ITV News at Ten
Britain's first permanent 30-minute evening news bulletin.
It was the first permanent 30-minute news broadcast in the United Kingdom.[1] On 3 July 1967, news editor Geoffrey Cox established ITV News at Ten, a flagship evening news programme produced by ITN for the British television network ITV.[1] The programme gained popularity through its blend of analytical news coverage and populist stories, along with Big Ben's chimes being used to separate headlines.[2]
Quick Facts
- Genre
- News and Current affairs
- Presenter
- Julie Etchingham; Tom Bradby
- Voices
- Gayanne Potter (intro)
- Theme music
- Johnny Pearson; Dave Hewson
- Opening theme
- "Global Broadcast"
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Editor
- Laura Wilshaw (Programme Editor); Rachel Corp (Editor, ITV News)
Facts from the source article.
Making and release
From 1956, ITN editor Geoffrey Cox argued to the Independent Television Authority that ITN should provide a news bulletin of substantial length.[3] ITV argued against a 30-minute evening bulletin, but the ITA granted Cox's wish in 1967.[3] ITV stations reluctantly agreed to a 13-week trial run for the Monday-to-Friday programme fixed at 10 pm.[3] News at Ten began broadcasting on 3 July 1967 under Cox's editorship.[4]
A reversal came after an "action story" from ITN reporter Alan Hart ran for a then-unheard-of length of 5 minutes.[5] Since ITV's launch in September 1955, ITN had been the channel's news provider.[6] Prior to News at Ten, ITN's news updates were at most 14 minutes long and lacked a fixed broadcast time.[6] When it first aired, the programme had minimal news to report because it launched during a slow news week in the summer.[5]
In 1969, News at Ten achieved the distinction of being the first news bulletin in Britain to rank among the week's top 20 most-watched programmes.[7]
What the cited sources add
The Evening Standard reported in January 2016 that Tom Bradby, the News at Ten anchor, said the relaunched programme "will be distinctive, more human — and funnier than the BBC"[8] An ITV source told the Evening Standard that the programme's title credits and famous bongs were being overhauled with "more of Big Ben's face, a nod to the News at Ten of old"[8] The Guardian also reported that in October 2007, ITV chairman Michael Grade said moving News at Ten had been "a shocking mistake... it damaged ITV more than anything"[9] The Independent's obituary for Nigel Ryan stated that by August 1969 all five editions of News at Ten were appearing in the ratings Top 20.[10]
The same source noted that Lord Annan's 1977 Committee declared: "We subscribe to the generally held view that ITN has the edge over BBC news".[10]
References
- Wikipedia, "ITV News at Ten" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "News at Ten "will return to ITV1"", BBC News, 23 October 2007; Obituary report for Geoffrey Cox, News at Ten, 2 April 2008; "Turning back the clock' report, News at Ten", ITN, 5 March 1999 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "ITV News at Ten" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Conboy, "Journalism in Britain: A Historical Introduction", 2010 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "ITV News at Ten" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "News at Ten: Forty Years Off and On", ATV News & Soap Zone, 25 October 2007 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "ITV News at Ten" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "News at Ten "will return to ITV1"", BBC News, 23 October 2007; "Turning back the clock' report, News at Ten", ITN, 5 March 1999 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "ITV News at Ten" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "News at Ten: Forty Years Off and On", ATV News & Soap Zone, 25 October 2007; "The ITN Story", ITN, 1976; Joseph, "25 Years on ITV", Independent Television Books Ltd, 1980, p. 128 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "ITV News at Ten" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "ITN – Independent Television News", The Ident Zone, 11 May 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "ITV News at Ten" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hayward, "Nigel Ryan: Editor of ITN who consolidated 'News at Ten', launched 'First Report' and put more female journalists on screen", The Independent, 23 July 2014; Green, "The Universal Eye: World Television in the Seventies", The Bodley Head, 1972, p. 93, 106-115; "ITV 1971 Guide to Independent Television", Independent Television Authority, 1971, p. 130 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Tom Bradby – Revamped ITV News at Ten will be 'distinctive, more human and funnier than the BBC'", Evening Standard, 12 January 2016. facts only, no text reused. standard.co.uk
- Tryhorn, "News at Ten returns to ITV", The Guardian, 31 October 2007. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
- Hayward, "Nigel Ryan: Editor of ITN who consolidated 'News at Ten', launched 'First Report' and put more female journalists on screen", The Independent, 23 July 2014. facts only, no text reused. independent.co.uk
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article ITV News at Ten (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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