http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio ... ws-bbc-itv

I only really watch shows where they're debating the news, and even that depends on who's appearing. Or if there's been a major national or interesting local event.

You can get the headlines and other details on your phone now... Do you folks regularly watch the news?

Never. I'm out 12 hours a day and read newspapers and the web. In the evenings it's a bit of TV and reading then bed.

BBC news presenters try to be funny all the time.

Just tell us the damn news!!!

I spend most of my time in front of a computer - why would I wait to watch the evening news?

I get it on the web sooner than I see it on TV.

I tend to catch up on the news when I have my morning ablutions via iphone. I then stick the TV on and watch BBC News whilst I get dressed. Sometimes they cover useful stuff. Often, they don't. Worse still, they frequently cover "non-news" items. I remember the first time I experienced this in c.2006 and they covered an item about what was in a woman's handbag. I didn't give a rat's arse back then and I still don't. I fail to see how it was newsworthy. At some point (unsure if same time or much later), someone complained to the BBC's Newswatch programme about their non-news items, only to be told that the BBC News on BBC1 was a "magazine" so covered lifestyle crap.

If there's nothing on, either I turn the TV off or leave it on News 24.

The problem with a lot of TV news, especially on the 24 hour channels is that once you've seen a bulletin that day then unless something major kicks off they just regurgitate the same stuff every 15 minutes - half an hour. In the past I would have had BBC News 24 on in the background if there was nothing I wanted to watch on but I tend to go for a music channel these days.

The BBC News used to be good, now it's just acceptable, ITV is painfully dumbed down, Sky News laughable.

Spend all my time on the computer, get news either from tech sites or the BBC news RSS. Tech sites are usually the most relevant.

That is a good assessment.


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I generally watch news once a day, either morning or evenings for the 5 minute recap. As said above, the problem is that they replay the same stuff every 15 minutes or half an hour.

What bugs me is where you see a live news conference or statement, which then gets summarised by the reporter on the spot, then you get the headlines with the same stuff in all over again.

I don't want to get into a major rant about it, but parachuting in news anchors to a disaster zone, hyping up events to major proportions, generally telling us what the news might be instead of actually waiting for it to happen and then telling us about it.

Gnat, span, of, attention. Please rearrange to make a well-known phrase or saying.

Pertinent today, of course, with the high winds in Scotland. Poor old Laura Bicker of BBC News has had to retreat to the satellite van, and they've had to stop broadcasting pictures because it's too bad outside. Horrors! No images of waves crashing into sea defences, cars bonnet deep in flood water, wheelie bins and Sky News reporters blowing through the background. BBC News has actually begged for images from the viewers, so I guess we're going to see the spoof images of overturned patio furniture and garden gnomes appear shortly.

Here's hoping . It does seem pretty rough up there though tbh. 140MPH winds reported at Fort William. I know Fort William, been there many a time. Really doesn't seem like the kind of place that gets tornado grade winds very often. I saw the thing with Laura Bicker getting battered by the elements before they retreated to the van. The rather erratic camera work suggested her cameraman was nearly being lifted off his feet.

The other thing about Laura Bicker is apparently she apparently only owns one scarf. Between the chopper crash and this she's been on BBC news every day for about a week, always wearing the same scarf.

The impression I'm getting from various sources is that things are pretty bad. The emergency services can't cope with the demand at the moment.

There's some fairly hefty pieces of debris being blown around outside my office window right now (in Manchester). If you caught one of them on it's path you'd be in need of medical assistance. So what it's like further north...