At precisely 1am and 2am
Australian Eastern Daylight Time (or
Standard time), every weekday (
Monday to Friday nights, or to be more precise, Tuesday to Saturday mornings), the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation's
ABC News 24 cuts away to
BBC World News live feed for exactly
26 minutes (the standard length of a BBC World News news bulletin). This is done automatically. This video was recorded at the 2am cross on the 2nd of
February, 2011, which at the time was 3pm
GMT on the
1st of February.
It took
Lyse Doucet exactly 13 and a half seconds from the moment the shot cut to her to the moment she finally started talking, and provides for a few laughs while doing so.
In her defence, however,
I believe this was not entirely her fault.
Regular viewers of BBC World News would know that BBC World News sometimes simulcasts
BBC News, the UK-only news channel (such as in the early hours of the morning
UK time, presumably to save having to pay massive overtime rates for two sets of production crews). When they are simulcasting BBC News, they always say "welcome to BBC News" instead of "welcome to BBC World News", as this easily caters to both the local and global audiences (whereas the reverse would not).
When Lyse finally starts speaking, she says "welcome to BBC News". This implies that the situation described above is taking place. Also, at the end of the cross, some 23 minutes later, she provides a generic "back to you in the studios in
London", rather than referring directly to a specific presenter, further supporting my hypothesis.
As a result, I believe that either BBC World News cut to her early (supported by the fact that the local clock has not yet reached the top of the hour when they first cross to her (although this could just be a mistake, I have seen errors in that clock of much larger proportions in the past)), OR BBC News simply cut to her late. You can draw your own conclusions :)
Finally, I would just like to say that this shouldn't reflect on Lyse Doucet's abilities as a journalist in the slightest. She is an excellent reporter for whom I have much respect.
EDIT: To all
Australian viewers: Foxtel/Austar/[insert generic pay-TV
operator here] expect you to pay to view BBC World News on-demand if you live in
Australia. This is not true. You can watch it online, legally, for free, at www.livestation.com.
- published: 14 Feb 2011
- views: 7571