[interestednovice]

Despite the mounting criticism that it’s received I am pleased they’re not giving in. It’s been more important than ever for news which is factual and impartial especially with the what seems constant flow of fake news and conspiracies. 

Without being political, I think many politicians and media groups going back at least the last 15/20 years have called into question the impartiality and accuracy of the BBC often for their own gain or to cover up own mistakes. In a world where conspiracy theories can cross the globe within minutes, having those in power publicly question the accuracy of the BBC has fuelled the voices who call out against it. 

In remember years back that there was a report which criticised how slow the bbc was at reporting breaking news to which the bbc explain it was due to the verification process. Has this been reduced? Is this why things like this slip through? 

I’ve alway felt that changing the ticket to a flipper was a bad move. The flipper has a limited space whilst the ticker had the flexibility to include more detail. Likewise the move to a single line lower third has removed the ability to add more context and has resulted in complicated events trying to be summarised in one line. 

I do think these cuts will have had a big impact on the reason we are seeing these careless mistakes slipping through. Whilst they may have enough staff when compared to others they will inevitably be taking on more roles and tasks which they’re not used to doing which could lead to them dropping the ball much more. Having said that some of the mistakes just aren’t good enough. 

In relation to the channel working. I agree, it should in principle work but I don’t think it ever well. If it was sky who had done this i think people would have been much more accepting. The problem is that people have a much higher level of expectation when it comes to the bbc. 

UK viewers expect a news channel which focuses on stories and events with a more UK focus. With the storm this week, people would have been tuning in to the BBC normally to get a constant rolling news update. With the cuts to local radios people have lost both of these important sources. People find reassurance from them. World viewers expect that high standard of BBC reporting on events from  across the world.  With expert analysis but also providing them with an unbiased overview. 

The problem is the available budgets don’t allow this to happen but that’s not going to change people’s expectations however much people might tell them that’s how its got to be. Ultimately because of how the bbc is funded and because of what people have gotten used to it feels like the channel is doomed to fail trying to please both audiences because as we’ve proved in this thread it’s never going to be able to. 

On a positive note to finish I still believe in the bbc and as interestednovice said when its at its best it’s untouchable

I absolutely agree with your post, and I do also get the point that essentially trying to satisfy everyone, from available budget, given the push-and-pull of what to cover and how on the merged channel especially - but also wider BBC News - is very difficult, if not impossible.

I also want to mention, regarding recent events, that Rushdi Abualouf has been excellent. Drawing on his experience working for the BBC World Service shows how, even now when subject to cuts, the BBC has an unrivalled global reach in coverage and that’s such an asset.

The flipper worked OK at first when properly staffed as it “flicked through” lines often. It doesn’t work now. Also, the single line lower thirds are a real problem. I agree.

I believe the breaking news procedure is/was for a NC presenter to record a video of the news while a VT was playing, then announce it live on the channel at the next available opportunity. Before this, the news would also be confirmed prior to announcement as speculation was not to be aired as per BBC policy. This even applied to events such as election results, when results would never be “confirmed” until it was official.