Feature: TV News Proves Its Worth In Times Of Crisis
Perhaps one of the only certainties in predicting how the war in Iraq will turn out is the fact that the conflict will be played out on the media stage in a way never witnessed before. The UK’s major terrestrial broadcasters have virtually cleared their schedules to make way for extended news coverage and special real-time bulletins, which are attracting larger audiences than ever before.
The near blanket coverage of the unfolding events has provided a particular boost to ITV1, which has seen its decision to move its News At Ten bulletin to 9pm, prove extremely successful. According to unofficial overnight figures from BARB, the new earlier slot has helped to increase the programme’s share of viewing by around 50% since the conflict began.
Figures from Media Planning Group show that ITV1’s new earlier news broadcast is undermining audiences for the BBC’s 10pm bulletin, which has seen its share of viewing decrease by 10% since last Thursday. On average the ITV1’s 9pm news bulletin now attracts an audience of 6.7 million viewers, compared to the average of 4.4 million viewers for the BBC’s 10 O’Clock News.
On Monday night ITV1’s 9pm news bulletin attracted its highest ever audience since the death of Princess Diana in 1997, as 9.2 million viewers tuned in for the latest on the events in Iraq. The unusually large audience may have been the partial result of a particularly climatic episode of Coronation Street, but nonetheless the scheduling decision appears to be paying off for the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster.
Non-terrestrial, rolling news services also appear to be benefiting from the increased demand for up-to-the-minute information, with Sky News leading the pack. Last Friday’s ‘shock and awe’ bombing of Baghdad saw Sky News gain a 9.2% share of viewers across multi-channel homes, well above BBC News 24 with a 2.9% share of viewing and the ITV News Channel with a 0.9% share.
A spokeswoman for BBC News 24 commented: “The conflict in Iraq has resulted in significantly higher audience figures for the news channel. Last week BBC News 24 reached 10.5 million viewers in multi-channel homes.”
These large audiences are a testament to the continuing value that the public places in television as a source of news. The Independent Television Commission’s Public View 2002 report shows that 79% of people use television as their main source of world news, compared to 9% of people who rely on newspapers and the 8% who turn to radio.
The importance of television as a source of world news has increased consistently over the last 30 years, with the trust placed in newspapers and radio declining in this respect. The growth on television as a new medium is partially due to recent advances in satellite technology, which have helped to make TV coverage of major global events more extensive and up-to-date than ever before.
The combination of this new technology and the unprecedented divisions triggered by the current conflict in Iraq, have prompted broadcasters to put news temporarily at the heart of their schedules. The numerous breaking news bulletins and live reports are also giving terrestrial news programmes the look and feel of 24 hour news channels, something which appears to be keeping viewers hooked.
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