News channel shake-up sees current World News presenters take key slots on the channel with viewer favourites from the current UK focused service shunted.
Matthew Amroliwala, Christian Fraser, Yalda Hakim, Lucy Hockings, and Maryam Moshiri will be chief presenters on the new BBC News service that replaces the current UK BBC News Channel and BBC World News in April.
Presenters were reportedly forced to reapply for their jobs, with candidates required to undertake screentesting. Presenters currently presenting rolling news on the UK focused service including Jane Hill, Martine Croxall and Annita McVeigh are nowhere to be seen in the list.
Matthew Amroliwala is the current presenter of Global, which broadcasts on BBC World News from 1600 UK on weekdays. He’s known to UK viewers as a former BBC News 24 and Crimewatch presenter.
Christian Fraser is anchor of The Context, the nightly news talk show at 2100 UK. He has presented a number of other BBC News programmes, including the successful ‘Beyond 100 Days’ programme with Katty Kay.
Yalda Hakim is currently seen on BBC World News presenting Impact, which broadcasts Monday-Thursday from 1300 UK.
Lucy Hockings has been a presenter on BBC World/BBC World News since 2013. She currently presents ‘Live with Lucy Hockings’ on Monday-Thursday at 1100 UK on BBC World News.
Maryam Moshiri was previously a BBC News Channel business presenter before switching to BBC World News. Moshiri is the stand-in presenter for Outside Source, The Context, Impact, Global and Newsday.
Ahead of the announcement, existing BBC News presenters Joanna Gosling, David Eades and Tim Willcox announced their departure from the BBC. Joanna Gosling signed out the final time last week, thanking viewers for their kind messages.
What’s happening at BBC News?
The new BBC News channel will be a single news channel which will split into two feeds at certain times of the day to provide UK viewers with dedicated output. This is expected to be largely limited to simulcasts of programmes on BBC One and BBC Two. The new service is designed to be able to offer UK viewers a dedicated feed if there is a UK-specific breaking news story.
However, BBC insiders told The Sunday Times last month that managers weren’t able to say how this would work. BBC staff are concerned this UK opt-out service won’t be adequately resourced.
Ahead of the changes, much of the News Channel’s UK-specific content has already been stripped out, with a sharp increase in international and pre-recorded content.
Ofcom has previously indicated it is in the dark about the full scope of changes. While the BBC is promoting the service as a ‘new’ news channel, that’s not the case from a regulatory point of view.
From Ofcom’s angle, the BBC has portrayed this has an evolution of the current BBC News Channel. As a result, the broadcaster says it doesn’t need regulatory approval or a public consultation on the changes.
The BBC has applied to remove a clause in the BBC News Channel’s operating licence for the channel to screen more stories from the UK regions and nations than any other news channel.
What next?
Advertising will now begin for eight correspondent roles. These will be on-air journalists who will present, as well as report, on the channel. Recruitment is underway for two on-air presenting roles based in Washington DC. These will be announced soon, according to the BBC.
Iain Hatton