[DTV]

This is the reality of the merger though, no? I can't really criticise them for it because you might not like it but you cannot deny the Schofield story *is* one of the biggest stories in the UK right now. Its perfectly legitimate for them to cover it, and UK viewers would probably expect some news about it when they turn on the channel. Of course international viewers might not know anything about Schofield or who he is, but UK viewers probably wouldn't know too much about the finer points of the recent Greek or Turkish elections either.

It's not the reality of the merger, no. The merged channel should focus on the major international and UK news. While this story is undeniably a talking point in the UK, it is frankly not actually particularly newsworthy, even before getting on to international viewers. Even though (rightly) not as patrician as it once was, the BBC should still be delivering news more based on what viewers need to/should know than on the tabloid-esque what they want to know. While there might be a level of coverage that can be given over to such a story on the channel, it should be low down the running order, if not an In Brief item. To treat it as not just a major world story but the lead story is a major editorial misjudgement and, in my view, unjustifiable.

I'm also not particularly sure the point you're making comparing the Schofield story to international elections. Sure, there is a knowledge imbalance, but the job of the news is ultimately to explain what has happened and why it matters. That's quite easy to do with an election - particularly in countries of reasonable size. It's a lot harder to do with a story about presenter turnover on a not particularly major UK TV programme.

Honestly, the whole shift in the last few weeks - most noticeable with the Schofield story - just reeks of a typical BBC reaction to criticism they likely got over the lower levels of UK news on the new channel. Rather than stand their ground and make their case or think any changes through, it looks like they've gone down their usual route of knee-jerk overcorrection and are now deliberately pushing UK stories up the running order, regardless of their news value.