[Critique]

I’m a bit concerned about posting my views in this thread as my response to the changes isn’t nearly as hysterical as the response has been from other members… ‘Embarrassing’ and ‘amateur’ may be views of some in this thread, but having flicked through the first hour of the combined channel, it’s simply not the case.

On the whole, what I’ve seen so far has been broadly fine - it’s not been amazing or revolutionary but it does the job. In terms of the running order, they seem to have increased the number of stories they cover in an hour, which is to be welcomed. There also appeared to be more live interviews than you would normally expect, including a few that were (a bit too obviously) shot on phones; this is another positive, even if some of the interviews have dragged on for a little too long.

There is definitely still a test to come in terms of a day where the UK/World running orders don’t sync up so well, but breaking news of relevance only to viewers in the UK was swiftly covered in the 9am hour and followed up with a live interview not long after. Whilst that may not be great news for a World audience, I think it will suit viewers in the UK quite well.

Of course, it hasn’t been perfect. I’m not a fan of the single-level story straps - just leaving the same headline on-screen throughout an interview or VT doesn’t tell you much and also looks a bit weird visually. Whilst the opt to/from the :15/:45 fillers is a bit smoother than it was before, the little presenter interviews do seem a bit random and it’s strange that they don’t have a proper ending, with the interviewed presenter just nodding/grimacing like the capture above until they cut away from the filler, rather than an end cap neatly rounding it off. The interview that was done in the newsroom in front of one of the new screens also added nothing and would have looked much better done from Studio E.

As for the mishmash of old titles and updated graphics in the studio, whilst I’m not expecting any big changes, hopefully there is an update to come later today as suggested earlier in the thread, as retaining the box logo in the titles when it’s been removed from everywhere else is silly and inconsistent. I do get the argument that it’s hard to rebrand all of the BBC with the chameleon look in an instant, but the roll-out has been incredibly protracted and it does look sloppy only some elements use the chameleon style.