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Breakfast television was invented in the United States, and continues to frustrate, entertain, inform and provide moving wallpaper to millions everyday.

Three network broadcasts dominate the genre, and all three are broadcast from New York City. The Today Show from NBC defined the genre in 1952, followed by Good Morning America from ABC in 1975 and the latest attempt from CBS in the form of the Early Show in 1999.

I’m still waiting for Aaron Sorkin to dramatize the world of morning television, but until then I guess we’ll have to keep tuning into the real thing.

> Download The First Hour of ABC News 24 (448mb *.zip)

The long awaited ABC News 24 has launched. Download the first hour of broadcast and watch as Australia was introduced to its first free-to-air news channel.

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Along with the launch of Australia’s first free-to-air news channel tonight, the ABC is also rolling out a new look across all its news services.

Our first look at the new branding in action is tonight with the national bulletin at 7pm, just 30 minutes ahead of the channels official launch.

Alas the new theme isn’t the Pendulum remix as hoped.

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The way a network presents its news, both visually and editorially says a lot about the channel. For the sake of comparison lets look at how ITV, BBC, Sky and Channel 4 covered today’s Ash-attack.

I’ll avoid making comment on the various broadcasters editorial skills, but to summarise the look and feel of each news bulletin:

- The BBC is the straightest, clean lines, serious look.
- Channel 4 is the edgiest, feels a touch alternative.
- ITV is the glossiest, very shiny, little to CGI heavy.
- And Sky News is by far the least interesting.

For some historical perspective, check out my 2007 edition of this exact same post.

With the launch of ABC News 24 getting close, I look forward to seeing how the ABC takes on the task of branding a whole news channel. Hopefully nothing like Sky.

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The occasionally highest rating news service in Australia, the Nine News (formerly National Nine News) got a visual refresh this month.

Unfortunately the new look is huge step down from previous incarnations, with superfluous lines flying everywhere and ever classy solar flares, accompanied by a confusing combination of orange and blue, its less flagship-news-bulletin and more lifestyle-travel-show.

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Channel Ten have rejigged their news branding, with before and after videos above, I’m sure you’ll be as dissapointed as me with the new look. And in case you can’t tell which is the new look, its the one with all the not so subtle Sony Vaio laptops and abrupt music transitions when they start talking about sport.

And you wonder why people make so much fun of broadcast news these days.

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Jason Arber, a director at the London based motion graphics outfit Wyld Stallyons has created a rather spectacular, and surprisingly profound commentary on the state of telvision news, and all without saying a word. Jason explains that

“for a long time I’ve been obsessed by the look that news presenters have when the other person in a news presenting duo is talking”

And it was this unease that inspired him to create the video.

“I recorded a bunch of footage and then stripped out the talking news presenters and replaced them with non-talking ones. The effect was weird and unsettling, and so I paired it with some wonderful music from the composer Ben Frost that really seemed to suit the mood”.

While its recently been brought to Jason’s attention that a fairly similar video was created by the comedy show Time Trumpet, I think the success of Jason’s video is that its more effective in capturing the vulnerability of the newscasters, and is more subtle and poignant in its approach. Mitchell and Webb also recently did a very funny piece of news parody, exploring the concept that really, everything was just fine.

Jason’s video is beautifully executed on both technical and creative fronts, and its about as close to art I’ve seen television news get.

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More of the white space infused refresh of the BBC’s news output, including the new BBC News Channel, BBC News at 10, and regional BBC News service Points West.

The BBC have actually blogged about the changes themselves here and here, and have also compiled a video montage of the look of BBC News over the years here.

Among other things they explain the dropping of the 24 from their news channel:

BBC News 24 becomes simply “BBC News”… The channel is not just at the heart of BBC News. Now it is BBC News.

For videos from the newly renamed BBC World News channel click here.

- Thanks for the videos Craig.

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BBC World is now BBC World News, and BBC News 24 is now just BBC News. The renamed networks got a not particularly dramatic brand refresh as you can see.

UPDATE: Check out the rest of the new look BBC News here.

For a look at the before videos check out my previous post here.

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In a branding move where apparently “more is more” the BBC’s international news channel, BBC World will change its name tomorrow to BBC World News.

Proving its ability at being truly impartial however, the Beeb is giving BBC News 24 a facelift as well, this time taking the “less is more” approach by dropping the 24 from its name and relaunching as simple BBC News.

Along with the new names will come a new look designed by Lambie-Nairn.

For now though, a look back at the old branding, with videos from BBC News 24 and BBC World, on the eve of their rebrand. And for more from BBC News have a look at their earlier looks from 2006 and 2007.

- Thanks for the BBC News 24 videos Craig.

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Mitchell and Webb poke fun at the maddening world of television news “interactivity”, because really..

What possible reason could there be for you not to email us, certainly ignorance shouldn’t be a bar.

News parody has filled many posts on this site, including Jeremy Clarkson’s commentary on the state of news, Melanie Bellamy with the standing news, Dead Ringers high brow jab at Newsnight, and of course all that Chaser stuff.

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TV2 Nyhetskanalen is Norway’s first round the clock news network, its operated by commercial broadcaster TV2 and has been on the air just over one year.

The above is a selection of the stations on-air look, but compared to the outstanding branding of Norway’s national broadcaster NRK, aren’t really that great.

And while I know Australia does have its own news network in Sky News, surely its time a free-to-air alternative launched, and if the ABC doesn’t get the funding to launch one, perhaps its time Seven launched a news channel, the name itself is crying out for some word play.. Seven 24?

Even New Zealand is about to get a free to air news channel at the end of the month.

- Thanks for the videos Hans!

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This morning The Australian was reporting (on page one no less) that the ABC was set to drop the famous lissajous symbol from its on air broadcasts in favour of a new logo. It didn’t take long for the ABC to deny the reports however and assure us all that the new look will include the famous logo.

ABC’s midday and evening news’ covered the story, giving kudos to the blog that leaked it, and clarifying the ABC’s position on the rebrand, which will officially take place on February 8th. They also spoke to ‘media expert’ Harold Mitchell about the impending changes (second video).

Listen to what the director of ABC TV Kim Dalton has to say about the rebrand in the audio below from ABC Radio Melbourne from earlier this morning.

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ITV’s flagship news program News at Ten was resurrected last week for the second time since its inception in 1967. The shows original run ended in 1999 before being brought back again from 2001 to 2004.

The latest incarnation is fronted by the newly unretired Trevor McDonald and Sky News’ Julie Etchingham, and takes place in the “Theatre of News“, which to an outsider is somewhat bizarrely meant to be behind the clockface of Big Ben, and seems more suited to the secret lair of a Bond villain then to a news broadcast.

These videos come from the first nights broadcast and show the opening and closing of the broadcast, along with an incredibly smooth live cross to Antarctica, which just looks stunning considering the distance and the fact its live.

- Kudos to Craig for the first night videos.

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So far on this blog I have managed to feature European television from Norway, Belgium, France, Denmark, Switzerland, and the UK. Which considering how little Australian content is on this site, shows just how lazy I am, and just how proactive and generous my readers are (thanks again!).

Well we now have another European country we can add to that list: Sweden, thanks to Simon who has supplied me these videos from SVT (thats Sveriges Television) the license fee funded national broadcaster of everyones favorite high tax paying country.

I’ve always been fascinated by Sweden and its literally at the top of my “next holiday” list. I don’t know what my attraction is, maybe its the Saab’s, maybe its the The Knife, whatever it is I can’t wait to hopefully visit for myself sometime soon.

Enough about my travel plans though, these videos are a mix of promos, idents and programming from SVT1 and SVT2, for a run down of whats in each video…

The first video is from SVT1 and contains promos and idents, as well as the start of the main news program Rapport and an ident for SVT drama.

In the second video from SVT2 we see titles from various news programs as well as some of the Christmas branding which includes a long shot on a cup of Glögg.

Video number three starts with another news program (which seems to have some story about Saab’s in the opening), along with various idents and a promo for the SVT HD service.

The final video begins with a promo for UR, Sweden’s educational broadcaster followed by more news clips and finishing up with one of those multi network billboards.

You’ll notice throughout these videos, that like the Norwegians the Swedish seem to enjoy using the live talking head continuity announcers.

- Thanks again to Simon for all the videos, cheers!

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Australian’s went to the polls yesterday, and we voted ourselves in a new government. The “Ruddslide” was pretty apparent from early on in the evenings coverage, but the outlook of the incumbent Prime Minister losing his own seat in parliament to a former ABC journalist kept the night pretty interesting.

Of the five free to air networks, Seven, Nine and the ABC offered “non stop” coverage from around 6pm, with SBS and Ten opting to only cover the election through updates and a late bulletin. Sky News also covered the event in full, and I’m pretty sure they haven’t stopped talking about it since.

A very vocal tally room (bloody Canberran’s) no doubt spurred on in part by The Chaser’s presence wasn’t particularly welcome by most broadcasters, but should make for a very good episode next Wednesday of The Chaser Decides.

The ratings for last nights coverage not surprisingly saw the ABC win the night, followed by Seven’s very slick coverage that was actually much better than their own promos would’ve suggested. Channel Ten’s repeat of The Empire Strikes Back came in third beating Channel Nine’s election coverage, which looked and felt like they were broadcasting from the mid nineties.

Update: Get a four minute recap of the whole election night below.

The ABC’s Insiders program compiled a montage of the entire night spanning the various networks coverage, it includes Kerry O’Brien’s ABC/ALP gaffe as mentioned in the comments.

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The Australia Network (formerly ABC Asia Pacific) is a free to air satellite television station operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Its available to over 20 million homes across Asia, the Pacific, and India, and although technically not broadcast in Australia, some of its programming is available on ABC2.

The above video comparison shows the opening sequences of ABC News as broadcast locally, and ABC News Asia Pacific produced for the Australia Network.

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I realise this news is now a week old, but I was only just reminded that I actually had footage to accompany it. Basically, if you haven’t heard, Charmaine Dragun, a 29 year old journalist and news anchor for Network Ten tragically committed suicide last week. Read more about her life, career and battle with depression here.

A public memorial will be held on Monday, and in lieu of flowers the family is asking that donations be made to Beyond Blue.

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Update: The ABC explains everything slightly more eloquently here.

The fight for the next Prime Minister of Australia is well underway, and this evening the current PM John Howard faced his rival Kevin Rudd in the first (and possibly only) debate of this election campaign.

The debate was telecast on the ABC, as well as commercial network Channel Nine and news channel Sky. And while the debate was largely an exchange of speeches between the two men, there was some drama behind the scenes. Basically the event was being recorded by the ABC (for the first time since 1993), under an agreement with the organisers of the event, the National Press Club. The ABC agreed to supply a clean feed of the debate to any broadcaster that wanted it, however when Channel Nine included the worm in its broadcasts against the wishes of National Press Club there feed was pulled, forcing Nine to “pirate” a feed from Sky News.

Unfortunately that technical back and fourth (further explained in the videos above) was about the most interesting thing about the evening, for a slightly more interesting, if only fictional election debate, check out The West Wing’s live debate from the shows final season after the jump..

From: Episode “The Debate” Source: blip.tv

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Fionnuala Sweeney, the host of CNN’s International Correspondents talks to Deputy Director-General of the BBC Mark Byford about the 2800 jobs being cut from the corporation, along with plans to sell of the broadcasters iconic headquarters, Television Centre in London. All the cost cutting is due to a £2bn budget shortfall, the outcome of a decision not to increase the license fee as much as had been requested.

In other BBC related news, international visitors to BBC.com will soon be presented with online advertisements for the first time, the rationale being that foreign users of the service don’t pay the license fee that British residents do.

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These are a series of openers from various news programs from the Norwegian national broadcaster NRK. The shows in order of appearance above are RedaksjonEN, Standpunkt, Urix and Østnytt.

The entirely CGI sequences keep away from the usual television news trap of using old footage to create drama and instead get an incredible amount of creative mileage from a small dot from the NRK logo that begins each show.

There’s a consistency here I love that makes each program distinctively NRK, which is something that lacks among the various news shows of say the ABC (7.30, Lateline, etc), however its probably debatable as to whether such cohesion between sepereate broadcasts is needed.

Check out more from the license fee funded Norwegian NRK in my earlier post here.

- And another huge thanks to Hans for the videos.

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It was only a few days ago I was posting about Norway’s TV2, and if you liked that, you should love this.. From the same country that brought you the aerosol spray its the Norwegian national broadcaster; NRK, or Norsk rikskringkasting.

Let me explain the contents of the videos, and a bit more after the jump..

The first video is the opening of Dagsrevyen, the most popular news program in Norway which according to Wikipedia gets nearly a million viewers (for a country of 4.7m thats huge!).

The second video is the opening of a debate for the 2007 local elections between the Prime Minister, represented by a rose, and the opposition leader, represented by an apple (spoiler alert: Labour won Trondheim).

The third video is from a weekly sports magazine show, and the final video appears to be a kindly older lady reading out whats on television that night.

The NRK is currently made up of three television stations, with a fourth launching in December, and a number of radio stations. NRK is financed by license fees, and although they have ads on their website I believe the television stations remain commercial free.

All in all it seems pretty impressive for a country with a population one-quarter that of Australia’s.. maybe license fees aren’t such a bad idea.

- Huge thanks to Hans for the videos, much appreciated.

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If I can’t do something for the public good, what the hell am I doing?

For more on the life and work of Anita Roddick read the BBC’s obituary, her Wikipedia entry, or her own blog.

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If you haven’t heard already, The Chaser got themselves in a bit of trouble a few days ago, when they made there way through two security checkpoints and got within a block of where the US President was staying, all the while with Chas Licciardello dressed as Osama bin Laden.

You can read all about it here, but the point of this post is to show the coverage it got internationally, on BBC World, and on its journalistic polar opposite.. Fox News.

Update: Chris Taylor talks about the incident on Triple J (thanks Jaymo).
[mp3]http://beohm.com/radio/christaylor-chaserAPEC.mp3[/mp3]

Update: The Chaser have released some footage, watch it after the jump..

APEC Motorcade Preview

Add to My Profile | More Videos

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I’ve learnt a lot more about Norway than I thought I would from writing this blog. I’ve learnt that Norway it isn’t (despite what I thought) part of the European Union, that it ranks number #1 in the UN Human Development Index, and now apparently its the most peaceful country on earth!

Back to TV though, check out Norwegian broadcaster TV2′s idents here in my earlier post, or watch their news and weather openers above, with music composed by David Lowe, whose work you may have heard in the theme music to BBC News.

- Thanks Hans for the videos.

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France 2 is the largest public television station in France, it was also the first channel in the country to go colour in 1967, and is in closest competition with TF1.

In the above videos you’ve got the closest thing French television have to idents, their “publicité” spots, followed by a movie promo, two news openers from throughout the day and a primetime line up.

For more French Television, check out my posts on ARTE, France 3, France 5, TF1 and the France Télévisions group.

- Thanks again, Jean-François.

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There’s nothing quite like a natural disaster to compare news broadcasters, and with the flooding going on in the UK, and journalists standing knee deep in water all over the country, it seemed like a good time.

Above is the coverage from the BBC, Channel 4, Sky News and ITV.

- Thanks Craig for the videos.

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Late last month, the only news program in the UK to focus solely on international news got a shake up. It went from being The World, in the first video, to World News Today in the second video, and is now hosted by Zeinab Badawi. The show is described as:

unashamedly serious; but that doesn’t mean it’s not engaging or stimulating.

And it probably fits in very well on BBC Four where it airs. Why the change you ask? Well you can read all about why from the BBC itself which blogged about the changes here, in a brilliant example of openness, that kept the viewer in the loop for once.

Not getting BBC Four, or living in the UK, I haven’t seen either shows, all I can say though… is I’m glad they kept the wood flooring.

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Tracy, Jessica, Sarah, Kellie.. and now Lisa. A new female host for the Nine Network’s Today show started yesterday, and while the usual first-day-of-a-new-host ratings were up, they weren’t as high as when Mrs Murdoch started her run, and quite frankly Nicole Kidman could host the show, but after the first day curiosities, the ratings would go back to what they are always are.

I have to agree with Crikey, and ask why “is Karl Stefanovic a protected species? After all, he and Richard Wilkins have been tried and found wanting by viewers — so why aren’t they boning candidates?”. They’re rumours that the show will be making the Sunrise-esque move to Park Street to be part of the city bustle, but besides people holding “watch Sunrise” banners in the background I’m not sure what good it will do.

The show needs to relaunch completely, new name, new set, and an actual focus, well, a focus beyond just copying Sunrise. If Sunrise is the friendly breakfast show, why not make Today the serious news breakfast show? Karl’s already dressed for it.

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Seven’s 4.30pm news has become Australia’s first news program to simulcast live on the internet. The bulletin is available at yahoo7.com.au/news and while I didn’t watch it today I understand it came with ads and all. Also on my list of things I don’t know about the service: if its available outside Australia. I’m sure the success of this will determine if its rolled out on other Seven news broadcasts.

While this would appear to be a first for Australia I have a feeling a few networks in the US also let you watch their news live online.