Journalism at BBC North
The BBC has a rich heritage of journalism in the north of England across local, regional and national outlets on radio, television and online.
Regional and network programmes produced in the North of England have been at the forefront of news reporting for many years, breaking and covering stories that reach straight to the heart of the audience.
Some of the major news stories covered on Breakfast in the last 12 months include the Royal Wedding, Fukushima, the death of Osama Bin Laden, events in the Arab Spring and the widespread snow across the country.
Breakfast’s move to Salford marks the final stage of BBC North phase 1 migration and brings the total number of journalists on site to around 400.
BBC North will be a central creative hub for journalism outside London covering everything from breaking news and current affairs to business, politics and sport, and providing an important service to audiences right across the country.
Along with Breakfast, Radio 5 live, BBC Sport, Newsround, regional and local programming, television and radio current affairs and network radio programmes from Radio 4 are all now based at MediaCityUK.
Stephen Mawhinney, Head of News BBC Radio 5 live and Salford Senior News Leader, says: “Salford is now home to the BBC’s largest concentration of journalists outside London. With outstanding new facilities, a rich journalistic heritage and a shared commitment to innovate and collaborate, we are perfectly placed to deliver the very best regional and network news and current affairs coverage to audiences across the UK.”
BBC News Group Overview
The BBC News Group, formed in April 2011, incorporates BBC Network News (including the Newsroom, News Programmes, Political Programmes, Newsgathering and Weather teams), English Regions and Global News.
Under the leadership of Group Director Helen Boaden, the News Group makes up more than a third of the BBC with over 8,500 staff around the UK and the world serving a huge variety of audiences.
The new studio
Previously broadcast from Studio TC7 in BBC Television Centre, BBC Breakfast’s new state-of-the art studio at MediaCityUK is equipped with the latest technologies:
Fully HD capable studio facilities (Breakfast will transmit in HD).
A flexible production environment, with studio and newsroom areas shared with the regional news production team. Both productions will be supported by the North TV News Operational team, a team of multi-skilled staff specifically formed to deliver TV News requirements in Salford. The studio has been designed to operate without the need to repeatedly strike and replace sets resulting in a speedy and effective turnaround between productions.
Energy efficient - lit entirely by energy saving LED luminaires with the consequential reduction in heat that traditional incandescent lamps produce, less air conditioning is required to keep the area cool. In electricity terms for comparison purposes, TC7 and the regional Studio B at North West Tonight’s old home in Manchester used around 300 amps to light the studio and power the video display walls - the equivalent in Salford is around 25 amps.
Entirely new and bespoke production system, consisting of the latest versions of Jupiter (Production Media Management), Quantel (video edit), Mosart (playout automation system which is new to the BBC), Vizart graphics and ENPS (production tool).
These elements combine to create one news production system, which has been pioneered by the Salford team and been used to produce North West Tonight and associated news bulletins since last Autumn. It continues to be enhanced to meet production demands and realise creative ambitions. The system will also run in the BBC’s new premises at London W1.
Breakfast will share the studio space with the regional news team for bulletins and North West Today/Tonight.
About North West Tonight
North West Tonight is the region’s flagship daily news programme and is produced from MediaCityUK, Salford Quays with district reporters across the North West. The programme is co-presented by Ranvir Singh and Roger Johnson. Weather is care of Dianne Oxberry and sport is from Tony Livesey, who also presents on Radio 5 Live and is the main presenter for current affairs strand, Inside Out North West.
