by 08:30, we're away - and that's where I am until 13:00. Then a debrief, a sarnie and it’s planning for the next day...
Some of the stories I'm expecting to make the headlines today: a "friendly fire" inquest into the deaths of two British soldiers in Iraq; later, we should get the interim report into the US troop "surge" in Iraq; we have some compelling material on the issue of domestic violence; and we'll see the Queen visiting the Tyne Cot Cemetery to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of WW1 Battle of Passchendaele. But I can guarantee some news that is entirely unplanned.
See you at 10:00.
UPDATE 10:00 - here we go!
It's Ten O'Clock. New top story to lead on - inquests. But what we're most interested in is the Queen throwing a strop on camera (ahem).
PS: You can watch News 24 online by clicking here - feel free to ask any questions that come to you...
10:04 - Just breaking some news from the Press Association. Sixteen-year-old girls from London found with £300,000 worth of cocaine in Ghana..
10:05 - There's an interesting debate going on... ±«Óãtv news and ±«Óãtv programmes don't always point in the same direction. Today, there's some disquiet in parts of the ±«Óãtv about using the pics from the Queen programme at this point - but news is using them.
10:07 - The story about delaying inquests for UK troops killed abroad is powerful in so many respects. It's a political story - but it's also very personal. And the man we talking to now, whose son was killed in Iraq, and had to wait three years for the inquest, illustrates that.
10:09 - Our defence correspondent Paul Wood has just nipped into the gallery to suggest a slight change to our script on this story, to make it clearer.
10:12 - Within a few minutes of hearing the Ghana story, we've got a map to illustrate it. But it's one we've got on our system, we didn't have to make it fresh.
10:16 - My presenters (Simon and Kate) are teasing me about this blog - it's going around and around in ever-decreasing circles. Apparently I'm in control.
10:18 - Just working out what to do on the arrests of the 16-year-olds in Ghana. we've got a corr in Accra who will hopefully be able to do a report for us soon.
10:22 - On the case of the - the sacred TB-ridden cow - our religious affairs corr is live. We're dropping the pre-recorded report just to go live to Robert.
10:23 - Just had a text from Declan Curry telling me he's keeping up with the blog on a train. The pressure is now on...
10:24 - Quick work from the director as an unexpected sound source popped up in the studio. It sounded like cartoons.. didn't go out on air, I should say...
10:27 - Foreign Office is offering assistance to the girls arrested in Ghana. The statement says 'next of kin have been informed' - has echoes of what the F.O. says after military fatalities...
10:29: There’s a massive difference between continuous news and a bulletin, in terms of how you manage it. In our situation, we could not run a live studio and gallery with the level of stress and tension that is the norm during a half-hour bulletin. If we operated at that level we would implode! When there is frantic breaking news, we're at that level. But generally we have to keep people as calm as possible - if we were at each others throats continuously, we might not make it to lunchtime!
10:30 - We're trailing ahead to a special day of coverage we've planned for tomorrow - tagged 'After the Floods'. We're back in most of the areas worst affected by the flooding, trying to offering practical advice to those affected. Promises to be an interesting day.
10:34 - We're about to dip into the House of Commons, because Alistair Darling is taking Treasury questions for the first time... Not that we're expecting any great news from it, but it's an interesting moment in politics.
10:39 - We're now running some previously researched material on domestic violence - we think it's very powerful.
10:41 - We've a very enthusiastic and tight-knit team of journalists on News 24. They work very well together. One of the producers has been having a nightmare getting all the elements of her piece for today together... and she's been cheered up by other members of the team, who have been singing to her in the newsroom.
10:45 - Interesting decision to be made - where to place the breaking story from Ghana. It's new, it's unexpected, and interesting at various levels - but covering it is very very difficult. All we can currently offer is a telephone piece with our reporter there, and our correspondent in vision at the Foreign Office. The story is what we call 'picture challenged' - but it's so interesting that we intend to lead on it at 11. helped us make our minds up.
10:49 - Oops! You didn't notice that did you? Good.
10:50 - At 11:00, the presenters, directors and studio producers change shift, and a new team comes in. Muggins here, however, goes nowhere until lunchtime...
10:53 - A very late change to the running order there, to provide an update on the Ghana story. Done with just a moment's warning. It shows the value of the N24 presenters - fantastically flexible and quick thinking, and generally good humoured!
10:58 - A comment - from David - asks where I sit in relation to the presenters. Physically, I'm about 20m from them - they're behind me over my right shoulder. They are, however, far closer electronically. They hear my voice whenever I need them too, and I can see them continuously on gallery monitors.
11:00 - A very quick debrief with the presenters - back in a minute...
11:07 - Our man in Ghana has finally made contact with us... seven minutes after we wanted him. Communications problems with far-flung reporters are an occupational hazard.
11:12 - First pics from inside the Red Mosque have popped up. Our reporter is going in as well. But the first shots available to us are from Pakistan TV. Matthew (presenter) is ad-libbing this - ie, without a safety net - giving lots of description and background. Works well.
11:15 - As I mentioned, we have no pictures to illustrate the Ghana story. We are getting, from our news library, general shots of Accra and Accra airport.
11:19 - As you may imagine, an awful lot of information that we gather doesn't end up on air. For example, earlier we were checking out an evacuation of a busy railway station, after a suspect package was found. It turned out to be simply an unattended bag, and given the level of tension following the recent attempted bombings, the station was evacuated. These incidents occur almost daily and are seldom reported.
11:22 - Andy - luck!
11:25 - We run what we call 'floats' to illustrate live interviews and reports. So our reporter at Maidstone Crown Court talked about the arrival of Chris Langham (the actor) as we showed the footage. She described the events as we ran the pictures. Obvious really, but harder to line up than you'd imagine.
11:31 - I'm talking to our reporter at the Foreign Office, but i can't see her - i could hear her, she could hear me, but we're looking at nothing but bars. Ah, there she is... She'll be on air in a moment..
11:34 - Unfortunately, reporting NATO casualties in Afghanistan or UK/US casualties is a depressingly regular occurence.
11:36 - We can link up live to our correspondents all around the world - but try to do a two-way with our political correspondent at the Foreign Office and the picture keeps breaking up. Don't you just love technology.
11:37 - Just had to pull out of the live two-way because of the poor quality of the feed. The team down there will move position and hopefully things will be OK by 12...
11:39 - Just had a note sent to me by one of our correspondents, who was told recently by the Queen that she and Prince Philip watch News 24. Nice to know! Just sending the note to the presenters...
11:41 - Just slipping out of the gallery for a moment, back soon,.
11:46 - I'm back...
11:48 - A member of the team has just said to me that a lot of emails and texts are coming in from viewers who feel that our domestic violence material (which I mentioned previously) isn't reflecting the number of men who suffer from this problem. We're going to use some of those messages to try to address their concerns.
11:50 - There's a story about a plane that's been diverted due to security concerns. Deciding which of these alerts are a scare, and which are serious, is one of the trickiest parts of the job.
11:56 - The Press Association puts out an apology from the ±«Óãtv to the Queen, over that documentary. We've known for 30 minutes or so that an apology was imminent, but we're only able to report it now.
11:57 - The apology will lead the bulletin at 12.
12:04 - Just recorded some shots from Ghanaian TV (Re the drugs story). Will be interesting to see what it shows...
12:05 - Hmmm. Not sure we can use those... the hunt goes on.
12:07 - The inquest that I was once hoping to lead on at 12 - it now doesn't start until 12:30...
12:10 - Trying to illustrate the story of Formula 1 team McLaren being fined. There was a moment of amusement in the gallery when the only picture we could find, at first, was of Steve McLaren (England manager). We chose not to use that.
12:12 - Andrew: Thanks for the kind words! But not sure my heart could stand it.
12:13 - An occupational hazard at the ±«Óãtv - various outlets are competing to get the correspondent du jour on air.
12:14 - Just starting to get a little stressed... not sure if you can tell!
12:16 - Just trying something a little risky - see if you can spot it!
12:17 - The ability of our presenters to remain calm when all hell is breaking loose in the gallery never ceases to amaze me.
12:20 - An interesting, but hugely libellous comment in my ear from one of the directors. It's a good thing there's no live stream from here..
12:22 - We've had to chase around two major breaking stories this morning - as well as the usual news agency flashes/alerts. No busier than usual, but now we're having to turn our attention to the story we've been expecting all morning - the friendly fire inquest.
12:23 - Nipping out of the gallery again... back in a moment.
12:31 - I'm back.
12:32 - Luckily, the viewers won't have been able to see one of our presenters nudging the other to start talking there..
12:34 - Just jiggling the order around to allow our reporter at the friendly fire inquest to gather some more information...
12:37 - Obviously, by the way - when I said at the very start that the Queen was having a strop, I was mistaken! Ahem. .
12:46 - Trying to line up some guests on the Queen story. Might require some last minute juggling if they don't come through...
12:52 - Sorry for the delay - My computer was just doing something that both confused and worried me. I think it's over.
12:54 - Coming up to One O'Clock - the end of my four and a half hour stint in the gallery. Unless we're rolling with major breaking news, we simulcast the ±«Óãtv One O'Clock News. We can break out of that when we need to (hope that answers your question williamt) - but, at the moment, we're not intending to today.
12:58 - As we go into the weather, and hopefully, the One O'Clock News, thanks for all your comments - it's been a fascinating experience for me. We should do it again sometime!?!?!.
13:00 - Over and out.
Simon Waldman is morning editor on ±«Óãtv News
Comments Post your comment
Live blog sounds great. Either way have to congratulate you all on a first class news channel. I am absolutely addicted. First class channel, first class reporting. Also a very warm welcome home to Alan Johnson.
My first time viewing ±«Óãtv News 24 and I have enjoyed Simon and Kate's presentation this morning. I no longer tune in to the comedic, show and book plugging 'News' that is ±«Óãtv1 with all their 'experts' that are invarably, American or Austrailian, don't we have our own home grown 'experts' any longer? Thanks for a great show guys.
Can you give us an idea of where the desk where Simon and Kate are sitting is in relation to the first picture in the blog. I can see the red circles on the ceiling that you can see behind the presenters.
I love the ±«Óãtv News 24 channel's latest graphics update which have restored a professional look to ±«Óãtv News. However the press Red graphic to get to the ±«Óãtvi text service looks like it is stuck in the stone age. Just wondered how you managed to overlook this?
Can you do a little video showing us the technical side of the operation, the control rooms and the newsroom?
"unexpected sound source" - would that be a mobile phone then?
ROFL at that 2nd comentfrom John Nash He is a First time veiwer so obviously hasnt seen how much worse the comedic efforts of Simon is !!!!
Because ±«Óãtv News 24 carries the Breakfast programme between 6am and 830am, the channel can be lacking in news due to the 'light mix' nature of Breakfast.
It would be really good if we could have - as we last did during the Iraq War - the ±«Óãtv World television news on News 24 during this time.
There is nobody who can receive News 24 who cannot watch ±«Óãtv One so no-one would be deprived of Breakfast, but there could be a really serious alternative to Breakfast, Sunrise and TVam...
Love the idea of this blog. We have News 24 on in the office all day and being able to see some of the thinking between the stories whilst watching the show live promises to be fascinating.
Have to comment though that a lot of ±«Óãtv news coverage does appear to be moving in the direction of being more populist (I don't like the phrase "dumbing down"). Fortunately though, it's not as bad as Sky News (yet).
Really like what you are doing. Read about the producers thoughts then see it on TV. Gives me a in-depth look at how our news is prepared and served hot and crispy fresh. Keep up the the good work. I keep on refreshing my browser in between surfing the web and watching your news.
Is there any other way to follow this live blog (which is an interesting idea) other than by pressing F5 to reload the page every few minutes?
This is brilliant but I do have to keep stopping what I'm doing to see if there is another post yet. Any decisions on the Queen's strop - sounds a bit dodgy!
how about a radical innovation. less airtime for the reporters faces when 'going live' to a story. 20years ago it was a novelty to see the reporter live on the spot. now it seems to be an excuse to reduce the actual coverage of the story. the rule of thumb used to be to put in an 'on camera' when you ran out of pictures.
Have you thought about posting in reverse order, with the newest at the top? It might make it easier, rather than having to scroll down (would be like ±«Óãtv Sport's live text commentaries I think). A blogging platform like twitter is probably better for little and often blogs like this.
Oh and did I just hear Simon taking the mick out of your sound director (or whatever he's called) for the delayed sting? I do like the more relaxed style you have nowadays.
I've got News 24 in my Windows Vista sidebar all day
Just wondered why the channel's graphics say "±«Óãtv News" online (and no clock) but "±«Óãtv News 24" on the TV (with a clock). Thanks for leaving off the annoying white scroller, but online people miss out on the red breaking news scroller...
Which reminds me... Freeview carries localised ±«Óãtv One and ±«Óãtv Two on Freeview's multiplex 1, why can't the ±«Óãtv insert regional news into the channel - even if for a minute - each hour - and also have regional news in the ticker. (I understand you can't do this on satellite)
I know someone mentioned twitter but jaiku is actually easier to manage and would cope with this sort of blogging well.
Love the blog, I'm reading 11.00 posting at 11.01! BUT WHAT HAPPENED AT 10.49????????
Simon, this is all really very interesting. It's making me want to ask how someone get into a job like yours?!
Wasn't the story about the Queen and the photographer in Vanity Fair weeks ago?
Nice touch, the blog. But does the editor of one of the fastest moving TV channels with so much live content really have time to note down everything he does? I don't!
Is the editor actually uploading the blog himself, or hs a new role at the ±«Óãtv been created? Tapping away random shouts from the Editor in the gallery?
If it's the editor surely programming will suffer, and if not do we really need to be paying for this service?
Stop moaning. It's an interesting insight into what goes on, so it is worth paying for. Do you notice programming suffering?
Go on. Admit it. You could scrap half the weather bulletins and no one would care.
My blogs are better! hehe
either way this one is real time so keep going!
one man
one blog
one heck of a lot of coffee
Is Rita Chakrabarti, your political correspondent, any relation to Shami Chakrabarti, your regularly-appearing guest from Liberty??
Really enjoying this Simon, but I feel that as we're watching it on TV we don't need as much of a running commentary of what's happening on screen, and it would be more interesting to find out what is going on behind the scenes.
The info about the Ghana story breaking, but it would be interesting to hear what you then did. It has gotten more interesting as time goes on - the false alarm in the train station, the technical problems.
Great idea though - really interesting!
Several questions - pick which you want to answer, if any, you know, seeing as how you're working and everything (as am I actually.)
1) You mentioned about maintaining the calm atmosphere, what is the most fraught atmosphere you can ever remember at News 24, and are there 'unlikely' stories that have really tested you?
2) Is there someone in the gallery responsible with liasing with Five Live, seeing as how you're frequently breaking the same stories and sharing correspondents (I see from a ±«Óãtv policy document that if there's only a single reporter available Five Live get priority for the first update, is that true?)
2) Occasionally you'll opt-out of the 1 o'clock news to do rolling-news, is there a financial limit on how many days you're allowed to do that, or is it a straightforward editorial decision?
interesting insight in to news production for us media students! thanks!
Am loving this blog! It gives a really good insight into the behind the scenes action and makes good reading. Thanks for taking the time to do this and well done! x
Thanks for the blog - really interesting. You should do it every morning!
How many people are there in the gallery and what are their jobs?
Hi
great initiative. One question, though: why should the ±«Óãtv's apology to the Queen lead the 12pm bulletin? I am puzzled...
Thanks for adding the background - its fascinating to see the balance between a prepared show and live show - it is really interesting to see what it must be like trying to constantly judge the news as it breaks, taking into account technical issues, etc.
I don't know if there is an easy answer, but what part does the popularity of a story on the website influence the running order and time for stories?
Thanks
Blog doesn't do it for me - too much fuss hitting F5 to refresh all day long ...
Isn't there a one way IM client or something that we could see as you type? Or would that be too "raw"?
Concept is a great one thoug - how about a live web cam for you next time around?
Tony
All gone quiet after the Queen story?
This is an excellent read! Quite how these news guys manage to read and report the same story over and over most of the day without going insane is beyond me!
Interesting blog in showing how the line-up changes, but still plenty to worry about in the dumbing down.
First item: "inquests. But what we're most interested in is the Queen throwing a strop on camera." Really? HM just got a bit annoyed with a photographer - do you really have that much contempt for the families of servicemen killed in Iraq? I am sure HM would agree with me, not you.
Secondly, this drugs story in Ghana. Suppose some Ghanaian was caught at Heathrow with drugs? Wouldn't even make the news and the popular reaction would be that he individual concerned should be slung in jail for a long time. Why are so concerned about this?
An "unprecidented apology", the first since Hutton?
Any chance we could have a republican viewpoint of the Queen "story" for a bit of balance?
±«Óãtv apologises to the Queen:
For a long time I have noticed the drop in standards of news journalism and reporting where facts have been distorted, coloured and often with larconic expression of the reporter's own bias.
Is there any moves to restore standards?
Shame - The Queen doing a strop sounds swell to me.
It would be really good if we could have - as we last did during the Iraq War - the ±«Óãtv World television news on News 24 during this time.
There is nobody who can receive News 24 who cannot watch ±«Óãtv One so no-one would be deprived of Breakfast, but there could be a really serious alternative to Breakfast, Sunrise and TVam...
I fully agree with this. ±«Óãtv World would add tremedous value, and there is no reason why the same programme (Breakfast) should be broadcast simultaneously on two different channels.!
What can be missing from N24 is world news, something ±«Óãtv World is very good at.
This is a great idea. It would be great if the blog appeared in reverse chronological order so that the most recent updates appear at the top.
Well done. Fantastic insight. Please, please, please consider doing it every day!
WoW! it's amzing a) how stressfull your job sounds and b) how much time from work experience I managed to use reading through the blog! thanks Simon you have made today easier! good luck and of course the Queen doesn't have strops...she has a royal flip-out! duh!
bye for now
This was fantastic to read whilst watching the news. I'd definitely support moves to have this done all the time. It makes one feel as though you're involved in the news and the ±«Óãtv feels less distant. Two thumbs up!
Why is it that when the HM Revenue & Customs Head of News was on about the Ghana drugs story, he was subtitled as "Customs & Excise"? C&E was done away with over 2 years ago, you'd think that the Beeb would have noticed...
A brilliant and successful experiement but it must have been exhausting for you Simon. Please do it again sometime.
Can I add my support to the calls for something 'heavier' on ±«Óãtv News 24 in the mornings, rather than Breakfast? Simulcasting with World sounds like a good idea to me.
The apology was absolutely necessary. The editing of photos and speech into a non-sequential in order to produce a slant on events is deceitful. This kind of trick is common to totalitarian rule than publically funded corporations with world-wide influence. As much as I have always respected the ±«Óãtv, it shakes my confidence to think someone could actually get away with this kind of reporting and editing. Who can we trust these days? What other news items are spun?
Thanks to everyone who commented on this morning's live blog from the News 24 gallery. Your views, critical or not, are fascinating to read and there are lots of interesting ideas there too. Plus loads of questions - and apologies if yours was one I didn't answer while I was on air. I hope to reply to as many posts as possible - but please bear with me, it'll probably be tomorrow before that happens...
I'm sure all this is very
well-intentioned, but I kind of wish you would blog off and get on with your job - instead of posting every time you go for a coffee or pee. Presumably less live-blogging might mean fewer on-air mistakes of the kind the ±«Óãtv keeps having to apologise for?
So,the ±«Óãtv uses lies to publicise a documentary, then has to apologise. Still, objective achieved and publicity generated, good job ±«Óãtv, keep up the high standards.
A couple of points:
1. Great blog, but it would be easier to read displayed in reverse order.
2. ±«Óãtv World instead of ±«Óãtv1 Breakfast would be a definite improvement. Those who wish to watch Breakfast can, and others can watch something different, thereby reaching a wider audience.
3. Please, PLEASE can internet users overseas watch News24 online! Especially as a Licence fee payer it really doesn't seem right that I don't have this service available.
An excellent way to push the blog boundaries out a bit further...
I have written my thoughts on this kind of thing on www.mediawatchblog.tv hope you get chance to check it out.
PS: still on the web based theme, I'd love to know how newsgathering via RSS would compare with ENPS?
Probably the most boring question on the planet, but the maps you use on air (across the ±«Óãtv), do you have a virtual globe with a load of locations planned in, similar to google earth, or do you have to manually enter a location in to get the 30 second zoom in location?
Excellent Blog!
Just need to hear about opinions, choices and decisions higher up the managerial chain.
The blog format is perfect if the ±«Óãtv actually want the public to engage. Otherwise it's the usual scatter something vague to the newspapers. It's not enough just to have a debate. We need to know who is actually making the successful decisions. Have you thought of the damage caused by not making any or too few decisions?
a great blog, but I prefer my news on the old fashioned goggle . I wonder if ±«Óãtv news will ever make its ways onto the channel? There global weather point and click is fab.