[Matrix]

What a ridiculous post. No talent development? There are countless development and work experience programmes in tv news, particularly within ITV.

Dealing with what was actually written, exclusively about PRESENTERS development,  at each level  there aren't as many men brought on screen for bullies and main programme fillins as woman in most regions.  Some regions do better than other.

It's hard to explain without outing the people involved, but it's a phenomenon that actual staff describe to me, they don't feel mentored in that side of things and feel discouraged from spending time developing the skills. How true that perception is open to debate but it cant fairly be described as ridiculous.

It's not unnoticed that when jobs do arise, Guy Phillips has gone for external BBC candidates and internal moves of already quasi lead names (Anglia,  West Country from BBC; Channel, Meridian, Central all in-house long term)

Skipping over the obvious example given in favor of insults doesn't add to anything, but if you want to play for 'likes' then by all means.

For core business requirements like reporting,   ITV do offer good training and development, but it's not altruistic - work experience at different sites functions as staff cover and headcount for the business. A few months at ITV Channel isn't going to make you a much better skilled reporter after all, however cute the little outing may be.

If you work in regional TV, Phil,  perhaps take time to talk to your male colleagues and explore the topic in an open and trusting way and really listen to what they tell you. It won't be everyone's experience but it a reality for far too many. 

BtW, It's not a "culture war" issue,  50+ woman in particular have some horror stories to share as well, which equally don't look great on certain broadcasters - but we're talking about specific F+F pairing today.

Yes, because taking a personal narrative and then applying that to a whole sector sounds a robust approach to me. 

As others have said, it’s clearly absurd. There are a raft of talent management schemes, not to mention legislation, which centres recruitment on skills and experience, rather than say gender or sex.

[Stockland Hillman]

Surly nobody is the naive in 2023 to think legalisation and 'schemes' erase bias in access to opportunity on the workplace?

Equality is built on 'personal narrative ' you dismiss. Listening to actual perceived experience and then observation if any negative issues repeat is the foundation of equality work. Then look at data. Then work out how to correct either the issue or the perception.

Look at the gender, ethnicity,demo and socio profiles of a UK TV newsrooms editorial staff and you'll see a recognised set of issues.

The fact there is instant dismissal of a relativity innocuous post highlighting a noticeable lack of upcoming male news presenters is a shame. So I'm not going to add to diminishing of a real problem for some people by more posts on this topic

[all new phil]

Won’t someone please think of all the poor men and their lack of opportunities.

[DTV]

Hull is slightly smaller than Birmingham, but also significantly longer - Hull is 13.5 x 7.2m (~97 sqm), while Birmingham is roughly 11 x 9m (~99 sqm). If the identical set thing is to be believed (which I doubt), this would mean that it'd have to fit in a space of 11m x 7.2m (~79 sqm) - which would be ludicrously small. The Washington studio is a similar floorspace (~80 sqm), but is virtually square so not as constrained with regards to depth. It'd also be quite a low set owing to Salford's set having an unusually low ceiling.

Just to bring some more colour to the discussion from a few days ago, I've managed to put together this diagram showing the comparative sizes of BBC national and regional studios. There's a little incompleteness - I don't have a good figure for Leeds or Nottingham - but it should help explain things and I don't think either the missing studios are at the small end. I've simplified the shapes of the studios (most aren't perfect rectangles) and these are wall-to-wall dimensions (Studio B, for instance, has firelanes that take about 1-1.5m off each side).

[Moz]

Is Salford the existing Breakfast studio or the new one?

[DTV]

Is Salford the existing Breakfast studio or the new one?

It's the existing one - it's surprisingly large on paper and bigger than the new one, but that just goes to show that shape and height matter as much in a studio as floorspace!

[m_in_m]

Is Salford the existing Breakfast studio or the new one?

It's the existing one - it's surprisingly large on paper and bigger than the new one, but that just goes to show that shape and height matter as much in a studio as floorspace!

I wonder how different Salford would have felt used the other way round - so sofa on the right and the more flexible void space in the smaller left. Interestingly Salford is the reverse of the design used at TVC in these terms.

[DTV]

I wonder how different Salford would have felt used the other way round - so sofa on the right and the more flexible void space in the smaller left. Interestingly Salford is the reverse of the design used at TVC in these terms.

I'm not sure it'd be possible. The 'stage door' is at that end of the studio and, while you don't necessarily need to be bringing things in and out, it helps for musical segments and when they bring in other furniture for that end of the set. Also, even without the door placement issues, that end is not as wide as the other end. While you could rotate the sofa area 90° clockwise and have a deeper, narrow set at that end, it might feel a bit claustrophobic.

Here's a basic diagram of the studio I did nearly a decade ago...



They also seem to alternate the side of the studio the sofa is on - In the 2003 set it was central, though to the right of the news desk; 2006 it was on the left; 2008 it was on the right; and in Salford its been on the left of the set. From the images we've seen so far of the new set, it looks to be on the right - so continuing the pattern.

[Moz]

Is Salford the existing Breakfast studio or the new one?

It's the existing one - it's surprisingly large on paper and bigger than the new one, but that just goes to show that shape and height matter as much in a studio as floorspace!

Any chance you could overlay the new one?

[DTV]

Any chance you could overlay the new one?

It's a bit tricky because the new studio is a no waller, so it's hard to determine the boundaries. Based on the pictures of the set we've seen, I'd say that the set itself seems to have a footprint about 13.5 x 9m - so the width of the Hull studio and the depth of the Birmingham studio. Not huge, but not an unreasonable size and, of course, it does have the advantages of a newsroom backdrop (which gives it extra depth) and doesn't have to worry about studio walls, firelanes, etc.