“But the 24-hour channel, the spokesperson added, constantly reviewed its output: “As the channel’s output has evolved, we now have a number of programmes that offer a similar experience to our audience.” It is presented by News Channel presenters, which this year would include Shaun Ley, Martine Croxall and Geeta Guru-Murthy, and so is cost-effective, he argues.Ī BBC spokesperson said that Dateline London has been a “key part of the BBC News Channel schedule, having informed debate and brought context to world events to our viewers for many years”. Guthrie, who joined the BBC in 1968 and left 30 years later, said he has been making the show for £70,000 a year, providing 182 hours of good-value broadcasting over a year. If you don’t have that window for informed opinion, comment is left to extremists on other channels and streaming services.” “Its guests’ opinions are not restricted. “ Dateline London is the only news and current affairs discussion programme on British TV which provides a glimpse of ‘how others see us’,” he said. He pointed out that when BBC staff interview BBC colleagues, they are not allowed to share their own views. Early positive responses to Simpson’s show have been encouraging, according to news bosses, although Guthrie said he suspects that economies are really behind the changes. The emphasis will instead be, they say, on providing analysis through fresh formats, including John Simpson’s new chatshow, Unspun World, and The Context, a new programme presented by Christian Fraser. News managers described it as part of a “healthy modernisation” of news presentation. While the BBC plan warned of the upcoming and necessary “reduction in the content and services”, the decision to axe Dateline London is not regarded internally as part of a cost-cutting drive. They will come on top of the last round of cuts, to broadcast services, which saw the loss of 500 BBC jobs in news alone. The BBC’s annual plan, released three weeks ago, laid out a requirement to make an extra £285m in annual savings before 2027. The loss of Dateline London, which is made for the BBC by Guthrie’s company TV Talk, is an early taste of a programme of cuts that is likely to affect all programming over the next two years. Contributors from foreign press organisations regularly include names such as Thomas Kielinger, of the German newspaper Die Welt, and Vincent Magombe, of Africa Inform International. It now fields a range of political and foreign affairs panellists with varying perspectives, including Janet Daley, of the Sunday Telegraph, Bronwen Maddox, of the Institute for Government, Polly Toynbee, of the Guardian, and David Aaronovitch of the Times. The programme, with a global audience of 10-15 million, was initially presented by Charles Wheeler, the late revered foreign correspondent, and was broadcast for 50 minutes on Sunday mornings. In response the BBC is promising that Dateline London’s particular mix of comment and expertise, often drawn from outside the corporation’s own staff, will be on offer elsewhere in its television schedules. The contributors have been told it is doomed and are not happy either.” I may be biased, but it would be a tragedy to cancel it now, as audiences cry out for clarity. And Chris Patten once called it ‘the jewel in the BBC’s crown’. “The show was recently described by Hillary Clinton as an ‘oasis of sanity in a very troubled world’. “It’s an iconic brand that offers a unique perspective,” he added. “It’s pretty clear the BBC has decided it wants to make substantial changes to the news channels,” said Nick Guthrie, who has edited the programme since its beginning and who still hopes for a reprieve.
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