When the print press turns its attention to the broadcast news industry, it is usually to report machinations that matter only to media insiders or to generate soap opera-style intrigue for the masses. In both scenarios, the basis of the story is so often ITV's News at Ten. Whether it be the original decision to axe the programme in the late 1990s, its various comebacks or a change to its many iconic newscasters, the programme has inspired more than its share of column inches.
Rarely has this been more evident than in the months since the channel revamped the format of what was the nation's first half-hour news bulletin. From the moment Tom Bradby was installed as the programme's new anchor, there has been an avalanche of articles focussing on the fluff - his looks and royal acquaintances - and the facts - a serious attempt to overhaul a broadcasting institution. Not to mention a spat over ratings with BBC counterpart Huw Edwards, which straddles both categories. QED.
Bradby was brought in with the seemingly contradictory objective of making the programme less formal and yet also more upmarket. However, October's overhaul was a soft launch (which fermented this week with a new on-air look) and so a degree of experimentation could be justified in the name of getting it right. Since then, the strikingly conversational tone has been slightly subdued, but other editorial changes have bedded in - longer packages and a more analytical bent, in the form of extended conversations with correspondents. Three months in, the strategy might now be best described as less formulaic rather than less formal, more interpretive rather than more intellectual (although the phrase "non-sequitur" made an unlikely appearance last week).
In spite of the breathtaking ignorance and arrogance which characterises much of what passes for informed media comment on this subject, ITN is simply building on what ITV News has always done best - bold, but accessible, thoughtful, yet meaningful television journalism. Unfortunately, the myopic actions of a malign ITV management regime nearly twenty years ago allowed a narrative to be woven which conflated a then downmarket trend in the channel with the quality of its independently-produced news output. No such link existed, but the dye was cast and sadly stains to this day.
ITN weathered the 'News at When?' wilderness years and more enlightened channel bosses soon recognised what Trevor McDonald later described as the "shocking mistake" of sidelining news content and put it back at the heart of the schedule. Yet, even today, broad-brush misconceptions persist, perhaps best crystalised by Polly Toynbee opining on Twitter that she would "hardly ever see" Robert Peston after his defection to ITV - as if her finger might dissolve should it even hover over the third button on her TV remote. All too often, media commentators appear to have read the script, but not watched the output.
Whilst it would be invidious to compare the relative merits of Bradby as a solo anchor to the established pairing of Mark Austin and Julie Etchingham, there is, in any case, much else about News at Ten's refresh which is worthy of comment. ITV News seems to cultivate a culture of powerful and creative storytelling; it is one one which has percolated through the ranks from one generation to the next, with a spine of long-serving correspondents at its core. The likes of John Irvine and Geraint Vincent, amongst many others, turn the process into something akin to an art form. So it makes sense to afford more time to the building block of TV news - the package - when it is such a well-practised craft.
Similarly, the analytical weight offered by an expanded team of editors brings greater scope for context and allows for easier development of running themes. Tracking a group of refugess across Europe was standout journalism of the type for which ITN (via ITV) is famed - at least by those who understand the history, rather than the histrionics, of broadcast news. Dedicating the vast majority of one edition to disecting an interview with fomer Guantanamo detainee Shaker Aamer was something else - a statement of intent.
Yet as much as this revamp matters to ITV and ITN, it matters just as much to the wider broadcast news sector. It's a stark fact that the audience figures over which Edwards and Bradby were quibbling late last year are down by around a combined seven million for the flagship BBC and ITV bulletins since the late 1990s, with ITV's audience barely a third of the level it once enjoyed. Even allowing for the scheduling clash which has arisen since, that is evidence of a clear direction of travel, reflected in the decreasing share of total viewing accounted for by news. So is appointment-to-view news just an ageing anachronism in an on-demand era?
Clearly, there are still millions who value the concept of a daily digest and many, like me, who would not want their news any other way. Yet statistics unsurprisingly show a sharp decline in linear television news viewing within the youngest age groups. Even amongst those for whom 'the news' has been a constant, the possibility of a drift to digital is a real one.
The evangelists say such a shift does not matter, that content is king. Yet the ecosystem of broadcast news is delicate when transposed into a digital-only future. OFCOM found that, whilst three in five people regularly use the BBC website or app, just one in twenty use that of ITV and, perplexingly, a meagre one in a hundred turn to the televisually-trusted Channel 4 News when operating in the on-line world (1).
That portends a significant future threat to a key component of a healthy broadcast news industry and one which this blog has regularly championed - plurality. Should the sad day ever come when their primary on-screen product becomes unviable, it seems unlikely that commercially-funded operators will make the same level of investment in a digital offering with such potentially poor returns.
Competition between the main players in broadcast news has always been to the benefit of the viewer. Coincidence of timing it may be, but the BBC has this month lengthened its own ten o'clock bulletin as a new front opens in the ratings battle. And whether or not it is so manifestly overt as it has been in recent months, professional pride will always engender a desire to be the biggest, the fastest - or simply the best. That makes for better content across the board and helps television defy the digital odds and remain the most popular platform for news consumption (2).
So whatever judgment is finally made about the latest News at Ten revamp, it will hopefully have achieved one thing for which even its competitors should be thankful - making a demanding and distracted audience think again about television news.
(1) OFCOM News Consumption in the UK 2014
(2) OFCOM News Consumption in the UK 2015
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