[xlalonce]

I think that, for many people, the 'texture and reality' that background noise brings to news presentation generally ends up being an unnecessary distraction. In the middle of trying to listen to and understand the details of a potentially complex story -- about a serial murderer, a terrorist attack, a plane crash -- that kind of background noise serves no useful purpose other than to draw attention to itself, and draw attention away from the news topic being covered. 

In my opinion, most viewers watching a news bulletin are not seeking the kind of 'connection' to a location that you allude to; in the example you cited, most viewers watching were not just down the road as you were, and would therefore surely have been less forgiving of background noise pulling focus from the story being discussed. 

I recall watching various OBs over the years where the gentle patter of rain in the background has suddenly become a MASSIVE RELENTLESS DOWNPOUR -- and in the middle of a correspondent trying to do their bit to camera, as a viewer, one's attention immediately becomes distracted by the monsoon conditions that have suddenly appeared, and you're no longer paying attention to the story. 

Similarly, it might add some 'buzz' to be watching a BBC Verify slot, for example, in the newsroom and to randomly hear someone in the background shouting "Can you send that to me?" or to suddenly hear a loud bang or thud off-camera, but if that happens in the middle of a report, I find myself no longer paying attention that report -- all my attention is now on who's emailing what to whom; or wtf that loud bang was. Perhaps that's just me. 

Indeed, I can only speak for myself, but I don't get those who are so in favour of embracing background noise to add some kind of 'ambience' or 'buzz' to news presentation -- for the simple reason that, all too often, it ends up doing nothing but drawing attention away from the content, and distracting from the actual news.

The focus on that issue should be on how the sound is being managed by the gallery. A good example of that is ABC News (US) circa 2000-2004 when the studio was in the newsroom. You can notice how, during coverages like 911, the sounds of phones ringing were there, but not to the point of distracting. In fact, they added to the sense of urgency of the news covered. But they managed to arrange the studio so the sounds of the newsroom were controlled properly by the gallery. Again, that require capable and experienced people. People that probably were let go by the BBC. People with little time to explain young coworkers who took several tasks that were the job of just one individual prior to the merger. So that would explain (in a nutshell) why this constant track of problems (Sound and other areas)