[Kojak]

Yes, because most viewers tune into BBC News based on who's presenting...  Or maybe they tune in because they want to catch the news and in reality most aren't really bothered who is presenting.  

I suspect outside of forums such as these the latter is usually the case.

I think that comment is rather dismissive of the people who became familar faces on the news channel over the years.  Even if casual viewers may not know them by name a face you know can be a face you trust - and trust is more important than ever with BBC News.


The problem though as you elude to is people tune in to catch the news - and in reality this new channel is not delivering the news that UK viewers tune in to the BBC for.    It's the failure everybody predicted it would be.

I see both your points. Though as I said earlier, Lucy Hockings (whom the original post was referring to) isn't exactly an unfamiliar face. She's been seen on many, many joint NC/World programmes - and I'm pretty sure she was the regular 5am host for a while, so she would have been seen on both channels then as well. We've had that many simulcasts over the past few years that I'd say most of the World faces (certainly all of the fab five) are at least somewhat familiar to UK viewers. And hopefully we will at least still see the likes of Martine Croxall and Annita McVeigh popping up from time to time.