[simon]

It's been a while since I've read the BBC Obit Guidelines, but I believe announcement of a Category One death requires DG approval before broadcast. If he's already in the gallery then it saves having to track him down to get the go-ahead.

Wouldn't radio (and online) have required the same approval?

Of course in that particular circumstance where the news was anticipated you could imagine him pre-authorising the Editors on duty to go ahead as soon as the PA and/or Palace twitter announced it.

My understanding from friends who work there is that there is a list of senior figures from BBC News - which does not include the DG - who can authorise the announcement of a royal death.

It would make sense for the DG to not be on the list, as they are not neccessarily someone with any journalistic experience. It also makes sense for it to be a list of people rather than an individual, so that authorisation can still be obtained if one person isn't reachable.

[bbctvtechop]

Wouldn't radio (and online) have required the same approval?

Of course in that particular circumstance where the news was anticipated you could imagine him pre-authorising the Editors on duty to go ahead as soon as the PA and/or Palace twitter announced it.

My understanding from friends who work there is that there is a list of senior figures from BBC News - which does not include the DG - who can authorise the announcement of a royal death.

It would make sense for the DG to not be on the list, as they are not neccessarily someone with any journalistic experience. It also makes sense for it to be a list of people rather than an individual, so that authorisation can still be obtained if one person isn't reachable.

Is the correct answer.

[TVenthusiasm]

Here's some new footage of the death announcement (the one with the anthem) from the Studio E gallery that I just came across:

https://twitter.com/janetmcallen/status/1605148550303735808

[Matrix]

Wouldn't radio (and online) have required the same approval?

Of course in that particular circumstance where the news was anticipated you could imagine him pre-authorising the Editors on duty to go ahead as soon as the PA and/or Palace twitter announced it.

My understanding from friends who work there is that there is a list of senior figures from BBC News - which does not include the DG - who can authorise the announcement of a royal death.

It would make sense for the DG to not be on the list, as they are not neccessarily someone with any journalistic experience. It also makes sense for it to be a list of people rather than an individual, so that authorisation can still be obtained if one person isn't reachable.

Yeah, there are a series of Senior Editors who can authorise a Category One announcement and that is based around roles (rather than individuals) and based on the concept of escalating a story depending on its nature. 

While the idea of waking the DG in the middle of the night to authorise an announcement is a long gone one, the Directorate are also still kept closely briefed on any announcements of 'national and international importance' (as we saw with bods suddenly appearing in the newsroom/gallery).

[nwtv2003]

I’d rather post it here than on a new thread, but there’s a documentary on Channel 5 right now about the day the Queen died, and there’s a lot of interviews with many journalists working that day, including one of the senior editors at ITN. Even Bargain Hunt getting interrupted got a mention.

[UTVLifer]

It is quite an interesting doc, especially hearing little details like how Dan Walker saw a notification on his phone just before he made the announcement on C5, Dermot mentioning that he paused as rain had gotten on his autocue

[Andrew]

I might catch up with this doc, was it any good?

Often Channel 5 clip shows can be quite poor quality, a 5 second clip ripped from YouTube and then 2 minutes of Z listers discussing it at a most basic level

Did they have contributions of high profile names actually involved?

[BBI45]

youtu.be 

[UTVLifer]

I might catch up with this doc, was it any good?

Often Channel 5 clip shows can be quite poor quality, a 5 second clip ripped from YouTube and then 2 minutes of Z listers discussing it at a most basic level

Did they have contributions of high profile names actually involved?

Dan Walker, Dermot Murnaghan, Vanessa Feltz, a few royal commentators as well as ITN's director of news

[Toby brown]

It was a very interesting programming