Channel 4 news is quite probably the best news programme on terrestrial television. It's on at 7pm weeknights and lasts for 55 minutes (including ads), except for Friday nights when it is on for half an hour. There are short weekend bulletins, but I shall focus all of this opinion into the ... Read review
Advantages: Comprehensive and honest analysis, Jon Snow, an education Disadvantages: Advertisements, brief weather report, prime suspects do not appear, time constrains of debates.
Channel 4 news is quite probably the best news programme on terrestrial television. It's on at 7pm weeknights and lasts for 55 minutes (including ads), except for Friday nights when it is on for half an hour. There are short weekend bulletins, but I shall focus all of this opinion into the weekday version of C4 news.
C4 news is usually presented by two presenters and their most celebrated presenter is undoubtedly Jon Snow. It's set ... ...that trendy, and neither is Channel 4. I can see the appeal of ITV news (ITN also produces C4 news by the way). I guess the viewer just wants to know what is happening and does not care about the details and wants a young blonde presenter and a pretty weathergirl, I know I am wrong, but hopefully you know what I mean. Maybe people are sick of politicians too, or just aren't interested. If you feel strongly about an item of news and want to learn ... more
Channel 4 news is quite probably the best news programme on terrestrial television. It's on at 7pm weeknights and lasts for 55 minutes (including ads), except for Friday nights when it is on for half an hour. There are short weekend bulletins, but I shall focus all of this opinion into the weekday version of C4 news.
C4 news is usually presented by two presenters and their most celebrated presenter is undoubtedly Jon Snow. It's set in a fairly modern looking studio which I find comforting as a viewer and of course, each presenter sits in front of their laptop etc.
The show usually devotes the first 20 minutes into the main story or the main two stories. Then advertisements and a summary of the other stories of the day and on some occasions a special report presented by some correspondent, which may be about the UK, for example the effects of some social security reform or some thing about a gold mine in Indonesia (like tonight) i.e. not today's news.
Tell it like it really is ----- What impresses me is the depth that C4 news goes into on its headlines. As I said earlier it spends like 20 minutes on the main headline, tonight it was the turn of oil giant BP Amoco and it's £10bn profits, they made it clear that it is not related to fuel prices and talked about a Labour MP wanting to impose a windfall tax on oil companies. Like its rivals, usually a correspondent has got all his all her details and interviewed the right people and presents a very good piece, but with C4 news, I have a feeling that the reporter is honest, and not censored by anything, like the feeling I get with some Ciao writers. They present both sides of the story and what matters is I trust them.
We invited Peter Mandelson onto the show, but he declined ----- What separates C4 news from it's rivals is the live debates that go on, they are great. Okay, so the first choice of interviewee to be grilled does not usually come on, but their scapegoat usually makes it to the studio. C4 news do make their best effort to find someone relevant and to make sure that both sides of the story are presented, sometimes there is an American person sitting in their New York studio debating with someone at the Westminster studio, and barring technical difficulties, the debates are stimulating. A whole range of people appear, politicians, Lords, journalists, academics, scientists, economists, Anne Widdicombe etc.
I'm sorry, but we seem to have a technical problem… ----- But that's all boring right? It's just politicians plugging their policies and economists being cold-blooded in justifying their policies., isn’t it? Yes and no, sometimes it does seem like it, and the presenter makes a good effort to stop this, and sometimes the debate does go round in circles. But most of the time I do learn a lot of things. Also, although Jon Snow may not be as notorious as Jeremy Paxman or John Humphreys (of Radio 4's today programme) he certainly has my respects, being very sharp and clever. For instance he is not afraid to say "are you going to give me a YES NO answer" and today, he was talking to a Labour MP about a windfall tax on petrol companies and said something on the lines of "is your bleeper going off" (if you don't understand that just ask me, it's a long story, but the prime minister has promised to be friendlier to business). And yes, there is sometimes an arts feature, which is sometimes boring, but I can live with it. The weather reports are concise to say the least, but they have made big improvements here.
And now for today's other news ----- The other news is presented as your standard BBC/ITV news bulletin. Nothing special but good coverage. Sometimes a correspondent is invited on, today it was about the "Anna Kournikova" virus and there was the usual comparison to the "lovebug" virus. Yesterday it was the "close" of Napster, I was surprised that they managed to interview some American college students too. As I mentioned earlier there are some more detailed reports on other news, reports that took days to complie, these are usually very interesting, because you know what is happening, i.e. the effects of something, rather than people forecasting what will happen and then becoming yesterday's news after the cameras have gone.
And now a look at the weather ----- Then why doesn't anyone watch it? Well to be frank, news isn't that trendy, and neither is Channel 4. I can see the appeal of ITV news (ITN also produces C4 news by the way). I guess the viewer just wants to know what is happening and does not care about the details and wants a young blonde presenter and a pretty weathergirl, I know I am wrong, but hopefully you know what I mean. Maybe people are sick of politicians too, or just aren't interested. If you feel strongly about an item of news and want to learn more, C4 news is a good place to start, the debates usually run out of time and it is interesting to hear the arguments of some people and amusing to hear the arguments of others. Being on at 7pm, it only has to compete with Channel 5 news, which is not too good. Also there are the satellite and cable news channels, but they are fairly bland unless there is breaking news. People seem to like watching their news at 10pm though, maybe because Eastenders is more important than the economy or a natural disaster. What about Newsnight? I respect that too, I have not seen it for ages, but they do a very good job there, with great visuals and comment and analysis, however, the information they cover is narrower and it is not on every evening.
Tonight's headlines once again ----- Channel 4 news just does not seem to be "the PEOPLE's news programme" it's content just does not seem to appeal to all because news may not seem to be "interesting. It's a shame really, because C4 news is an honest and comprehensive programme, it's a education, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that it's the "Today programme" (Radio 4) in the evening, but it is as close as needs be.
That's channel 4 news, thanks for watching… {Fade in a symphony outro here}
Advantages: A little later in the day. Free. Disadvantages: Too long and not that local.
Channel 4 terrestrial TV news. On 6 night a week Sunday to Friday. Monday to Friday the programme runs from 19.00 - 20.00 (it finishes a little earlier on Friday at 19.40) on Sundays from 19.30 - 20.00 hrs.
The most predominant presenter is the by now famous Jon Snow (a regular). There is often 1 other presenter. The presenters adopt a variety of positions in the studio, sometimes standing sometimes seated behind a desk - Is there any reason for ... ...Unlike the BBC and other terrestrial commercial news programmes there is no time for regional UK news such as channel 3 who have London tonight in my area. This helps make the programme more unique in its presentation and therefore offers more time for items of an international nature. ...
JeffreyB 23.02.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Channel 4 - News
Advantages: In-depth coverage, serious, comes across as unbiased Disadvantages: Two advert breaks
I started watching Channel 4 News more and more as BBC News got more dumbed down and now I'm definitely a fan. The coverage is wide, including plenty of world news and politics, as well as UK news. Also, each news item is covered in more depth than BBC News offers, so the coverage isn't purely soundbite based. They have plenty of guests and interviews with relevant people which adds a rounded, balanced feel to the coverage.
All in all, it comes ...
Ljmcr 12.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Channel 4 - News
...Dad used to watch the Channel 4 news, I used to think it was so boring, and no doubt to a small child it was. But, years later I can’t believe that I actually watch that news myself and find it quite informative. It’s a very good news show it comes on at 7pm on Channel 4 and is presented by the excellent Jon Snow. Jon Snow is excellent, his interview techniques are just so good and if he thinks the person who’s being interviewed ... ...ruthless in a nice sought of way, and makes the news just that more interesting. They do however spend 15-20 minutes on the top news story which can be quite long, but they do like to things thoroughly. They also cover other headlines very briefly and have a sports round-up. They have all the top guests, from politicians to Lords to ambassadors etc. I did used to like News at Ten but I don’t watch that and watch the seven o’clock news ...
begum 11.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Channel 4 - News
...Newsnight on BBC2, ITV News, Channel 5 News and Channel 4 News. But above all the news programmes available to terrestrial viewers the Channel 4 programme is in my opinion the most interesting. Hosted by Jon Snow (and others), this 1-hour programme introduces all the news of the day, with long and straightforward reports from all over the world, as the other programmes do, but aims to get more in deep by offering face-to-face interviews, panels, ... ...appreciated is the fact that Channel 4 News is strongly committed to report on foreign affairs, while IMHO BBC and ITV tend to focus too much on UK life. The main man of the news is Jon Snow, one of the most appreciated journalists in this country, capable of challenging any reluctant respondants, should that be the Prime Minister or a local publican. It's good to come back home a little bit later, and miss the BBC 6 O'Clock News, and tune to the ...
marconad 17.09.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Channel 4 - News
Advantages: great analysis of events well researched and presented Disadvantages: clashes with the soaps!
I watch channel 4 news programme on a fairly regular basis due to the fact that it just doesnt give you little sound bites of news it actually gives a good in depth analysis of the news. Unfortunatly I only tend to watch the first half of it as it clashes with the soaps! But if you really want to know what is going on in the country and the world at large tune in to this news show. It is well produced does not over dramatise things and does not have ...
jo1l 23.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Channel 4 - News
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