Business news presenter Declan Curry promised to "put a pound in the swear box" after mistakenly telling viewers they were watching News 24, before correcting himself. Viewers were most exercised by the design changes to the BBC Newsroom and a set of flashy new graphics introduced across rolling news and the main channel bulletins. Unhappy bloggers compared the changes to the 2012 London Olympic Games logo which attracted widespread derision.
Design firm Lambie-Nairn axed the previous dark titles to create a series of "brighter and clearer" red and white graphics, which would be "clearer about the BBC’s place in the world." Optimistically, Peter Horrocks, head of the BBC’s multimedia news operation, invited viewers’ comments on his blog. He described the changes as "an evolution, to enable audiences to recognise BBC News whenever and wherever they receive it."
The response echoed the outcry when the BBC overhauled its weather map three years ago. One viewer complained that the swirling globe induced dizziness. Others found the motion "nauseating" and warned that it could prompt epileptic fits. The new graphics looked "flimsy" complained amateur web designers. BBC bulletins will now share a single studio and one viewer complained that the BBC News presenters had been consigned to a "super drab news cupboard".
While some praised the changes for giving BBC news a "clear, fresh, distinctive" identity many asked why the costly rebrand was necessary in the first place. Mr Horrocks said the changes had been agreed after viewer surveys. "We asked the audience what key things they associate with us," he blogged. The characteristics that emerged were the phrase "BBC News", the globe, the colour red and the "clarity and accuracy" of BBC news services. The new design was intended to be "clear, unfussy, direct, straightforward and fresh," Mr Horrocks wrote. The News 24 name had been killed after a decade "to emphasise the identity of BBC News."
But there was hope for those who found the changes too unsettling. The BBC tweaked its weather forecast and the redesign of its website, unveiled last month, following critical web responses. Mr Horrocks promised to listen to viewer feedback and changes to the new "coherent" BBC news may follow. The BBC newsroom is now fully integrated for the first time, with radio, television and internet journalists sitting alongside one another. There will be less duplication of reporting resources, Mr Horrocks promised.
Despite having to lose 450 staff under a cost-cutting programme, the BBC believes its news operation has retained its strength. The rolling BBC News channel now has more viewers than Sky News while the 10pm news bulletin has attracted double the audience of its ITV1 rival since the two went head to head in January.
