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Merging platform teams gives BBC News a cohesive strategy

Platform: Internet | Author: Peter Horrocks, Head of television news, BBC | Source: NMA magazine | Published: 26.06.08

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In October 2007, the BBC Multimedia Newsroom and Multimedia Programmes Department were announced as part of the BBC's Delivering Creative Futures plan to ensure BBC News remains world class. The Multimedia Newsroom is one of the biggest of its kind in the world. Its creation has meant that instead of all our editorial decisions being taken separately in three different departments - Radio News, News Interactive and TV News - one Multimedia Newsroom now produces all of our national radio, TV and web...

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... news bulletins. The Multimedia Programmes Department looks after our current affairs programmes, including Newsnight, Panorama and Radio 4's Today programme.

This structure was created to bring together the strengths of our three platforms - TV, radio and web - while helping us to save money to invest in the improvement of BBC News. The aim has also been to share journalism between platforms. The firepower of the whole of the news-gathering operation means that we have access to all reporters' stories to use on both traditional linear and online platforms.

The Multimedia Newsroom officially went live on 21 April and initial indications suggest the output is proving to be very successful. For instance, our successes in getting real people's voices out of Burma after the cyclone and China after the earthquake have been effectively spread across the output. We've been able, with our new merged teams and centralised systems for sharing, to select and deliver the best and most powerful audio and text first-person accounts of these disasters to TV, radio and web outlets more speedily, therefore serving our audiences better.

We've also been able give wider prominence to some of our excellent examples of original journalism, like our exposé of the Facebook security flaw and the story of pioneering gene therapy that can help reverse blindness.

The Multimedia Newsroom has also meant that we're now better at using our mainstream services, such as Radio 1, Radio 2 and BBC1, as shop windows to the richness of original BBC content, especially that which originates on the web and in longer TV and radio programmes. We've made it easier for our audiences to find their way between our different services.

This change has not been without its challenges, however. Each of the separate platform-based teams is highly successful and they are rightly anxious to make sure that the skills on each platform are preserved. Getting the right balance between sharing content and making bespoke content is tricky and we're still learning how to do that. Additionally, we've had to reduce our workforce in the Newsroom, as was announced last October, but the saved resources are vital in maintaining and growing our efficiency at providing the best quality and range of news output to our audiences.

BBC News wants to be the most successful multimedia news operation in the world, competing with and excelling against the best newspapers, broadcasters and news aggregators on the globe. Our aim continues to be that 80% of the UK population will watch, listen to or read something from BBC News at least once a week.