[itsrobert]

I've seen a lot of TV news bulletins from the gallery over the years and being a newsreader is definitely a high-pressure job. They aren't sitting there twiddling their thumbs during VTs - as Stuart says, they are discussing changes to the running order, tweaking scripts, liaising with the director over upcoming camera shots, making small talk and discussing the line of questioning with both in-studio guests and DTL interviews with correspondents, etc.

Most of the bulletins I've seen in person have had a chaotic feel to them and I always come away feeling that it's a miracle they actually come off on air as well as they do. Honestly, what you see on TV bears absolutely no resemblance to what's going on behind the scenes. I've often recorded the bulletins I'm due to see in person and watching them back later it really is amazing that none of the chaos behind the scenes is visible to the audience. That is the skill of a newsreader - keeping everything under control while it's all falling apart around them.

Some of my favourites I've seen over the years have been the ITV Lunchtime News. Lunchtime bulletins always have something of a 'lively' feel to them. The news agenda for the day is still firming up, there are plenty of developing stories and lots of lives during the broadcast. The evening/late bulletins have generally been a bit more orderly, but not always of course!

I've seen quite a few high profile BBC and ITV newsreaders over the years and my favourite has to be Alastair Stewart. He was a consummate professional and a real showman. I recall him walking into the studio just a few minutes before the Lunchtime News was due to go on air and right up to the wire he was still debating the terminology in the script for the bongs with the programme editor and rewriting until the very last minute. Yet, he made it all look easy.

The other good situation - well for the observer at least - is when the top story isn't ready moments before TX. That's always a spectacle to behold! Another good Lunchtime News I saw was when one of the cameras broke during the programme. They had to segue from two in-studio interviews without one of the cameras. The directing from Paul Swindell was masterful - Geraint Vincent was instructed to read slowly while they swapped out the guests using the same chair (had the camera not broken down, they could have used both sides of the desk). Watching it back later, the audience would never have known what had happened.