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(29-11-2023, 09:19 PM)mouseboy33 Wrote: But when you pay your taxes and 2 major cities declare bankruptcy, makes you wonder maybe they need watching if your tax money is going to waste. Then your bins dont get picked up on time and lampposts arent being fixed and the libraries close. A mate of mine showed me where the beautiful Victorian-era library is boarded up in one of the Manchester area councils because they cant afford to run it. Its really sad. There are lots of hands in the biscuit tin. 
As I said, although there is obviously always a worry of local government corruption, fundamentally this isn't really the case with the current wave of council bankruptcies which are primarily caused by the sigificant reduction of the central government grant (40% in real terms from 2010 to 2020), a major component of council funding. Most councils are already at essential services only level (many libraries are long gone) and have used up their entire financial reserves, with continued financial pressures (and an inability to leverage extra revenue) meaning that dozens more councils across the country, controlled by parties of all colours, are on the verge of issuing a Section 114. Ultimately, there's not really any money to waste.
(29-11-2023, 09:19 PM)mouseboy33 Wrote: Still wondering about the BBC Radio Reporters appearing on BBC Regional tv. Is that a thing or not?
They will sometimes appear. As is typical of the BBC these days, most reporters are multi-media to some extent.
(This post was last modified: 29-11-2023, 10:01 PM by
DTV.)
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Just by way of interest here are some of the stories covered by the newsteam of the PBS station WTTW in Chicago. Its an interesting collection of stories. PBS is the US public service broadcaster. WTTW has a fairly decent news operation. They dont really cover typical city crime stories unless significant or unusual.
news.wttw.com
You should be able to watch them here.
news.wttw.com
Its a very solid broadcast and no fluff. What you'd expect from a PBS outlet. Despite the fact that most people outside the US think every station is WSVN on steroids.
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(29-11-2023, 09:51 PM)DTV Wrote: As I said, although there is obviously always a worry of local government corruption, fundamentally this isn't really the case with the current wave of council bankruptcies which are primarily caused by the sigificant reduction of the central government grant (40% in real terms from 2010 to 2020), a major component of council funding. Most councils are already at essential services only level (many libraries are long gone) and have used up their entire financial reserves, with continued financial pressures (and an inability to leverage extra revenue) meaning that dozens more councils across the country, controlled by parties of all colours, are on the verge of issuing a Section 114. Ultimately, there's not really any money to waste.
Well really sounds interesting. Thanks for that information. Seems with money so tight someone needs to keep an eye out.
Stories like this i find interesting.
www.thebusinessdesk.com
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Midlands Today pushing the creation of a Wolverhampton specific news page, they even have special titles and stings produced where nearly all the shots are of Wolverhampton, and the place names just say 'Midlands Today'.
up.metropol247.co.uk
A nice idea, however someone has rendered the titles out with interlacing and at SD resolution, so as the text rotates it blurs into itself and as each transmission ring moves it sort of fades across in a stuttery way.
While it could be said there's no need for full HD, when upscaled on the iPlayer stream (and already downscaled at render) everything looks blurry, moreso than normal:
up.metropol247.co.uk
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There are fewer shots than in the normal version, so the pace seems a bit off as well. Hopefully they'll revert back to the normal titles next week. Although now this version exists, I can see it being played out in error regularly.
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(05-12-2023, 08:19 PM)Phil Wrote: There are fewer shots than in the normal version, so the pace seems a bit off as well. Hopefully they'll revert back to the normal titles next week. Although now this version exists, I can see it being played out in error regularly.
That is interesting, I knew something else was off and couldn't tell what.
I assume they didn't have enough generic 'people doing things' and 'drone shots' of Wolverhampton alone? They never had this issue with their HS2, Flooding or Storm Dennis special titles a few years back (or the issues with render resolution and framerate). I'm sure it's a simple error, we've all rendered stuff out incorrectly (I set the framerate wrong on an old countdown mock of mine which meant the countdown was actually getting progressively faster by the end of it, it's easily done when you're fiddling in AME).
What was nice to see was the Chameleon BBC icons appearing on a regional tower - not sure anywhere else has done this yet but as part of the plug for said Wolverhampton page they had a nice little graphic demonstrating the new page and morphing into the generic 'BBC News' icon:
up.metropol247.co.uk
(This post was last modified: 06-12-2023, 01:38 AM by
Mike.)
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Meanwhile, looks like there's been a soft launch for ITV News Central on ITVX...
www.itv.com
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Interesting I would have thought with the new BBC regional sets there would have been a set placement for the Christmas tree. Most regions have opted to have the tree to the right of the sofa at the front of the set, EMT have opted to have it directly behind the presenter. So have they gone rogue or is there no fixed placement?
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(06-12-2023, 03:30 PM)lookoutwales Wrote: Meanwhile, looks like there's been a soft launch for ITV News Central on ITVX...
www.itv.com
Very soft launch indeed. A retiring lollipop lady and christmas market....ok
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(11-12-2023, 04:02 PM)South Wrote: Interesting I would have thought with the new BBC regional sets there would have been a set placement for the Christmas tree. Most regions have opted to have the tree to the right of the sofa at the front of the set, EMT have opted to have it directly behind the presenter. So have they gone rogue or is there no fixed placement?
Midlands Today's lunchtime bulletin started without the Christmas tree, and then by the end of the bulletin it was there. I suspect this was an intentional thing though as the first story was about how it's been a year since 4 children drowned in a frozen lake in Solihull and having a Christmas tree visible in the shot might have been seen as insensitive.
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