[Studio7]

To some extent - yes, these are the stories they should be covering, but I can't say I'm all that enthused about the fact the entire evening block is now almost entirely built around external contributor interviews or pundit 'analysis'. Sure, there is a place for a few of these interviews and Hakim is good at them (particularly when they fall into her areas of interest), but some actual news reporting would be nice at some point. Plus, considering the cost contributor fees rack up, I'd personally prefer some of that to be invested in BBC journalists.

I sense that the traditional package (or a news report, in layman's terms) is considered passé in some quarters. Analysis and interviews are 'in', PKGs are out. Couldn't agree with you more, though. Seems a bit like the powers that be are trying to reinvent the wheel.

EDIT: Weirdly, in some respects it's like the BBC are trying to copy GB News (but without the inflammatory opinions!). That channel's programming is almost entirely based around discussion, with very few filmed reports (and at the start there were none, just lots of pointless, unstructured live hits). It's like the mindset of the people running the new News Channel is 'everything's gotta be live!' without realising that you need filmed reports to put the lives into context.