Posts: 44
Threads: 0
Likes Received: 114 in 27 posts
Likes Given: 43
Joined: Aug 2022
(22-01-2024, 03:05 PM)Stooky Bill Wrote: The thing is that at 10pm on election night the only thing that matters is who's won the election. Opinions are for the previous four weeks, they aren't relevant once voting stops.
But it does give the broadcasters something to actually talk about for the first 3 or 4 hours, because at 10pm on election night nobody knows who has won yet
(This post was last modified: 22-01-2024, 03:27 PM by
neonemesis.)
Posts: 1,209
Threads: 0
Likes Received: 4,853 in 995 posts
Likes Given: 243
Joined: Aug 2022
(22-01-2024, 03:05 PM)Stooky Bill Wrote: The thing is that at 10pm on election night the only thing that matters is who's won the election. Opinions are for the previous four weeks, they aren't relevant once voting stops.
Why people voted the way they did matters just as much as how they voted - not just in terms of understanding the result itself, but it has repercussions for politics over the next parliament as MPs and the government try to respond to the public. It is fundamentally odd that UK election coverage doesn't really go into much data-based analysis of this. Instead, you get politicians and journalists writing the narrative of the election - during the programme - based on either motivated reasoning or assumptions that may or may not be correct.
And it impacts the real world. During the 2017 election night programme, the BBC's political editor repeatedly made the claim that, because UKIP's vote was down by around 10 points and Labour's was up by around the same amount, Labour's surge was driven by UKIP voters. But this wasn't true - although there were some UKIP to Labour switchers, they were a small minority (~10%) of the new Labour voters. And you didn't need post-election studies to tell you this, opinion poll data at the time said this. Yet because the BBC programme lacked the data, the assumption wasn't quashed and became one of the stories of the election - I've heard it repeated for years, with the BBC regularly cited as a source, and it arguably impacted Labour strategy in 2019.
Posts: 30
Threads: 0
Likes Received: 80 in 20 posts
Likes Given: 32
Joined: Sep 2022
(22-01-2024, 03:16 PM)arbrax Wrote: You don't want to see him do his cowboy act again, but this time with Ed Davey? Shame
I'll pass.
If you said Gangnam Style with Ed Balls, that's a different kettle of fish...
Posts: 326
Threads: 1
Likes Received: 960 in 238 posts
Likes Given: 40
Joined: Jul 2022
As well, of course, it's 27 years since we had an election with a result that involved BOTH a change of party of government but also where it was fairly clear what the result was going to be at 10pm.
Things could change, of course, but I'd suggest it's quite likely we might be in a position where it's obvious who's going to win certainly by about 1am and it's also going to be a change of party in charge for the first time in 14 years.
It changes the dynamic of how a show is prepared for and then presented - whereas in 2010, 2015 and 2017, we weren't sure of the result until mid-morning, it looks like that will be different this time.
Posts: 151
Threads: 0
Likes Received: 220 in 72 posts
Likes Given: 35
Joined: Jul 2022
The rehearsals will cover different possible outcomes. You can’t really make assumptions about what is going to happen, even if it seems likely, all outcomes are prepared for regardless. People will be in place anyway.
Posts: 3,964
Threads: 18
Likes Received: 6,435 in 2,088 posts
Likes Given: 2,923
Joined: Jul 2022
Obviously there is always a team of presenters alongside the main host but has the BBC and ITN coverage almost always been led by a sole host (though sometimes with a change the next morning)?
Given the length and nature of the broadcast there would be logic in going for a co-hosting arrangement.
(This post was last modified: 22-01-2024, 05:10 PM by
Brekkie.)
Posts: 417
Threads: 1
Likes Received: 1,571 in 309 posts
Likes Given: 113
Joined: Jul 2022
I'm surprised Nick Robinson or Jo Coburn's names haven't been thrown into the ring.
(This post was last modified: 22-01-2024, 05:21 PM by
Worzel.)
Posts: 604
Threads: 2
Likes Received: 1,564 in 396 posts
Likes Given: 295
Joined: Jul 2022
May I suggest Kirsty Young as a possibility?
Posts: 26
Threads: 0
Likes Received: 104 in 20 posts
Likes Given: 8
Joined: Jul 2022
If anyone has any discussion on the topic that is fine, but otherwise let's not just turn this into another thread of idle speculation on names of presenters please.
Posts: 30
Threads: 0
Likes Received: 80 in 20 posts
Likes Given: 32
Joined: Sep 2022
I disagree that it's idle speculation. Some of the points being raised are in response to coverage elsewhere in the media concerning whom the BBC could/should select to anchor its coverage of the General Election. I'd posit that it's difficult for the BBC to plan and to have rehearsals when it remains unsure as to whom will be in the chair on the night in question.
Moreover, it leads to a conversation about what the BBC and the public expect of the anchor in question on that night. Do they expect somebody with whom they are familiar but with a more foreign-based reporting record (and little to no experience in political coverage) to assume the responsibility? Or do they expect somebody equally as familiar yet with a greater level of domestic and political reporting in their background? Indeed, if it were Reeta Chakrabarti that were selected, that raises the question of who should step in to her prior role at the touchscreen. This isn't idle speculation but a considered question about the chess pieces that BBC need to resolve with urgency.