BBC News

The current BBC News logo

BBC News and Current Affairs (sometimes abbreviated BBC NCA) is a major arm of the BBC responsible for the corporation's newsgathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. It claims to be the largest broadcast news gathering operation in the world and produces almost 100 hours of output daily. The current director is Helen Boaden.

BBC News carries out a key objective of the BBC's Royal Charter: to "collect news and information in any part of the world and in any manner that may be thought fit".

BBC News is based at the News Centre at Television Centre (TVC), Wood Lane, W12 and operates regional centres across the United Kingdom as well as 44 newsgathering bureaux around the world. Of these bureaux, 41 are based overseas. Political coverage is based at the Millbank Studios in Westminster. Due to the non-central location of TVC, however, in 2008 the News Centre is due to move to BBC Radio's headquarters, BBC Broadcasting House at Portland Place in Central London. The News department consists of 3,500 staff of which 2,000 are journalists. The annual budget of BBC News is £350 million.

BBC News output has won critical acclaim worldwide and praise for its unbiased and balanced reporting. It is, however, not free from controversies, the most recent being the Hutton Report which led to a shakeup of the corporation's operations. Within the United Kingdom, BBC News faces stiff competition from Sky News and ITN. However, research has shown that for coverage of major events such as the Iraq war and September 11th attacks viewers turn to the BBC.

In 2005, it was announced that the Six O'Clock News was the most popular daily news programme whilst the corporation's 24 hour rolling news channel, BBC News 24, was the most popular 24 hour news channel in Britain [1].

History

The BBC News television ident used from 1993 to 1999 The BBC News television ident used from 1999 until 2004 The BBC News television ident used from 2004

The British Broadcasting Company broadcast its first radio bulletin on November 14, 1922. On July 5, 1954, the first television news bulletin was broadcast. The BBC celebrated 50 years of Television News on July 5, 2004. The BBC television service originally carried news in the form of images with a newsreader narrating but off camera, having decided that a newsreader on screen would distract viewers from the stories. Newsreels had been in use for some time, shown at cinemas and other places of public gathering. These were adapted as Television Newsreel programmes.

Several variations in how the main news programmes were named and shown occurred with programmes such as Nationwide coming and going. A major relaunch of BBC television news output in 1993 included abolition of variation in sets and titles in favour of a single set with a common theme. The times of the main bulletins —one o'clock, six o'clock and nine o'clock, were, however unchanged, and the music, whilst consistent in style, was based on the previous theme adopted by each programme. The new set was a small one which took advantage of Silicon Graphics systems to create a virtual studio which appeared to be huge. The titles commenced with the BBC News logo imposed on a spinning globe, widening to reveal a glass sculpture of the BBC coat of arms (again computer generated) in front of a panoramic view of the studio. The colour of the sets varied, getting progressively darker throughout the day. Likewise the style of the theme changed, from a bright and driving theme for Breakfast News to an authoritative and more sombre version for the Nine O'Clock News. In 1997 the programme titles were altered slighlty to incorporate the new corporate logo and in 1999 the biggest relaunch occurred, with BBC One bulletins, BBC World and BBC News 24 adopting a common style. Most significantly BBC regional news programmes adopted the new corporate image for the first time, giving a common style across local, national and international BBC television news. It also caused changes to regional news. Regional stories were incorporated into the six o'clock news headlines. The English regions lost some time, however, as these regions now rejoined London for a national round-up at 6.55. Over the next few years the regional news programmes began adopting a unified look in line with the national news. Regional headlines were also added to the one o'clock news, and the main evening news, when it moved from nine o'clock to ten o'clock.

In 1998 most of BBC Radio News joined BBC Television News at TVC in the new "News Centre" complex at the front of the building. In 2008 all BBC News, national radio and BBC World Service broadcasts will be moved to Broadcasting House in central London. The building is planned to have the largest live newsroom in the world.

News output

Television news

The Television News section of BBC News is responsible for the main news bulletins on BBC One and BBC Two, news output on BBC Three and BBC Four and the news networks BBC News 24 and BBC Parliament. It also provides news on Ceefax and the BBC News Website.

BBC News provides 22 hours of programming each day for the international news and current affairs channel BBC World.

The distinctive music on all BBC television news programmes was introduced in 1999 and composed by David Lowe. It was part of the extensive rebranding which commenced in 1999. The general theme was used not only on bulletins on BBC One but News 24, BBC World and local news programmes in the BBC's Nations and Regions. Lowe was also responsible for the music on Radio One's "Newsbeat". In 2003, following another relaunch of the corporation's output, all title music and graphics were altered with Lowe remaining as composer.

On the 8th of November 2005, it was announced that a controller of BBC News 24 would be appointed and that a single editor for the One O'Clock and Six O'Clock news programmes would be used rather than two individuals. On the 16th of December 2005, the News 24 editor was named as Kevin Bakhurst, whilst Amanda Farnsworth became editor of the One and Six O'Clock bulletins. The position of editor of the Ten O'Clock News is currently being advertised.

The full directory of all the BBC's regional news programmes can be found here.

Radio news

BBC Radio News produces bulletins for the BBC's national radio stations and provides content for local BBC radio stations via the General News Service (GNS). BBC News does not produce the BBC's regional news bulletins, which are produced by the BBC nations and regions. The BBC World Service broadcasts to some 150 million people in 40 languages across the globe.

Online news

BBC News Online is the BBC's news website. Launched in November 1997, it is one of the most popular news websites in the UK with around 15 million visitors every month. The website contains exhaustive international news coverage as well as entertainment, sport, science, and political news. Many reports are accompanied by audio and video from the BBC's television and radio news services. Certain BBC current affairs programmes such as Newsnight and Question Time are available to view on the site after they have been broadcast. The same is available with BBC News television bulletins and radio programmes. Certain radio broadcasts are available for download as podcasts as part of the BBC's download trial.

Opinions of BBC News

The BBC is frequently complimented in the public arena, both in the United Kingdom and globally.

Alternative views are also expressed in print from time to time. Notable examples have been Stop castrating the language, published in The Observer, and The Disgrace of the BBC, published in The Weekly Standard.

Censorship

BBC News has been banned in several countries primarily for unbiased reporting which has been unfavourable to the ruling government. Most notable examples have been in Uzbekistan [2], China [3] [4], Sri Lanka [5], Zimbabwe [6] and Pakistan in 2005 [7], .

Hutton Inquiry

BBC News was at the centre of one the largest political controversies in recent years. Three BBC News reports (Andrew Gilligan's on Today, Gavin Hewitt's on The Ten O'Clock News and another on Newsnight) quoted an anonymous source that stated the British government (particularly the Prime Minister's office) had embellished the September Dossier with misleading exaggerations of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities.

The Government angrily denounced the reports and accused the corporation of poor journalism. In subsequent weeks the corporation stood by the report, saying that it had a reliable source. Following intense media speculation, David Kelly was finally named in the press as the source for Gilligan's story on 9 July 2003. Kelly was found dead, apparently by suicide, in a field close to his home early on 18 July. An inquiry led by Lord Hutton was announced by the British government the following day to investigate the circumstances leading to Kelly's death, concluding that "Dr. Kelly took his own life."

Aftermath of Hutton report

In his report on January 28, 2004, Lord Hutton concluded that Gilligan's original accusation was "unfounded" and the BBC's editorial and management processes were "defective". In particular, it specifically criticised the chain of management that caused the BBC to defend its story. The BBC Director of News, Richard Sambrook, the report said, had accepted Gilligan's word that his story was accurate rather than checking Gilligan's records more thoroughly.

Davies had then told the BBC Board of Governors that he was happy with the story and told the Prime Minister that a satisfactory internal inquiry had taken place. The Board of Governors, under BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies' guidance, accepted that further investigation of the Government's complaints were unnecessary.

Due to the level of criticism of the corporation in the Hutton report, Davies resigned on the day of publication. BBC News faced an important test, reporting on itself with the publication of the report, but by common consent managed this both independently and impartially. Davies was followed by Director General Greg Dyke the following day and Gilligan on January 30. While doubtless a traumatic experience for the corporation, an ICM poll in April 2003 indicated that it had sustained its position as the best and most trusted provider of news.

Editors

  • Political Editor: Nick Robinson
  • World Affairs Editor: John Simpson
  • Economics Editor: Evan Davis
  • Business Editor: Robert Peston
  • Europe Editor: Mark Mardell
  • Middle East Editor: Jeremy Bowen
  • Home Affairs Editor: Mark Easton

Anchors

BBC Breakfast

  • Dermot Murnaghan
  • Sian Williams
  • Bill Turnbull
  • Mishal Hussein
  • Simon McCoy
  • Moira Stuart

BBC News at One O'Clock

  • Anna Ford
  • Darren Jordan
  • Jane Hill

BBC News at Six O'Clock

  • George Alagiah
  • Natasha Kaplinsky
  • Sophie Raworth, on long-term leave

BBC News at Ten O'Clock

  • Huw Edwards
  • Fiona Bruce

BBC Weekend News

  • Matthew Amroliwala
  • Maxine Mawhinney

Note: Anchors are listed by their main and most regular job only


This page about bbc news includes information from a Wikipedia article.
Additional articles about bbc news
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External links for bbc news
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Note: Anchors are listed by their main and most regular job only. These organizations provide testing of virus scanning and related programs. While doubtless a traumatic experience for the corporation, an ICM poll in April 2003 indicated that it had sustained its position as the best and most trusted provider of news. TODO: Classify the following:. Davies was followed by Director General Greg Dyke the following day and Gilligan on January 30. This section includes usable free-of-charge versions of commercial software. BBC News faced an important test, reporting on itself with the publication of the report, but by common consent managed this both independently and impartially. Some virus scanners can also warn a user if a file is likely to contain a virus based on the file type.

Due to the level of criticism of the corporation in the Hutton report, Davies resigned on the day of publication. Because of performance issues, this type of detection normally only takes place during on-demand scans. The Board of Governors, under BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies' guidance, accepted that further investigation of the Government's complaints were unnecessary. After the program has terminated, software analyzes the sandbox for any changes which might indicate a virus. Davies had then told the BBC Board of Governors that he was happy with the story and told the Prime Minister that a satisfactory internal inquiry had taken place. A sandbox emulates the operating system and runs the executable in this simulation. The BBC Director of News, Richard Sambrook, the report said, had accepted Gilligan's word that his story was accurate rather than checking Gilligan's records more thoroughly. Yet another detection method involves using a sandbox.

In particular, it specifically criticised the chain of management that caused the BBC to defend its story. However, this method could result in a lot of false positives. In his report on January 28, 2004, Lord Hutton concluded that Gilligan's original accusation was "unfounded" and the BBC's editorial and management processes were "defective". If the program seems to use self-modifying code or otherwise appears as a virus (if it immediately tries to find other executables, for example), one could assume that a virus has infected the executable. Kelly took his own life.". For example, it could try to emulate the beginning of the code of each new executable that the system invokes before transferring control to that executable. An inquiry led by Lord Hutton was announced by the British government the following day to investigate the circumstances leading to Kelly's death, concluding that "Dr. Some antivirus-software uses of other types of heuristic analysis.

Kelly was found dead, apparently by suicide, in a field close to his home early on 18 July. Thus, most modern anti-virus software uses this technique less and less. Following intense media speculation, David Kelly was finally named in the press as the source for Gilligan's story on 9 July 2003. This problem has worsened since 1997, since many more nonmalicious program designs came to modify other .exe files without regard to this false positive issue. In subsequent weeks the corporation stood by the report, saying that it had a reliable source. If the user clicks "Accept" on every such warning, then the anti-virus software obviously gives no benefit to that user. The Government angrily denounced the reports and accused the corporation of poor journalism. However, it can also sound a large number of false positives, and users probably become desensitized to all the warnings.

Three BBC News reports (Andrew Gilligan's on Today, Gavin Hewitt's on The Ten O'Clock News and another on Newsnight) quoted an anonymous source that stated the British government (particularly the Prime Minister's office) had embellished the September Dossier with misleading exaggerations of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities. Unlike the dictionary approach, the suspicious behavior approach therefore provides protection against brand-new viruses that do not yet exist in any virus dictionaries. BBC News was at the centre of one the largest political controversies in recent years. If one program tries to write data to an executable program, for example, the anti-virus software can flag this suspicious behavior, alert a user and ask what to do. Most notable examples have been in Uzbekistan [2], China [3] [4], Sri Lanka [5], Zimbabwe [6] and Pakistan in 2005 [7], . The suspicious behavior approach, by contrast, doesn't attempt to identify known viruses, but instead monitors the behavior of all programs. BBC News has been banned in several countries primarily for unbiased reporting which has been unfavourable to the ruling government. Although the dictionary approach can effectively contain virus outbreaks in the right circumstances, virus authors have tried to stay a step ahead of such software by writing "oligomorphic", "polymorphic" and more recently "metamorphic" viruses, which encrypt parts of themselves or otherwise modify themselves as a method of disguise, so as to not match the virus's signature in the dictionary.

Notable examples have been Stop castrating the language, published in The Observer, and The Disgrace of the BBC, published in The Weekly Standard. Note too that a System Administrator can typically schedule the anti-virus software to examine (scan) all files on the user's hard disk on a regular basis. Alternative views are also expressed in print from time to time. In this way it can detect a known virus immediately upon receipt. The BBC is frequently complimented in the public arena, both in the United Kingdom and globally. Dictionary-based anti-virus software typically examines files when the computer's operating system creates, opens, closes or e-mails them. Certain radio broadcasts are available for download as podcasts as part of the BBC's download trial. As civically minded and technically inclined users identify new viruses "in the wild", they can send their infected files to the authors of anti-virus software, who then include information about the new viruses in their dictionaries.

The same is available with BBC News television bulletins and radio programmes. To achieve consistent success in the medium and long term, the virus dictionary approach requires periodic (generally online) downloads of updated virus dictionary entries. Certain BBC current affairs programmes such as Newsnight and Question Time are available to view on the site after they have been broadcast. If a piece of code in the file matches any virus identified in the dictionary, then the anti-virus software can take one of the following actions:. Many reports are accompanied by audio and video from the BBC's television and radio news services. In the virus dictionary approach, when the anti-virus software examines a file, it refers to a dictionary of known viruses that the authors of the anti-virus software have identified. The website contains exhaustive international news coverage as well as entertainment, sport, science, and political news. .

Launched in November 1997, it is one of the most popular news websites in the UK with around 15 million visitors every month. This was common on the Amiga computer platform. BBC News Online is the BBC's news website. Historically, the term anti-virus has also been used for benign computer viruses that spread and combated malicious viruses. The BBC World Service broadcasts to some 150 million people in 40 languages across the globe. Most commercial anti-virus software uses both of these approaches, with an emphasis on the virus dictionary approach. BBC News does not produce the BBC's regional news bulletins, which are produced by the BBC nations and regions. Anti-virus software typically uses two different techniques to accomplish this:.

BBC Radio News produces bulletins for the BBC's national radio stations and provides content for local BBC radio stations via the General News Service (GNS). Anti-virus software consists of computer programs that attempt to identify, thwart and eliminate computer viruses and other malicious software (malware). The full directory of all the BBC's regional news programmes can be found here. GFI Software - http://www.emailsecuritytest.com/. The position of editor of the Ten O'Clock News is currently being advertised. West Coast Labs - http://www.westcoastlabs.org/. On the 16th of December 2005, the News 24 editor was named as Kevin Bakhurst, whilst Amanda Farnsworth became editor of the One and Six O'Clock bulletins. ICSA Labs - http://www.icsalabs.com/.

On the 8th of November 2005, it was announced that a controller of BBC News 24 would be appointed and that a single editor for the One O'Clock and Six O'Clock news programmes would be used rather than two individuals. Virus Bulletin - http://www.virusbtn.com/. In 2003, following another relaunch of the corporation's output, all title music and graphics were altered with Lowe remaining as composer. AV Comparatives - http://www.av-comparatives.org. Lowe was also responsible for the music on Radio One's "Newsbeat". ZoneAlarm AntiVirus for Zone Labs. The general theme was used not only on bulletins on BBC One but News 24, BBC World and local news programmes in the BBC's Nations and Regions. Computer Associates USA.

It was part of the extensive rebranding which commenced in 1999. ClamXav. The distinctive music on all BBC television news programmes was introduced in 1999 and composed by David Lowe. ClamTk. BBC News provides 22 hours of programming each day for the international news and current affairs channel BBC World. Winpooch - combined with ClamWin makes a GPL antivirus product with on-access scanning. It also provides news on Ceefax and the BBC News Website. ClamWin by alch

    .

    The Television News section of BBC News is responsible for the main news bulletins on BBC One and BBC Two, news output on BBC Three and BBC Four and the news networks BBC News 24 and BBC Parliament. ClamAV by Tomasz Kojm

      . The building is planned to have the largest live newsroom in the world. BitDefender Linux edition and free Windows editions. In 2008 all BBC News, national radio and BBC World Service broadcasts will be moved to Broadcasting House in central London. AVG Anti-Virus by Grisoft. In 1998 most of BBC Radio News joined BBC Television News at TVC in the new "News Centre" complex at the front of the building. Avast! by Alwil from Czech Republic.

      Regional headlines were also added to the one o'clock news, and the main evening news, when it moved from nine o'clock to ten o'clock. Antivir Personal Edition Classic by H+BEDV from Germany. Over the next few years the regional news programmes began adopting a unified look in line with the national news. Virex by McAfee. The English regions lost some time, however, as these regions now rejoined London for a national round-up at 6.55. Rising AntiVirus from China. Regional stories were incorporated into the six o'clock news headlines. Pocket Antivirus by JSJ Software.

      It also caused changes to regional news. Panda Software from Spain. Most significantly BBC regional news programmes adopted the new corporate image for the first time, giving a common style across local, national and international BBC television news. F-Secure Antivirus by the eponymous firm from Finland. In 1997 the programme titles were altered slighlty to incorporate the new corporate logo and in 1999 the biggest relaunch occurred, with BBC One bulletins, BBC World and BBC News 24 adopting a common style. F-Prot, by FRISK Software International in Iceland. Likewise the style of the theme changed, from a bright and driving theme for Breakfast News to an authoritative and more sombre version for the Nine O'Clock News. Norton AntiVirus by Symantec.

      The colour of the sets varied, getting progressively darker throughout the day. Norman from Norway. The titles commenced with the BBC News logo imposed on a spinning globe, widening to reveal a glass sculpture of the BBC coat of arms (again computer generated) in front of a panoramic view of the studio. NOD32 by Eset from Slovak Republic, shareware. The new set was a small one which took advantage of Silicon Graphics systems to create a virtual studio which appeared to be huge. McAfee Antivirus by McAfee from USA. The times of the main bulletins —one o'clock, six o'clock and nine o'clock, were, however unchanged, and the music, whilst consistent in style, was based on the previous theme adopted by each programme. Kaspersky Anti-Virus by Kaspersky Lab from Russia.

      A major relaunch of BBC television news output in 1993 included abolition of variation in sets and titles in favour of a single set with a common theme. Command Antivirus by Authentium from USA. Several variations in how the main news programmes were named and shown occurred with programmes such as Nationwide coming and going. Bullguard Antivirus Software, Firewall and Backup, by BullGuard from Denmark/UK. These were adapted as Television Newsreel programmes. Vexira from Central Command -- Antivirus, antispam, and antispyware solutions. Newsreels had been in use for some time, shown at cinemas and other places of public gathering. Uniwares Leon Enterprise Anti-Spam Server (with integrated AV).

      The BBC television service originally carried news in the form of images with a newsreader narrating but off camera, having decided that a newsreader on screen would distract viewers from the stories. Leader in gateway protection. The BBC celebrated 50 years of Television News on July 5, 2004. Trend Micro Security Solutions for Enterprises, SMB and Consumers. On July 5, 1954, the first television news bulletin was broadcast. Sophos from UK provides antivirus solutions, with evaluation version. The British Broadcasting Company broadcast its first radio bulletin on November 14, 1922. Sybari Software had been purchased by Microsoft in early 2005.

      . Security solutions by Sybari Software. In 2005, it was announced that the Six O'Clock News was the most popular daily news programme whilst the corporation's 24 hour rolling news channel, BBC News 24, was the most popular 24 hour news channel in Britain [1]. GFi WebMonitor and GFi MailSecurity - WWW and email security solutions, by GFI Software. However, research has shown that for coverage of major events such as the Iraq war and September 11th attacks viewers turn to the BBC. from Russia - email/www security solutions, corporate networks protection. Within the United Kingdom, BBC News faces stiff competition from Sky News and ITN. Dr.Web by Doctor Web, Ltd.

      It is, however, not free from controversies, the most recent being the Hutton Report which led to a shakeup of the corporation's operations. BitDefender from Romania - email security solutions. BBC News output has won critical acclaim worldwide and praise for its unbiased and balanced reporting. Having anti-virus protection running at the same time as installing a major update may prevent the update installing properly or at all. The annual budget of BBC News is £350 million. It is sometimes necessary to temporarily disable virus protection when installing major updates such as Windows Service Packs or updating graphics card drivers for example. The News department consists of 3,500 staff of which 2,000 are journalists. Some anti-virus software has less impact on performance.

      Due to the non-central location of TVC, however, in 2008 the News Centre is due to move to BBC Radio's headquarters, BBC Broadcasting House at Portland Place in Central London. For maximum protection the anti-virus software needs to be enabled all the time - often at the cost of slower performance (see also Software bloat). Political coverage is based at the Millbank Studios in Westminster. Users may disable the anti-virus protection to overcome the performance loss, thus increasing the risk of infection. Of these bureaux, 41 are based overseas. Some anti-virus software can considerably reduce performance. BBC News is based at the News Centre at Television Centre (TVC), Wood Lane, W12 and operates regional centres across the United Kingdom as well as 44 newsgathering bureaux around the world. The ongoing writing and spreading of viruses and of panic about them gives the vendors of commercial anti-virus software a financial interest in the ongoing existence of viruses.

      BBC News carries out a key objective of the BBC's Royal Charter: to "collect news and information in any part of the world and in any manner that may be thought fit". Unfortunately, many popular anti-virus programs do not have this and thus are often unable to detect encrypted viruses. The current director is Helen Boaden. Detecting these "camouflaged" viruses requires a powerful unpacking engine, which can decrypt the files before examining them. It claims to be the largest broadcast news gathering operation in the world and produces almost 100 hours of output daily. Various methods exist of encrypting and packing malicious software which will make even well-known viruses undetectable to anti-virus software. BBC News and Current Affairs (sometimes abbreviated BBC NCA) is a major arm of the BBC responsible for the corporation's newsgathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. The dictionary approach to detecting viruses does not always suffice -- due to the continual creation of new viruses -- yet the suspicious behavior approach does not work well due to the false positive problem; hence, the current understanding of anti-virus software will never conquer computer viruses.

      Maxine Mawhinney. If they would simply run in user mode then some types of viruses could not spread (or at least the damage caused by viruses could be reduced). Matthew Amroliwala. Computer users should not always run with administrator access to their own machine. Fiona Bruce. User education can effectively supplement anti-virus software; simply training users in safe computing practices (such as not downloading and executing unknown programs from the Internet) would slow the spread of viruses and obviate the need of much anti-virus software. Huw Edwards. The spread of e-mail viruses (arguably the most destructive and widespread computer viruses) could be inhibited far more inexpensively and effectively, and without the need to install anti-virus software, if bugs in the e-mail clients, which relate to the execution of downloaded code and to the ability of executables to spread and wreak havoc, were fixed.

      Sophie Raworth, on long-term leave. delete the infected file. Natasha Kaplinsky. quarantine the file (such that the file remains inaccessible to other programs and its virus can no longer spread). George Alagiah. attempt to repair the file by removing the virus itself from the file. Jane Hill. Such analysis may include data captures, port monitoring and other methods.

      Darren Jordan. Identifying suspicious behavior from any computer program which might indicate infection. Anna Ford. Examining (scanning) files to look for known viruses matching definitions in a virus dictionary. Moira Stuart. Simon McCoy.

      Mishal Hussein. Bill Turnbull. Sian Williams. Dermot Murnaghan.

      Home Affairs Editor: Mark Easton. Middle East Editor: Jeremy Bowen. Europe Editor: Mark Mardell. Business Editor: Robert Peston.

      Economics Editor: Evan Davis. World Affairs Editor: John Simpson. Political Editor: Nick Robinson.