Tuesday 15 January 2008

Too little news on News on Ten

It looked slick and had more of a professional feel to it than most current ITV news bulletins. But it wasn't clear that the new News at Ten was much more last night. Instead of news, we were treated to a dreary exclusive about a boring doctor who was 'Diana's great love', and who shared a tale about when she popped in for tea; a travelogue from the senior international editor down a hole in Antarctica; and an OTT piece about Treasury frustration from ITN's distinctly lightweight 'political editor' Tom Bradby (bring back Mike Brunson!). None of which could disguise the fact that ITN is no longer what it was, and that it lacks the great reporters of the seventies and eighties. Sir Trevor and Julie Etchingham are good presenters, and benefited from sitting down in front of a desk looking authoritative, but little of the content was really news. Despite his occasionally infuriating biases, I think I'll stick with Jon Snow - a great ITN reporter in his day who would put the present lot to shame - and the still superior Channel 4 News.

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