The daily programmes of national and international news are provided throughout Independent Television by a special news company, Independent Television News Limited (ITN). Regional news programmes and news magazines are produced and presented by the individual programme companies.
The importance with which Independent Television regards news may be judged by the fact that of the 137 hours of programmes produced by the programme companies each week 35 hours, or 26 per cent, consist of news and news magazines. This total is made up of 3½ hours of national and international news, 11½ hours of regional news, and 20 hours of news magazines. In any single ITV area the programmes each week include over 3 hours of national and international news, and usually 2-3 hours of regional news and news magazines.
National and Foreign News
When Independent Television was in its formative stage it was decided that the specialised task of gathering and presenting the national and international news could best be done by a single company, with its own staff, premises, studios and equipment.
ITN was established in May 1955, by agreement between the ITA and the first four programme companies, as a non-profit-making company. The shares were entirely owned by the four programme companies — A-R, ATV, Granada and ABC — and subsequently Scottish Television and TWW joined the board as additional shareholders. The other programme companies all agreed, as each came on the air, to take their national and foreign news from ITN.
ITN transmits three main news bulletins each day. On Mondays to Fridays inclusive these are at 5.55 p.m. (11 minutes), 9 p.m. (15 minutes) and after 11 p.m. (2 minutes). On Saturdays there is an additional bulletin at 1.15 p.m. (5 minutes) and on Sundays there are three bulletins. All Monday-Friday bulletins are fully networked, as are the first three on Saturdays; the remainder are taken by the majority of companies.
ITN also produces each weekday a 10-minute news magazine Dateline, which is partially networked. From time to time ITN produces special programmes to deal with news of particular significance. Recent examples are those on the American astronauts and the Cuba crisis of November 1962. ITN, together with several of the programme companies, has collaborated with the GPO and the BBC in bringing Telstar transmissions to British viewers and in taking programmes to overseas viewers via Telstar.
It is the editorial policy of ITN to try to present the day’s news in a manner which is not only responsible, accurate and impartial, but which will arouse and stimulate interest in news among viewers. With this end in view, ITN has sought to exploit a particular strength of television as a news medium — its ability to let people see events for themselves rather than have them reported at second hand. By the use of news film cameras (and on occasions outside broadcast cameras) television can give people a direct picture of events as they happen. It is also possible, by interviews, to present in a very clear way the people whose actions have made news. An effect of this, incidentally, has been to make the leading men and women of our day much more directly known to the public than was possible in the past.
With that part of the news which cannot be filmed but must be read, ITN has sought to stimulate and hold interest by having the bulletins presented by men of personality. Newscasters in ITN have from the beginning not only read the news in the studio but have assisted in the editing and preparation of it. They are themselves also reporters-and interviewers. Among television figures who began their careers as ITN newscasters are Christopher Chataway, M.P., Ian Trethowan, Robin Day, Ludovic Kennedy and Huw Thomas.
Regional News Services
The rapid and widespread growth of truly regional news services has been one of Independent Television’s most important contributions to the development of television services in Britain. Every regional company has considered one of its first tasks to be the establishment of a news department to supply local news services for its own area.
Although the arrangements and plans vary according to the particular circumstances, there are many features common to all the companies’ news departments. In the first instance the emphasis is always upon news, provided by journalists working through the medium of television. Tremendous efforts, however, are made to make the journalism good television, with a widespread use of both staff and free-lance newsfilm cameramen to provide the up-to-the-minute filmed reports which are a feature of the news bulletins.
Secondly, the news is local or regional in content and interest, and to ensure this a whole army of local correspondents (or “stringers”), generally local journalists themselves, are used. Items of news are frequently “fed” into the national bulletins from regional centres if they are at the same time of wider interest, whether it be a Royal visit to Cardiff or a fire in Newcastle.
At the present time an average total of 11½ hours of local news a week is produced in studio centres in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, Southampton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich, Dover, Bristol, Belfast, Plymouth, Carlisle, Aberdeen and St. Helier. The general practice is to broadcast the regional news immediately after the national news at 6.06 p.m., but there are a number of variations. Anglia Television, for example, incorporates its news within the magazine programme About Anglia and follows up with a regional news summary at close down; TWW provides its news in Welsh at 4.25 and in English at 6.06 while Wales (West and North) Television has its news at 6.06 in Welsh and at 6.40 in English; Channel Television concludes the day’s programmes with the news in French; Granada has reversed the usual process by having the regional headlines in its regional news magazine and the main regional bulletin shortly after 11 p.m. Southern Television opens its Day by Day magazine programme with the regional news, followed by its own meteorological report for the region.
One feature of the local news services demands special note, namely the development of detailed and up-to-the-minute weather and road reports. A number of companies have devoted much energy and expense to improving this service, which is undoubtedly of considerable value, particularly in those areas where agriculture and horticulture form an important part of the economy.
Regional Magazine Programmes
It is a matter of some debate within Independent Television as to where the regional magazine programmes actually began. From the earliest days, weekly or more frequent news magazine programmes have been provided by several programme companies. However, the first regular daily programme, in the early evening, was produced by Ulster Television, whose Roundabout began in October 1959 when the company first began its transmissions and continued its run until December 1962 when its successor, Newsview, took over. The formula has had remarkable success over the entire country, and every region now has its own magazine programme.
Dateline — which was mentioned above — and On the Braden Beat, a new type of magazine with a gently satirical twist, are the only two news magazines to be networked and neither is taken by all the companies. The majority are transmitted in the early part of the evening; they vary in length between 5 and 45 minutes. But all have in common the fact that they are concerned with news of local interest.
National News
| Programme | Description | Company | Mins. | Time & Day | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekdays | Evening news | ITN | 11 | 5.55 Mon-Fri | Network |
| Main news | ITN | 15 | 9.00 Mon-Fri | Network | |
| Late news | ITN | 02 | Late Mon-Fri | Network | |
| Saturdays | Four bulletins | ITN | 05 | 1.15, 5.45 Sat | Network |
| 10 | 9.00 Sat | Network | |||
| 05 | 11.50 Sat | Part Network | |||
| Sundays | Three bulletins | ITN | 10 | 6.05, 9.25 Sun | Network |
| 03 | 7.25 Sun | Network |
Local News
| Programme | Description | Company | Mins. | Time & Day | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London Weekend | Local news | ITN/A-R | 7 | 6.08 Fri | Local |
| Midlands News | Local news | ATV | 6-15 | 6.05 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Northern Newscast | Local news | Granada | 8 | Late Mon-Fri | Local |
| Scottish News | Local news | Scottish | 5 | 1.30 Mon-Fri | Local |
| North-East News | Local news | Tyne Tees | 5 | 1.42 Tues-Fri | Local |
| Ulster News | Local news | Ulster | 5 | 6.06 Mon-Fri | Local |
| TWW Reports | Local news | TWW | 7 | 6.06 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Southern News | Local news | Southern | 8 | 6.06 Mon-Fri | Local |
| North-East News | Local news | Tyne Tees | 9 | 6.06 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Ulster News | Local news | Ulster | 1 | 6.06 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Westward News | Local news | Westward | 9 | 6.06 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Border News | Local news | Border | 9-14 | 6.06 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Grampian News | Local news | Grampian | 4 | 6.06 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Local News | Inclg. weather | Channel | 9 | 6.06 Mon-Fri | Local |
| News of Wales | Inclg. weather | Wales (W. & N.) | 10 | 6.40 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Anglia News | Headlines and weather | Anglia | 3 | Late Mon-Fri | Local |
| Local News | Local news | Wales (W. & N.) | 10 | 8.50 Wed, Fri | Local |
| Local News | Inclg. weather | Channel | 5 | Late Sat, Sun | Local |
| French News | News in French | Channel | 5 | Pre-close, daily | Local |
| Border News Summary | Local news and weather | Border | 3 | Pre-close, Mon-Fri | Local |
| Weather | A-R | 2 | 6.06 Mon-Fri | Local | |
| Weather | ATV | 1 | Late, all week | Local | |
| Weather | Anglia | 1-3 | Evening & late | Local | |
| Grampian Weather and Road Report | Weather and road report | Grampian | 1-2 | 5.54 and pre-close | Local |
| Weather | TWW | 1 | Pre-close | Local | |
| Weather | Channel | 1 | Pre-close | Local | |
| Farming Prices | Border | 5 | Mon-Fri | Local |
News Magazines
| Programme | Description | Company | Mins. | Time & Day | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midland Montage | News magazine | ATV | 25 | 6.30 Tues | Local |
| Dateline | News magazine | ITN/A-R | 10 | Late evening | Part Network |
| On the Braden Beat | News magazine | ATV | 20 | 10.55 Sat | Part Network |
| 30 | 11.00 Sat | Local | |||
| Scene at 6.30 | News magazine | Granada | 30 | 6.30 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Here and Now | Including local news | Scottish | 25 | 6.06 Mon-Wed, Fri | Local |
| About Anglia | Including local news | Anglia | 40-55 | 6.06 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Day by Day | News magazine | Southern | 26-31 | 6.14 Mon-Fri | Local |
| North-East Roundabout | News magazine | Tyne Tees | 15 | 6.15 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Westward Diary | News magazine | Westward | 30-45 | 6.15 Mon, Wed, Fri | Local |
| Newsview | News magazine | Ulster | 35 | 6.25 Mon, Fri | Local |
| Here Today | News magazine | TWW | 17 | 6.43 Mon-Fri | Local |
| Focus | News magazine | Border | 30 | 6.15 Tues, Thurs | Local |
| Studio Tuesday | News magazine | Channel | 30 | 10.45 Tues | Local |
| Border Diary | News magazine | Border | 5 | 8.55 Wed | Local |
| Town and Country Review | News magazine | Anglia | 30 | 10.45 Wed | Local |
| ABC at Large | Inclg. news | ABC | 50 | 11.00 Sat | Local |
| Dateline Scotland | News magazine | Scottish | 30 | 6.30 Fri | Local |
| Eye on Wales | News magazine | Wales (W. & N.) | 30 | 5.00 alt Sun | Local |
| Postscript | News magazine | Westward | 20 | 5.20 Sun | Local |
| Grampian Week | News magazine | Grampian | 35 | 6.10 Fri | Local |
| Studio Friday | News magazine | Channel | 30 | 8.00 Fri | Local |
| Flashback | News review | Ulster | 30 | 10.15 Fri | Local |
| In the News | News review | TWW | 30 | 10.15 Fri | Local |