Vice News

The battle for news viewers

This month, the BBC will unveil a longer version of The BBC Ten O’Clock News. The flagship bulletin will also come with enhanced production values. Even though the changes to the programme, fronted by Huw Edwards, have been under consideration for months, it will be seen as the latest round in the “battle of the bongs”, following the October relaunch of ITV’s News at Ten, with the user-friendly Tom Bradby.

Vice announces launch of a new free-to-air channel

Shane Smith, Founder of Vice

Already a success in its native Canada, Vice is preparing to launch a free-to-air linear channel in the UK - one of 12 across Europe that will be rolled out in the next two years.

Speaking to Broadcast magazine, the company's chief executive Shane Smith said: “It’s no secret that we’ve been wanting to expand our linear presence for quite some time”.  

Netflix plans move into news

Netflix

Netflix could be expanding into current affairs, the company’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos has said.

Until now, the on-demand service has focused mainly on film and television content with a long shelf life.

However, speaking in Netflix’s Q3 2015 earnings interview, Sarandos said the company could be following its competitor HBO into producing more timely content.

In 2013, HBO teamed up with co-founder and CEO of Vice Shane Smith to produce documentary series Vice for the US cable network. The show’s fourth season is due to air next year.

Grierson Trust unveils British Documentary Awards nominees

The shortlist for The Grierson Trust 2015 British Documentary Awards has been announced.

The BBC and Channel 4 dominate the list, with 34 and 25 entries respectively.

Channel 5 features in the list for the first time since 2009, with nods for GPs: Behind Closed Doors and Can’t Pay? Final Demand Special.

First-time nominees include Vice for The Islamic State, BBC iPlayer with Adam Curtis’ Bitter Lake, CNN for Extreme Antibiotics and, in a children’s first, CBBC with Mr Alzheimers and Me.

Richard Sambrook’s TV diary

Watching an election campaign from an academic perch is very different to organising coverage in the newsroom. My university colleagues are no less engaged, but they stand outside the media-political bubble and are usually better informed.

This can make some of their questions more challenging than those of presenters, correspondents or politicians. They seem to think opinion should be based on rigorous research and evidence. Quaint notion.


We have had a team researching media coverage of the campaign that has been published in The Guardian each week.