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Channel 4 News

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Channel 4 News
Presented byKrishnan Guru-Murthy
Matt Frei
Cathy Newman
Ciaran Jenkins
Jackie Long
Fatima Manji
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time55 minutes
(Monday–Friday)
20–30 minutes (Saturday–Sunday)
Production companyITN
Original release
NetworkChannel 4
Release2 November 1982 (1982-11-2) –
present
Related
More4 News (defunct)

Channel 4 News is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982.

Current productions

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Channel 4 News

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Channel 4 News is the name of Channel 4's main evening news programme.

The editor is Esme Wren, appointed in 2022.[1] The programme is presented by Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Cathy Newman, Matt Frei, Jackie Long and Fatima Manji and is on the air Monday to Thursday from 7:00 to 7:55 pm, Friday from 7:00 to 7:30 pm, and at variable times at weekends. Alex Thomson is the chief correspondent.

Channel 4 News has been on air since the channel launched in 1982. The channel wanted its news to be very different from what was on offer elsewhere on UK TV. As Channel 4's commissioner for news, Liz Forgan, put it, she wanted: "no sport, no royal stories, no plane crashes and lashing of foreign news."[2]

This was a problem for ITN, which had won the contract to produce the programme, and which specialised in exactly the kind of fast-moving tabloid-style bulletins Forgan did not want. A new team was put together to produce the show. At Channel 4's insistence, the editor, Derrik Mercer, was brought in from outside ITN, as were many of the staff. Mercer was a distinguished newspaperman but he had never worked in broadcasting. When the new show went on air there were many problems. The lead presenter, Peter Sissons, later described it as "an unmitigated disaster."[2]

But, gradually, the team worked out production solutions. Mercer left the show. He was replaced by a senior ITN executive, Paul McKee; and then by a very experienced ITN journalist Stewart Purvis. The ratings began to pick up. The show found its feet during the year-long UK miners' strike that started in 1984. By the time the strike ended, Channel 4 News had established itself as a force to be reckoned with.[2] It started to win awards - the first was an award from the Broadcasting Press Guild, which in 1985 named the show the Best News or Current Affairs Programme of 1984;[3] and in 1987 it won its first BAFTA for the Best News or Outside Broadcast of 1986.[4]

Channel 4 News went on to win many more awards, including, in 2006, a record five Royal Television Society Television awards. These included TV Journalist of the Year for Jon Snow; the Home News Award; and the International News Award.

It won the News Coverage British Academy Television Award in 2004 and the 2004 International Emmy for the best news programme produced and aired outside the United States. Jon Snow won the Richard Dimbleby British Academy Television Award in 2005 for outstanding contribution to the world of news and current affairs.

In November 2011, Liam Dutton became Channel 4's first ever weather presenter, joining from BBC Weather.[5] The exposé of Cambridge Analytica in conjunction with The Guardian and The New York Times which aired in 2018 won a Peabody Award.[6]

In April 2021, Channel 4 and ITN announced that Snow would leave the programme after 32 years.[7] His last show was on 23 December 2021.[8]

Channel 4 News Summary

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A replacement for the Channel 4 News at Noon in the 12.00 pm slot, it first aired on 21 December 2009, giving a five-minute summary of the news.[citation needed]

Former productions

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Channel Four News at Noon

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Channel Four News at Noon was first introduced in 2003 for the duration of the Iraq War, and due to its instant success, it was kept on in Channel 4's daytime schedule (except when live Horse Racing was being broadcast). It was presented by Krishnan Guru-Murthy. Prior to this bulletin, the programme in the slot was Powerhouse, a political news programme, also produced for Channel 4 by ITN. As a consequence of the advertising slowdown during the 2009 recession, the programme was cancelled, along with More4 News and replaced with the five minute Channel 4 News Summary, the last broadcast airing on 18 December 2009.[9]

More4 News

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Aired Monday to Friday on sister channel More4, More4 News was anchored by Sarah Smith then later Kylie Morris, it ran for 30 minutes, aiming to go in-depth into a certain issue. As a consequence of the advertising slowdown during the 2009 recession, the programme was cancelled, along with the Channel Four News at Noon, the last broadcast airing on 18 December 2009.[9]

On-air team

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Attributed to the following source:[10]

Current newscasters

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