INSIDE THE BIGGEST PIECE OF BROADCASTING
06/05/2010
11.OO a.m. Thursday May 6th
It’s quiet now. You can hear a pin drop. In twelve hours time it will be organised chaos. I am at the BBC TV‘ hub’ in Belfast getting ready for the biggest night of not just politicians’ lives but broadcasters’ too. Tonight it’s General Election result night and we’ll be live on BBC One and Two for hours on end bringing predictions, results and analysis to the British people and those further afield. In my bit of the hub, I handle all the material going across the water from here to the David Dimbleby programme in Television Centre London. BBC Northern Ireland is at eight counting centres throughout the Province bringing them as they happen plus interviews with movers and shakers and analysis. I offer constantly to the central hub in London, they accept, reject or just plain ignore. At busy periods they could probably fill four TV channels with election results coming in.
This is the BBC at its journalistic and technical best. Hundreds of hacks working on getting the results, processing them and analysing them for the stupendous on screen graphics with Jeremy Vine and Emily Maitlis. Nothing can go wrong on the night. Little is left to chance. Rehearsals have been taking place for the better part of the last week. All systems tested, none found wanting-so far.
Technically, it’s pulling out the stops time too. I can, from my desk, talk to sixteen different locations/units to see what is happening and what they are offering. The professional pride that is at the heart of the BBC - even after the public bashings past, present and future - come to the fore on these special events. Not giving away any secrets but the set is spectacular and the on screen Vinology pretty far out. Look out for the seat projections thrown on to Big Ben, look out for the stairway to Number Ten (A secret-amongst all that virtual reality, Jeremy Vine is actually walking up a real set of steps!). But then that is just the BBC network show.
In front of me will be sitting the BBC Northern Ireland hub producer. They’re going out live at 10.00 until the last results are here maybe six hours later. It’s ‘One BBC’ so we’ll share their fruits with the rest of the nations when we can. To my left will be the RTE hub producer from Southern Ireland. They’re going big on this election with a Belfast and a London Studio and a big OB to boot. Who says Elections don’t matter? This is my eighth British General Election for the BBC. They still get the adrenalin going after 30 years.
After it’s over - tomorrow afternoon by best reckoning - it’s time for the post mortem and the awarding of gongs for getting things right and some things wrong. Got that covered too. Producing an event for the Media Society next Tuesday at the University of Westminster in London on ‘WHO WON THE TV ELECTION’ with all the main broadcasters. Enjoy tonight on telly and come along next Tuesday to praise or blame the great men and women who put on this spectacle. Rocket science it is not, but it’s not that far removed.
John Mair
WHO WON THE TV ELECTION?
6:00 for 6:30pm, Tuesday 11 May 2010
The 2010 General Election has been totally re-defined by the Prime Ministerial Debates. Politics on TV has come of age. But is it good for democracy? Is Cleggmania just turning politics into the X Factor?
Come and hear the broadcasters three most senior election editors discuss, debate and disagree about how television covered the Election.
Who won the TV election and why?
Date: Tuesday 11 May 2010
Time: 6:00 for 6:30pm
Chair: Nick Pollard (CEO, SSVC and Chair, Royal Television Society Journalism Awards)
Participants: Craig Oliver (General Election Editor, BBC), Jonathan Levy (General Election Editor Sky News), Michael Cockerell (reporter and producer: How to Win the Debate )
Entry: Free
The Hogg Lecture Theatre, University Of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS. Click
here for location map
