The Ice Bucket Challenge - Has it lost its purpose?

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

It has become the latest internet craze and it is raising money for causes that deserve it. However, the Ice Bucket Challenge, which has seen actors & actresses, musicians, TV personalities and sports stars raise awareness for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), is threatening to get out of control.

Questions are starting to be raised about the point of the challenge and has it lost its edge/purpose? I promote more background on the Ice Bucket craze and give my view on the summer sensation online.

The idea

So, the Ice Bucket Challenge does exactly what it says on the tin (excuse the pun). It involves people dumping a bucket of ice over themselves, or being assisted in this way by another member of a team, whether that is a family member, relationship partner or work colleague (group pictured conducting the challenge below).

A group of people in Sunderland undertake the Ice Bucket Challenge

The act has to be filmed and the video is then posted online, usually onto social media channels like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The person doing the challenge then usually nominates 3-5 people to do the same and give them a timeframe to do the challenge, often between 24-48 hours.

Of course, this isn’t something that should be done for fun or a pointless laugh. A charitable donation has to be made to complete the challenge. In America, which is where the craze got underway, it is often towards the ALS association, whilst over here in the UK, the regular charity benefiting from this is the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

It all sounds simple, or does it?

Celebrity impact

The challenge starting receiving impact in June this year, when personalities from a breakfast programme in the US did the challenge live on-air.

The craze then started to spread with donations being made and more celebrities being nominated. Even Barack Obama and David Cameron were nominated to do the challenge. Wisely, both declined and made just a donation instead. Whilst it could be seen as a bit of good-humoured fun, could you imagine the amount of flak that Cameron would get if he did this? Ed Miliband would have a field day at PMQ’s!

Many other famous faces or familiar names have done their bit though. They include the likes of Susan Boyle, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, Lewis Hamilton, Lady Gaga and George W. Bush.

Even TV characters have done it, including Kermit the Frog from the Muppets and Homer Simpson from the Simpsons (video below of Homer’s challenge)

More recently, I’ve seen my News Feed, especially on Facebook plastered with my friends and colleagues doing the challenge and being nominated. The spread of this ‘bug’ has been massive.

Happy and sad endings

The main charity cause IBC has helped on these shores is the Motor Neurone Disease Association.  In my case, I do charity donations anyway, and however small this can be, it makes me feel pleased to be giving something back. Recently, the British Heart Foundation sent me a letter to celebrate the first year anniversary of giving money to their fight against heart disease on a monthly basis.

My donations are helping the British Heart Foundation fund groundbreaking heart medicine to save people lives. A case study of this was received as part of the letter I received last month. 18 months into her life, Lauren Burns was diagnosed with a hole in her heart. She underwent major surgery and when complications occurred from this, Lauren spent three months hooked up to a life support machine, fighting for her life. Doctors gave her little hope of survival, but nine years on, Lauren is walking, talking and behaving like many girls of her age band. My donation is helping the BHF and allows more people like Lauren in the UK to come back from the brink and live the quality of life they are today. It is these stories that can have a happy ending.

More notably, Sky Sports F1 presenter Natalie Pinkham has been on a remarkable journey in the last three years with a cause close to her heart. In 1999, Natalie worked in an orphanage in Romania and developed a close bond with a young child, called Mirela. After a moving visit to find Mirela 12 years later, Natalie, with the help of her Grand Prix connections and the charity Hope & Homes for Children, set out to raise £200,000 to build a home for Mirela and her siblings. The story was followed in two moving documentaries for Channel 5. With Natalie’s determination and the help of others, the target was achieved and Mirela and other children were able to move into their new home at the start of 2014. As the home can provide a decent quality of life, it gave Mirela a proper home she could grow up in. 

Sadly in early March, Mirela passed away from acute cardio-respiratory failure, just four days after A Home for Mirela was screened on Channel 5. It was a sad ending to an emotional and very moving journey.

Has IBC lost its edge?

The more videos of the Ice Bucket Challenge go online, the more the craze continues but it begs the question though, that despite the money being raised – has it lost its edge?

There could be a concern that some are doing the challenge and then not following up with a promised donation. I hope that is not the case. There are no accusations being made, but I’m sure there is the odd person who hasn’t thought too much about why they are doing the IBC.

If you have been nominated, I’d do it and make the donation. There are special cases and like I mentioned earlier, the media would have a field day if the President of the United States or our own PM did it when the world we live in is experiencing plenty of worldwide conflict. There isn’t a law for not doing the challenge, but at least make a donation if nominated.

There are critics out there in regards to the Ice Bucket Challenge. The waste of water has been mentioned. This is a very valid point, but if donations are being made to various charities, not just the ones first benefiting, then I think it cancels out this argument.

Also, some have taken it too far, with reports of a bullying case in the United States recently on a child who suffers from autism. The important thing about IBC is not to take it seriously. It is a bit of light-hearted fun. At the end of the day though, make sure to remember why you are doing it. You are doing it to help other causes, not to make yourself look like a fool on YouTube and bask in the limelight for it.

Like the no make-up selfie in March, the Ice Bucket Challenge has raised awareness and that is a good thing. I’m sure there will be something else of a groundbreaking context that will sweep social media channels next year. It might be the way to go in the future when it comes to regular donations.

However, the power of the internet can also carry a poisonous edge to it. IBC is the internet craze of the summer but it is starting to lose the ‘cool’ effect. Maybe it is time to put this onto the scrapheap and think of something else. As long as various charities are benefiting from these campaigns, it is good, but it does need to remain fresh in the minds and not become a repetitive stunt.

Categories: America, Charity, Ice, Ice Bucket Challenge, Internet, Money, Social Media, TV, UK, Water

60 years of evolution at BBC News

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

Today, we can access the news at our fingertips, whether that is through a button on our TV remote controls, a swipe on a news application on our tablets and smartphones, or a click to a global news website.

So it seems amazing to think that BBC News has just celebrated its 60^th anniversary of going on the air. It has barely been mentioned because the corporation have showed very little in marking the occasion, mainly because their dedicated team of journalists; presenters and correspondents are out there, delivering the news to our households from a variety of media platforms.

Of course this wasn’t the case on 5 July 1954, when the first ever 22-minute television news bulletin aired at 7.30pm in the evening on BBC One. Then, the top story was Question Time in Parliament. Today, the main news is dominated by political rows in Downing Street, major trials involving high-profile individuals and deadly conflicts in Ukraine, Syria and sadly, once again in Iraq.

BBC News has had to undergo many changes, including a rise in competition from the likes of Sky News and ITN, as well as the rapid changes in technology. For it to still exist in its current form, along with a 24-hour news channel, BBC Breakfast, Newsround, Newsnight and the World Service, not to mention, it’s very strong phone/tablet app and news website – BBC News has adapted regularly to meet the challenges. It has been 60 years full of evolution.

Sobering beginnings

It is fair to say that the early days of BBC News were never that exciting. The newsreaders lacked charisma and in fact, you couldn’t even see them on your screens. Don’t forget, this was a time where there were only two channels, choice was massively limited and technology was very basic.

Richard Baker was the first voice heard on launch night in 1954, but it wasn’t until 1957 that he would be seen on screen actually reading the news to camera. Before, the news bulletins were read over still photographic shots – almost the vision had when listening to the radio bulletins in the present day from 5 Live News to Newsbeat on BBC Radio 1.

BBC News was initially based out of Lime Grove Studios and stayed there for the first decade of its infancy. A move to Television Centre in 1969 (pictured below) saw not only the site become the BBC’s main base, but it allowed technology and landmarks to develop. BBC were locked in a battle with ITN and the national newspapers at this time – a battle that continued to get more tense and attract brighter competitions throughout the 20^th century and into the 21^st.

BBC Television Centre was the home of BBC News for over four decades

Of course Television Centre is no more. It was sold off as part of the Beeb’s cutbacks to meet government spending. Today, it is being developed into retail spacing. Unlike BBC Breakfast and BBC Sport staff, which moved to the modern MediaCityUK in Salford, BBC News is now based at the classic Broadcasting House which is where the majority of its programming can now be found.

More choice

In the 1970s, the BBC’s news output began to grow. A new teatime service for kids was created in 1972 when Newsround made its debut. John Craven was the face of the news for kids until 1989. Aimed at a target audience of 6-12, Newsround has also been the breakthrough for presenters to go onto bigger things in the world of journalism, such as Julie Etchingham (now News at Ten co-anchor) and Krishnan Guru-Murthy (a regular on Channel 4 News). Newsround is still on in 2014, although it has now moved to the dedicated CBBC channel.

Another way for news to be read was Ceefax. The text service which was a simple and sometimes easier way to get the news on the go if you had little time or interest into digesting the detail of a major story. Ceefax finally switched off in 2012 when the analogue TV signal was consigned to the history books. It was a victim of the advancements in mobile phone technologies, and the global reach of the internet.

More news programmes became the norm. The Nine O’clock News began in the 1970s, with Angela Rippon joining the team to become the first established female newsreader in the BBC team. She would be followed in later years by the likes of Anna Ford, the late Jill Dando, Kirsty Wark and Moira Stuart.

The Nine O’clock news became synonymous with many, regularly presented by Michael Buerk. In 1993, a new look was presented to the BBC News programmes, producing some of the most iconic news themes ever seen on British television. Those who like Radio 1 and Nick Grimshaw will recognise some of the music he uses for features involves the BBC News stings in the 1990s. The Nine O’clock bulletin was moved back an hour in time for the new millennium to battle ITN, who had replaced News at Ten with the unpopular ITN Nightly News (that didn’t last long by the way!)

The evolution continued into the 1980s. There was the launch of the Six O’Clock News in 1984, becoming the most watched news programme around for two decades. Newsnight made its debut in the same decade and this period saw the introduction of Breakfast TV too.

The BBC’s Breakfast Time was launched in January 1983 and went into a massive ratings war with ITV’s TV-AM programme. TV-AM might have had the publicity and the names, but breakfast TV addicts preferred the BBC’s blend of reporting the news with light-hearted features. When the BBC changed that approach in the late 1980s, they lost viewers to TV-AM but when their franchise was controversially lost in the 1991 ITV Franchise Auction, the BBC’s Breakfast Time has gone from strength to strength. It has seen off GMTV, Daybreak and looks set to consign Good Morning Britain to a slow and painful death from our screens.

Breaking the news  

The arrival of 24-hour TV news services came in 1989 when Rupert Murdoch launched BSkyB. With it came Sky News which after a stuttering start, began to win acclaim for breaking the news first with powerful reporting and achieving new feats. BBC News had new competition and they have had to advance with the times. Their coverage of the tragic scenes on Sunday, 31 August 1997 when the nation woke to the news that Diana, Princess of Wales had been killed in a car crash in Paris was one of their most moving and powerful stories.

This prompted the BBC to follow in the footsteps of Sky and US counterparts CNN. On November 9^th 1997, BBC News 24 was launched with a colourful intro and the famous 90-second countdown (video below). It has since been renamed BBC News but continues to produce a sterling job for its intended audience.

A recent report by the BBC Trust indicated a 14 per cent drop in the number of young viewers watching BBC News over the past decade. Of more intrigue, in the under-45 category, online is now the first port of call for the headlines. The BBC has had its critics over the year and it will continue to do so – as is the case with its varied competition.

However, the tremendous team of over 5000 journalists continue to do a professional and excellent job following the stories, both locally and nationally – for radio, online and TV outputs on a 24-hour, seven-day a week basis. BBC News is 60 not out and it has done brilliantly to combat the changes in the way we receive news nowadays.

It is a remarkable achievement and one that might be matched in future, but has been honoured with the minimum of fuss by the corporation themselves. The reason is they strive to still be the best in the business for the next 60 years.

Categories: Anniversary, BBC, BBC News, Ceefax, Journalism, News, Newsround, Question Time, Television Centre, TV

The UoN Experience - Year Three: The Final Goodbye

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

As the second anniversary approaches which signalled the end of my education life and the finale to my journalism degree at the University of Northampton, I have decided to share my own personal experiences from my three years at UoN. This includes a look at some of the nightlife memories, a critical assessment of the video products I produced and my insight into each of the three years I had in what was my second home.

The next article places specific focus on the third and final year of the journalism degree. 2011-12 saw the countdown towards the London Olympics and the Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee. Plus, Manchester City won the Premier League title in the most incredible way possible. For me, third year was all about building on how second year ended. It started badly, but improved rapidly and finished with mixed emotions which involved saying goodbye to my many friends I had made.

Two years down and one to go, the University journey had certainly contained its ups and downs. First year had been almost been in cruise control; second year provided far more challenges. Looking back two years on, third year was harder but I managed to conquer challenges better than second year, possibly because of the previous experience.

The planning for the final year had begun as early as June 2011, when I had to decide on a topic for my 5,000 word dissertation. I was always intrigued by the 24-hour news channel concept and decided to focus on the rise of Sky News in TV journalism, combining it with a major 90s news story which made them a more creditable source in media. The OJ Simpson trial was fascinating as much as it was sensationalised, with many of the witnesses playing up to the live TV cameras when giving their evidence. It was Sky’s coverage of the helicopter chase of OJ the year before his trial in 1994 that saw it win widespread praise from all quarters for the first time. I was glad that the dissertation was 5,000 words only. As a group, we were all lucky it wasn’t 10,000 which was the case on other courses. I wouldn’t say the journalism students got off lightly but it was a nice luxury to have. A 10,000 word essay would have been mighty difficult for all of us.

After the slow start with second year, I was hoping for a better first month to third year. How wrong was I? If I had to pick a month where I was in a bad place, October 2011 would top the list. The final year began on my birthday of 3^rd October! Although the first week went okay (largely thanks to a Thursday night nightclub celebration for my 23^rd year of existence), it went downhill from there. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. The summer break had been too long and I wasn’t prepared for what was to come. I was also majorly affected by the deaths in quick succession of two well-known motorsport figures in IndyCars and MotoGP. I got very upset by these events. While I had every right to be shocked and slightly downbeat by what had happened, these events were out of my control and by allowing them to get into my personal detailing, it clouded judgements. After a lecture where an essay topic was changed; two weeks after having already prepared something, I lost control of my emotions. There was only one thing I could do to try and drown the shambles of the month and that was to get drunk. It wasn’t like me at all. Sure, I liked a drink – we all did on the course and we all enjoyed a good party but it was a rare episode where I let alcohol do my talking. It was the best thing I could do. By drowning my sorrows, staring in mirrors and playing loud music in my room, I had to just release all the tension and stress that had been building up.

It affected my social media activity too. Both Facebook and Twitter took a break for a month while I got myself back on track in November. I did that and the episodes of the first month of the year were slowly, but surely forgotten. Concentration turned towards various assignments in the five modules I undertook. Some underlined my strengths and others highlighted weaknesses. As 2011 turned into 2012, my grades in the first half of the year were not good enough. I had collected too many average marks and feared for my final degree classification. With the job market as it was, a 2:2 would be utterly hopeless to me. I had to get a 2:1. Rather than feel sorry for myself like before, I seeked advice from my lecturers (two pictured below) and it got me back on target.

Two of the best lecturers, Hilary Scott and Richard Hollingum got me back on track in tough times

In third year, I will always lookback on my TV project with immense pride. I came up with a modern idea, and utilised it with plenty of research and filming in my spare time. It was an interesting topic and something I immersed myself in throughout the opening months of 2012. While I wouldn’t have it down as my best project, it was the most enjoyable work I underwent in third year. The task I hated the most was the group project on motorsport. With my racing background, I was expected to ace this topic in our group, which involved a media day trip to Silverstone for the final round of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. I didn’t enjoy it – I don’t know why (apart from someone stealing our tapes), but while everyone else seemed to have fun – I found the day slightly unrewarding. As I had already committed to TV for my final project, I had to work on an eight-page magazine and I hated every single minute of it. I worked with someone who I really couldn’t stand. The individual was irritating, frustrating and so opinionated. They even had the cheek to ask me to compromise my antivirus security to bring my laptop into University grounds!! I couldn’t do that and was unwilling. I didn’t help myself by coming up with a feature piece called ‘Death in Motorsport.’ It was such a grim idea and one I regret suggesting. Nevertheless, the whole project was a joke. The other three members of the group were fine but I didn’t get the camaraderie I was hoping for. Perhaps not being able to choose group members would have worked better on reflection.

As the weeks went on, so did the months and once again, the spirit of the group was shown in abundance. That is what I found out about our course. We started a year all slightly distant to one another or in our own friendship band groups and we all had them but as it reached crunch time, we all pulled together and helped each other out if necessary. Whether that was explaining how to burn MP3 tracks to a CD, suggesting a sound change to a narration or even having a chinwag about everything in the SU in spare time, it was worth it. I will never forget the appreciation and the time of the final few weeks in both second and third year.

Being one of the elderly statesmen in the group at the time, I saw it to myself to set an example for the rest. It wasn’t something I needed to do but I felt it was my responsibility. If I slacked off, it was a bad example to everyone else. The extra two years at college doing a BTEC National Diploma really helped. The experience of this shone through in the period when deadlines emerged. I was never programmed to leave assignments until the last minute to beat a deadline. With this, I was often asked for help, advice or assistance and I didn’t mind doing that, as long as it didn’t compromise my own performance. There were times where I did think ‘do your own work’ or ‘stop asking me, I might be wrong’ but 99 per cent of the time, I would try to offer the best support I could to my colleagues.

I had made a load of friends throughout the three years but I made more in third year. While I stayed close to people I had known from the start of the course, I made sure I knew everyone and tried to get on with everyone too. There was the odd individual who I struggled to see eye-to-eye with and there were occasional personality clashes but I couldn’t complain too much. It was nice to know people but also work closer with them as the degree went towards its closure. When all projects were handed in on 16 May 2012, my journey was complete. A wild night and few weeks were to begin (more of this in the nightlife chapter) but it was the end of an era.

Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things to do. These were people who you saw on a weekly basis, daily basis in some instances. I’m not great at saying farewells to individuals who I know so well. When I last met Ellie around a month after everything finished, we spent a few hours reminiscing and trying to make each other laugh, which I think we did. When it was time to say goodbye, I could feel the emotion from both of us, realising that this was it. I would say I was friends with 95 per cent of the course, but I did make special friends along the way. 

However if there was one who I shared many great memories with the most, it was with Ellie. We bonded so closely from day one and were always there for one another. There were times where we let each other down but that happens in most friendships and whenever there were tough moments, we always worked hard to ensure it didn’t get in the way of what we had as a friendship. If I was forced to pick one person I miss the most and would like to see again, Ellie would be top of the list – just because we shared so much, relied on each other and had such a fantastic friendship. I would like to think that we might see each other again at some point, or our careers collide into one another in the future.

So that was that, University was over and a new chapter of finding employment after graduation was about to begin. It was to be a tough and far more testing proposition than first anticipated.

Categories: 2011, Deadlines, Grades, Journalism, May, Silverstone, SU, TV, University, University of Northampton

BBC cutbacks - Was axing BBC Three the right move?

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

There was shock and complete surprise earlier this week (starting 3^rd March) when rumours spread of one of BBC’s channels was about to face the chop. In order to meet agreed spending figures by the end of 2016, the Beeb have decided to axe BBC Three – one of the most popular channels for a young target audience.

BBC Three has been the home to plenty of new talents, with successes such as Being Human, Little Britain and Gavin & Stacey being eventually picked up by mainstream channels after its first success on the platform. Other shows including The Fades, Torchwood, Don’t Tell the Bride, Lip Service and Free Speech have won rave reviews for its content shown. Alongside its quality programming, BBC Three has opened new doors to upcoming comedians, musicians and actors who want to make the big time but need to make their name first.

So despite the announcement that its content will move online in future, why is this cutback move by British Broadcasting Corporation a wrong move, especially where other expensive avenues could have saved itself from the backlash it has received.

Cutbacks are required

First of all, the BBC has had to make savings in a number of areas to meet agreed cutbacks put in by the BBC Trust. This has already involved movement of programmes to cheaper locations such as MediaCity in Salford and Cardiff, job losses and the decision not to renew some of its popular dramas and sport rights to meet the required targets.

Outlined three years ago, 2000 jobs were set to go by 2017 with a further 1000 people set to be relocated to newer parts of the UK. Television Centre was closed down last year as Broadcasting House became the new home for the corporation in London which is where the majority of the BBC’s news content, both national and local is now outputted from.

£47m a year was planned to be saved from 2011 until 2016 with the BBC Asian Network and BBC HD facing the biggest reduction in content programming. BBC HD has since become BBC Two HD last year.

Shows and events that have been the victim of such vicious but crucial cuts have included crime drama Ripper Street, sci-fi series Survivors, store drama The Paradise, comedy My Family, Alan Sugar’s The Young Apprentice and live rights to horse racing and MotoGP.

Officially becoming BBC Three in 2003 after being initially launched as recently as 1998 as BBC Choice, BBC Three attracts 13m viewers per week of its content. However despite its fairly short lifespan, the percentage of 16-34 age range who watches the programmes and the total viewers per week, the Director General of the BBC Tony Hall has made a difficult but wrong call in giving BBC Three the boot.  

What will happen to BBC Three?

The news to axe BBC Three has been met with much disapproval, not just from fans of the channel and casual viewers like me but comedians like Russell Kane and even BBC Radio One DJ Greg James. However, unless the BBC Trust decides to block the plans announced last week, this is what will happen to the channel. That doesn’t mean to say they won’t do that. Three years ago, the Trust blocked plans to shut BBC Radio 6 Music and the Asian Network.

The plan is for BBC Three to close as a TV channel in autumn 2015 and Freeview viewers will see it replaced by BBC One+1. While a +1 is needed for its mainstream channel to rival ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, a home for this would have been more appropriate rather than to replace a popular channel like BBC Three.

The BBC's decision to move BBC Three onto an online platform has received criticism

It will be re-innovated as an online channel only on the iPlayer catch-up service, although it is more likely that only programming will be found on here rather than the remains of the channel. It is reported that the BBC (building pictured above) will make £50m in savings with this controversial move, although to chuck £30m into more drama programming on BBC One makes the decision more of a mockery. If cutbacks had to be made, make them and keep them rather than spend more on what is likely to be more episodes of dreary Walford soap opera EastEnders.

Director General Hall said on Thursday when the plans were made public that it was “strategically right” and “financially necessary.” You can’t really argue with his latter statement but the first comment doesn’t feel right.

86.9% on the media website Digital Spy last week believed axing BBC Three is the wrong decision and a #SaveBBC3 petition hit 85,000 in less than 48 hours after being launched last week on Change.org by fan of the channel Jono Read. It has been signed by many including this writer, but also by the likes of Rick Edwards, David Walliams and Matt Lucas. 

What could have gone instead?

£100m of savings are required by 2016, so for anyone to suggest that the BBC should do nothing doesn’t quite understand the world of finances. There are other areas though which might have brought the corporation closer to its target without annoying a huge core section of its young target audience.

BBC Three’s channel budget in 2013/14 is reported to be £85m but the £49m to give BBC Four the boot would have been a more logical solution if a channel had to close.

BBC Four’s impact on the UK TV audience has been mundane. In fact, I can’t ever remember watching a programme on it to be honest. It might provide a good home for historical programmes looking back at the past, as well as a mixture of arts shows but this content could easily slot onto BBC Two without a huge fuss.

Hall believes the BBC Three audience are ready for the move to watching TV online and while it is true that television can be watched in a number of different areas and devices, it will be interesting to see if the target audience follow the move. I somehow highly doubt it.

With the new competition of BT Sport now firmly in the sporting spectrum, the BBC’s sporting deals should come up for review. Whilst areas like the Six Nations, Premier League football highlights and Wimbledon deserve to be saved from any cutbacks, other sports could go.

The BBC could have decided to axe its deal to show Formula One. Sadly the sport has entered a generation of insipid racing, complicated technological changes and the same driver keeps winning, just like the ITV Schumacher days of the last decade.  

In 2011, they saved £16.5m a year by deciding to share the live race rights with Sky Sports, who have since launched their own dedicated channel to great success and critical acclaim. The BBC has been left behind and by moving more of its coverage onto BBC Two since the new agreement; it suggests a lack of motivation in making the deal a success. While a new season begins next week in Australia – the significant drop in audience figures and the estimated £40m cost for a typical championship would have brought the BBC even closer to its target.

With £11m to find, cuts in regional programming, highlight packages for Rugby League and the Football League and ending the National Lottery programmes might have taken them to within that £100m savings mark.

Is there hope for the BBC Three audience?

I think it is fair to say that the decision to drop BBC Three as a TV channel has been met with a lot of disapproval from fans and even celebrities.

By turning it into an online channel – the BBC has giving its rivals in the television market a huge advantage as a growing number might feel the corporation takes their feedback and dedication to their services for granted.

Cutbacks need to be made, no-one should argue about that but this feels like a move that didn’t need to be made. Give Tony Hall a thought; he is in a difficult position to meet the final spending cut targets and this is a gamble but it is fair to say that thousands disagree with his thinking.

There is hope for the BBC Three audience in that the BBC Trust could block the move and it seems like there is greater support than there was to save 6 Music and the Asian Network in 2011 when they were in a similar position. To save those radio stations was cheaper though, so while it is important to keep hope, don’t expect the Trust to prohibit the move. As long as they hear both sides of the argument next month, then you have to accept whatever is their final decision.

If it does disappear as a TV channel, it is a great shame but it did provide some great British talent to come through onto our screens over the past decade.  

Categories: Audience, BBC, BBC iPlayer, BBC Three, Being Human, Matt Lucas, Money, Online, Tony Hall, TV

24 hour news channels - Celebrating 25 years of Sky News

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

The start of February saw 25 years since this was launched:

Sky News has come so far in the quarter of a century it has been on our TV screens. Not always easily accessible in its early inception, Sky News is now widely available on a number of different devices, from freeview platforms and computer-generated apps to the stunning iPad app which is among one of the best in the business.

Sky has always been the first place for breaking news with its dedicated team of journalists and reporters ready to bring the story to you first, the viewer. I know that it is the channel I watch if I’m after a big story. Sky News were the first to cover the stories that mattered. From the celebration of Tony Blair’s landslide election victory in 1997 and the birth of the Royal Baby last year to the horrifying scenes of international terrorism in New York, Bali, Madrid and London over the past 13 years – as well as groundbreaking coverage of the UK riots in August 2011.

However, Sky and its main competitors are now facing new competition in the evolving world of digital journalism. So, can it be successful and still remain at the forefront of our news for the next quarter of a century.

Slow start

The first bulletin was broadcast at 6pm on Sunday, 5 February 1989. Today, three senior figures in presenter Kay Burley, controversial political editor Adam Boulton and crime correspondent Martin Brunt are still with Sky, just like they were on launch night.

It was a slow start at a time where news was still not hugely accessible. Sky was launched at a time where only CNN was a 24-hour news network in America. The traditional ‘Newsflash’ from terrestrial platforms was the way we got the main news coverage in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There was no internet, social media was a dream away and tablets were just know as a cleaning aid and nothing more.

Rupert Murdoch, for whatever criticism he might deserve in regards to the News International phone hacking scandal two years ago does have to take the credit for keeping Sky News on the air in its early days. Operating on a £40m budget and with a lack of subscribers, Sam Chisholm proposed to Murdoch that Britain’s first 24 hour news channel was to be closed down to save money. The tycoon stuck to his guns though and gradually, Sky started to make its impact further for it. It was quickly respected in the House of Commons and throughout the political circle and started winning awards for its coverage – starting with the Bishopgate IRA bombing in 1993.

Its wall-to-wall coverage of the OJ Simpson trial throughout the pursuit of Simpson through America to the trial in 1995 was groundbreaking. It won Sky a lot of praise and I personally saw it as their big breakthrough onto the news spectrum in this country.

Breaking news

All of this came as BSkyB went under numerous launches on a yearly basis. Sky News underwent new looks (images below) in 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000. With flashy graphics, colourful ways to promote the news through rapid technological advances and the development of Sky News Active in the year 2000, they continued to evolve and respond to changes in the way we consumed news.

  

Various Sky News idents from 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1998

The Simpson trial of the mid-90s was big for Sky News but they had shown what they were capable of before that. They covered the late Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990 with great authority and the same occured with a tearful Margaret Thatcher’s departure from Downing Street after resigning as Prime Minister in the same year. They had provided in-depth coverage of the tight 1992 General Election and have made their election coverage even better through a variety of new aspects such as interactive voting and 3D visuals – not just for the UK but also for election night in the United States.

In 1997, it was Martin Stanford who had the difficulty of breaking the news to the nation of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash in Paris. While the BBC won plenty of acclaim for the way they handled such a sad and emotional story, Sky weren’t far behind. Their finest moment came four years later when the world was experiencing a horrifying day.

It was approaching 1.50pm on a normal day. The date was Tuesday, 11 September 2001 and nothing remarkable was happening, both in our normal lives and at Sky studios. That was about to change though as Kay Burley was given the news that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York. What followed was some of the most horrific and vivid moments of the 21^st century. That day, our lives changes forever. In a book, ’20 Years of Breaking News’ Burley revealed: “Not long afterwards the South Tower collapsed. It took less than fifteen seconds to implode. Neither Jeremy (Thompson), nor I said anything. Nothing needed to be said. More than a hundred storeys and thousands of lives lost in as long as it took you to read this paragraph.”

Sky won a BAFTA award for their coverage of 9/11, a feat repeated with the Soham murders in 2003. Many other awards have followed since alongside widespread praise and of course, some criticism along the way.

However, our news would be in a poorer place without Sky News.

It doesn’t always work and the future

24 hour news channels haven’t always had success. ITN tried it with the disastrous ITV News Channel at the start of the millennium. With ratings more accustomed to an episode of Eldorado, the plug was pulled on ITN’s 24 hour failure in December 2005. It hadn’t been helped by the collapse of the ITV Digital platform three years earlier.

The BBC entered the market eight years after Sky and BBC News 24 has been a stable challenger to Sky News since launching on Sunday, 9 November 1997. Despite the occasional blunder, such as Simon McCoy (a former Sky anchor) holding a pad of paper rather than a tablet last year, they have managed to survive in such stiff competition.

However, the way we get news continues to change. The advancement in social media means Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have become very popular tools for a journalist or even for an amateur filmmaker. Sky used some of this during the UK riots in 2011 – journalist Mark Stone filming on his mobile phone some of the unbelievable scenes in his hometown of Clapham. Stone would later be interviewed for our radio programme ‘The Current Affairs Show’ in 2012 about that night. In an interview for our journalism show with one of my fellow University of Northampton colleagues, he said: “Some of them were almost feral; the image that strikes me is the kids pulling the TV’s off the wall at Ladbrokes. It was the most extraordinary image.”

Rather than compete against them at their own game, 24 hour news channels such as Sky News and BBC News 24 have decided to integrate them rather than beat them. It is a clever strategy and I think it means their future is guaranteed, even if they might not quite have the impact they have had over the past decade or two.

I believe 24 hour news channels have a bright future. They have and continue to adapt well to changes, both in technological advancements and the way news can be broadcasted. I congratulate Sky News and Sky Television as a whole on reaching 25 years and I’m confident that with the tremendous team of reporters, presenters, journalists and people who work behind the scenes at Sky studios, they will achieve another 25 years continuing to break the news first.

Categories: 1989, 9/11, London, New York, Royal Family, Sky News, Tony Blair, TV, UK

TV 2013 - Growth and choice continues

By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

12 months on the box have seen the evolution of what we watch continue to change. More HD services arrived, it was the end for some groundbreaking British dramas of the last decade and new reality show winners were crowned. So it was another classic year in television.

BBC Television Centre closed its doors for the final time in March

More movements were being made to the ever expanding MediaCityUK in Salford. Coronation Street moved its studios into the department at the end of November and long-running Channel 4 daytime quiz show Countdown switched from the Granada Studios  at the start of the year. Meanwhile, BBC Television Centre (pictured) officially closed its doors for the last time as its final programmes moved out. The BBC News was broadcast for the first time at its new home of Broadcasting House in March. Three months later, the Queen officially opened the building and appeared behind the screen as a bulletin was being read out on BBC News 24. Not such a good year for Simon McCoy though. The newsreader stated the obvious outside the hospital when the Duchess of Cambridge went into labour: “I’m outside the hospital where there is no news!” McCoy went on to beat this later in the year when he opened a bulletin carrying a packet of A4 plain paper (video below), mistaking that for a tablet!

At the National Television Awards, Corrie beat EastEnders to Best British Soap, whilst This Morning won Best Daytime Programme and there was a Lifetime Achievement Accolade for Joanna Lumley. There was a historic first in August for the Channel 4 daytime programme Deal or No Deal. 18-year-old Paddy Roberts (video below) became the first male winner of the main £250,000 jackpot eight years after the programme first went onto the air.

There was a new challenger in the sports market as BT Sport burst onto our screens at the start of August. Ex-BBC Formula One anchor Jake Humphrey was signed up to lead the coverage and plans for an explosive entrance began with the purchase of ESPN’s channels in Britain and Ireland in February. BT had already bought the rights to some first pick live matches from the Barclays Premier League, along with exclusive rights to the Aviva Premiership, the WTA tennis tour and next year’s MotoGP from the BBC.

ITV had another testing year. In January, the corporation rebranded itself from ITV1 to ITV after 12 years. New idents arrived along with an update of the online services offered and a change in logo too. The new changes received a mixed response from viewers but everyone quickly moved on. Their football department though was in deep trouble. By the end of the year, live FA Cup football had been lost to the BBC for 2014-15 and their live 20-year association of the UEFA Champions League was coming to an end too, as newcomers BT paid out for a record deal to snatch the UEFA live rights away from ITV and BSkyB.

It was a year where broadcasters and actors had the ordeal of police allegations following the Jimmy Saville scandal last year. Stuart Hall was jailed after an investigation into historic allegations. Coronation Street stalwarts Michael Le Vell and William Roache were subject to police cases amidst allegations of child sex and indecent assault offences. Le Vell was cleared of his case in September, while Roache faces trial next year. Both of their on-screen characters disappeared when the news broke but ITV has remained in full support of both actors. Rolf Harris is another high-profile name who faces trial next year. With the economic recession starting to ease, money for telethons continued to rise. A record £75m was made for charity in March for Comic Relief. ITV’s Text Santa night for six fundraising causes made over £4m and there was another record total for Children in Need with £31m raised on their special night in November.

In the soaps, Coronation Street’s iconic Rovers Return pub burned down for only the second time in its history, killing two characters. Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack) returned to EastEnders, while her on-screen sister Roxy (Rita Simons) was dumped on her wedding day by Alfie Moon (Shane Ritchie). Alfie and Kat (Jessie Wallace) were therefore reunited. In Emmerdale, a storm, a pub siege and electrocution in the pub cellar finally brought an end to serial killer Cameron Murray (Dominic Power).

It was another unlucky day for Toadie as his wedding exploded in Neighbours

One of Hollyoaks’ most evil characters in the show’s history, Claire Cunningham (Gemma Bissix) also didn’t see out the year as she was run over by dodgy Doctor Browning. That wasn’t before a homemade bomb which exploded in council houses, killing three other characters. Bryan Kirkwood's return to the show revived the fortunes of Hollyoaks after a difficult two years for the Chester soap. Lastly the unluckiest groom in soap had another nightmare day. After marrying Sonya (Eva Morey), Toadfish ‘Jarrod’ Rebecchi (Ryan Maloney) could only watch on in horror as a gas explosion (pictured) at the reception ruined his big day again in Neighbours. Doctor Rhys Lawson (Ben Barber) and school principal Priya Kapoor (Menik Gooneratne) lost their lives in the aftermath which saw the Ramsey Street show go into a primetime evening slot for the first time.

As ever, reality TV had its highs and lows. Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle won a forgettable series of Dancing on Ice. The skating programme will return for one final series in the New Year featuring stars from the past as Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean decided to retire from the rink once the 2014 edition ends. The X-Factor endured its lowest average ratings for nine years as Sam Bailey from Leicestershire scooped the top prize and is likely to win the coveted Christmas number one prize with it. Attraction were the winners of Britain’s Got Talent. The Hungarian group won a final where the main headline saw Simon Cowell being egged live on the final show by a member of a backing group from one of the final acts. Andrea Begley was crowned winner of The Voice UK as series two went the same way as series one – starting strongly and then fading once the Blind Auditions were concluded. Westlife singer Kian Egan won a stormy edition of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here, dominated by allegations of cheating and bending the rules against the model Amy Willerton. Lastly, model and TV personality Abby Clancy was crowned the winner of the hugely successful series 11 of Strictly Come Dancing. Averaging 12m viewers per week, she beat BBC Breakfast presenter Susanna Reid and former Coronation Street actress Natalie Gumede to the Glitterball trophy.

Kids’ television choices continued to move to digital outputs. CBeebies quickly moved away from BBC Two in the New Year and would only continue to be shown on their dedicated station. Meanwhile CITV reached 30. On their anniversary weekend, classic archive programmes like Fun House and Art Attack were back on their own channel. The move away from mainstream to digital programming was criticised by the creator of Teletubbies Anne Wood, who accused the BBC of ‘ghettoising children’s television.’ In March, BBC Two launched in HD for the first time, as did More4. BBC also announced plans to launch BBC One+1 at some point next year.

Channel 4 and E4 made some changes with the departure of some classic British programming, all having reached a natural conclusion. At the end of May, Shameless ended after 11 hilarious series over nine years. Created and produced by Paul Abbott, the show set on the Chatsworth council estate had won critical acclaim throughout the years from many sources and won major awards at both the BAFTAs and British Comedy Awards. 

Emily, Effy and Naomi returned as Skins bowed out in the summer

In August after six years, it was the end of the road for Skins. Replacing the primary cast every two years, the show set in Bristol continued to remain fresh with new talent coming through with every generation. It bowed out (three main characters pictured above) with a seventh series in the summer which saw Effy (Kaya Scodelario), Naomi (Lily Loveless), Emily (Kathryn Prescott), Cassie (Hannah Murray) and Cook (Jack O’Connell) return as the show took a more adult approach to life after college. There was financial mismanagement, weird stalkers, a tragic cancer storyline that left fans of the popular ‘Naomily’ couple heartbroken and the consequences of drug dealing amidst the final storylines. Both shows are missed but came to an end at just the right time. Comedy series the IT Crowd featuring the humorous Richard Ayoade also bowed out in 2013.

It wasn’t just these shows that drew to a conclusion. In 1998, it started as a new quiz phenomenon and offered the first £1m prize on British television. After 15 years though, Chris Tarrant decided to call time on hosting Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The show never fully recovered from the Major Charles Ingram scandal in 2002, when he cheated his way to the jackpot prize. The show’s last live show recently went out on the air, with two more pre-recorded shows being shown early next year. It was the end for detective drama series Lewis. Following seven successful series, both Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox decided to move onto other projects, although it might return next year for a one-off special. Luther, Whitechapel, Misfits, Cash in the Attic and Agatha Christie’s Poirot were other shows to bow out this year as David Suchet played the Belgian detective Poirot for the last time.

There will be a new doctor next year for Doctor Who. Northamptonshire born actor Matt Smith announced his departure in the spring and he will be replaced by Peter Capaldi, who becomes the 12^th timelord. Doctor Who celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2013 – with David Tennant and Billie Piper among those former stars who appeared in the celebration programme in November. 10.2m watched it. Another show celebrating an anniversary this year was This Morning. Original hosts Judy Finnigan and Richard Madeley returned to the Albert Dock in Liverpool where the show was first aired to host the 25^th anniversary programme alongside current hosts Holly Willoughby, Phillip Schofield, Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes. The most watched programme of the year was a sporting event on July 8. 17.3m viewers tuned in to the end of the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final which saw Andy Murray defeat Novak Djokovic and become the first Brit to win the men’s championship at SW19 in 77 years. Murray later went on to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Other shows that did make a return this year included the ever popular Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. Last shown four years ago, the Newcastle duo returned for a successful series which even saw them go to number one in the charts and announcement that they will take the show live on tour next summer. Catchphrase returned with Mr Chips but no Roy Walker as Stephen Mulhearn took over as host and 15-to-1’s successful celebrity special in September to celebrate a 80s special night on Channel 4 has led to a full series being commissioned next year. The wild Keith Lemon brought Through the Keyhole back and Paul O'Grady returned with his teatime show to ITV after a four-year absence.

It is fair to say that the evolution of television does not stop. New programming will always arrive and classics must end at some point. The acting pool of talent is in a healthy and strong place and while it will always have its critics and loathers, TV will continue to have an impact on many of our lives. More of the same in 2014 please!

Categories: 2013, Andy Murray, BBC, BT Sport, Doctor Who, HD, Neighbours, Skins, Strictly Come Dancing, TV

Christmas adverts of today...and the past

By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

It is the time of year where the festive season is around the corner and it is time to be jolly. No-one likes a Grinch at this time of year. It is also this period where the shops go into overdrive as they launch huge campaigns to get us to shop on the high street or online and to grab our money for the presents you want to buy for your loved ones.

This involves advertising and it means that on almost every single commercial break on primetime TV, you will see a Christmas advert. They range from the stupid and ridiculous to the simple classics that always entertain us every year.

Having seen the majority of the big boys launch their commercial campaign already, I’ve come to the conclusion that the average Xmas advert in 2013 is disappointing.

Retail giant John Lewis has set the standard in recent years with powerful and heartfelt adverts that capture the attention of the viewers and more importantly, the shoppers.

However their 2013 advert (caption pictured), premiered last Saturday during the X-Factor on ITV falls well short of expectations. Had it not been for the big build-up, you would struggle to guess what it is actually advertising. Having cost a reported £7m to make, I have to consider it as a total waste of money. While it does show the love and caring side towards Christmas (advert below), it hints that the brains behind the campaign were struggling for ideas to promote the brand this year. The only advantage they have is the use of a decent soundtrack. Personally, I think Lily Allen’s cover of the Keane song ‘Somewhere Only We Know,’ is lame and dreadful but it is selling copies and being downloaded heavily. It is more than likely that Allen will have a number one to her name come Sunday night but it will her most fortunate success to date.

On Wednesday night during Coronation Street, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s launched their Christmas campaign which shows normal families enjoying the build-up and the actual day of joy and company. The campaign of home videos is for an upcoming documentary film called ‘Christmas in a Day,’ directed by an Oscar winner in Kevin Macdonald. The advert in terms of content is of good quality and the ending is quite joyous as two youngsters experience the thrill and delight of their father having returned home from combat in Afghanistan to be with family on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, the advert is too long at three and a half minutes and it won’t be remembered for that. At the two minute mark (advert below), there is a gentleman in his kitchen talking into the camera but eagle eye viewers spotted three food items from one of Sainsbury’s rivals in the Co-Op!

A Co-Operative spokeswoman said on Thursday: “It seems that our Truly Irresistible Christmas pudding, lemon torte and Christmas cake are so good, even Sainsbury’s can’t resist advertising them!”

It is an embarrassing faux-pas for Sainsbury’s, as they struggle to compete with the tried and trusted Tesco’s, a Morrison’s campaign with TV favourites Ant & Dec and ASDA, recently voted best supermarket for low prices for the 16^th successive year. Even ALDI have made their moves into the industry with joyous promotional material (2012 advert example below).

Other commercials for the likes of Littlewoods, Marks & Spencer, Very.co.uk and TK Max pass by without hardly a comment, let alone a big fuss. My personal favourite this year actually comes from Sky. The advert shows a teenager with headphones almost glued to her ears looking pretty downcast at this joyous time of year. Her younger brother seems upset, so leaves a gift in her doorway and the generous idea works as she comes down with her family to watch some good Christmas TV on Sky Movies (advert below). It might seem simple and basic but it is an excellent effort from Sky, who have been rivalled by the likes of Virgin Media and more recently, BT in the past 12 months.

Christmas from the past

The Christmas advert has been on our TV screens for many years and there have been some real crackers down the past three decades. Here are some of my favourites, including ones from Woolworths, John Lewis, Boots and of course, the Coca Cola Christmas trucks.

I believe though that none of 2013’s adverts will be remembered fondly in the years to come.

Categories: 2013, Adverts, Christmas, ITV, John Lewis, Lily Allen, Oscars, Sainsbury's, Sky, TV