World News Today

World News Today
Final title card, used from 2019 to 2020.
Created byBBC World News
Presented byPhilippa Thomas
Karin Giannone
Kasia Madera (Fri)
Alpa Patel (Sat-Sun)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Production locationsStudio C, Broadcasting House, London
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkWorldwide:
BBC World News
BBC Four
BBC Four HD (2013-2020)
BBC News Channel
BBC
United States:
PBS
Release31 May 2006 (2006-05-31) –
20 March 2020 (2020-03-20)
Related
The World
BBC News at Nine
BBC World News
BBC World News America
Newsday
GMT
Impact
Global
Focus on Africa,
Outside Source,
BBC News,
BBC Breakfast,
BBC News at One,
BBC News at Five,
BBC News at Six,
BBC News at Nine,
BBC Weekend News

World News Today is a current-affairs news programme, produced by BBC News that was presented on Friday-Sundays with Philippa Thomas, Karin Giannone and Kasia Madera. Presenters alternated the weekend shifts. It was originally conceived as a morning television show aimed at American audiences, hosted by George Alagiah, but later expanded to six editions a day aimed at different markets. There was then one daily edition only, aimed as an evening news programme for the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa part-simulcast on BBC Four, BBC News Channel and BBC World News. The programme aired until 20 March 2020.

History

The programme originally used the same graphics and music as BBC World, though when The World on BBC Four was renamed World News Today, all editions were given a separate set of graphics and music with three being simulcast in the UK (03:00, 12:00, 19:00). Since April 2008, the programme used the standard title sequence of the BBC's English Regions, with some graphical alterations and with international images included. The first 30minutes of each broadcast are still simulcast on BBC Four.

As part of a channel refresh on BBC World News, five editions of World News Today were replaced on 1 February 2010 with GMT, Impact Asia now Impact, The Hub (later replaced with Global in 2013), Business Edition (later replaced by Outside Source and World News Today but returned replacing an edition of World News Today under the name Business Live), and a standard edition of BBC World News (replaced by Outside Source in 2014).

2015 changes

On 5 June 2015, a new edition was launched on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News at 21:00BST (summer) or GMT (winter) on Friday–Sunday. Half an hour was dropped in November for the return of Business Edition. This replaced the BBC News at Nine and a standard edition of BBC World News on weekends.

2017 changes

Since the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president, World News Today has not been broadcast on Monday to Thursdays. Additionally, beginning at the end of April, World News Today was off air for a number of weeks, a change that was originally meant to be permanent but was later reversed, meaning that World News Today continues to be broadcast at 19:00 UK time on Fridays and at 21:00 UK time Friday–Sunday.

However, the 17 July schedules show that World News Today would return to the Monday-Thursday at 18:00GMT (19:00BST) on BBC Four and BBC World News. Katty Kay and Christian Fraser announced on 100 Days+ that the programme would end on the Thursday.

Between 22 December and 1 January, Beyond 100 Days and Outside Source were both replaced with an edition of World News Today at 19:00 on BBC World News and at 21:00 on the BBC News Channel. On 1 December, PBS America announced that the US network has acquired the rights to simulcast World News Today, starting from 1 January.

2019 changes

From 15 July 2019, BBC News and World News were integrated into the BBC's custom font (BBC Reith) and World News Today was given a BBC Reith update. It was first seen at 12:00 on BBC World News and BBC News.

Cancellation in 2020

The final episode of World News Today aired on 20 March 2020 at 22:00 GMT.

Presenters

The remaining original edition shown on BBC Four and BBC World News was presented by:

Years Presenter Current role
2018–present Nancy Kacungira Main presenter
2008–present Karin Giannone
2013–present Kasia Madera
2009–2017, 2018–present Tanya Beckett Relief presenter
2007–present Tim Willcox
2014–present Geeta Guru-Murthy
Babita Sharma
Alice Baxter
2015–present Chris Rogers
Ben Bland
2016–present Reged Ahmad
Maryam Moshiri
Lebo Diseko
Nuala McGovern
2017–present Samantha Simmonds
Duncan Golestani
Lukwesa Burak
Lucy Grey
Celia Hatton
2018–present Lewis Vaughan-Jones
Krupa Padhy
Martin Stanford
Aaron Safir
2019–present Simon Pusey
James Reynolds

When Badawi presented, the title sequence stated World News Today with Zeinab Badawi. However, when she did not, as she was often on assignment, the titles only showed World News Today, regardless of who the relief presenter actually was. This only happened if she was not reporting from a location on a topic covered in the programme.

Thomas, Giannone and Madera still presented from different parts of the world. Giannone presented from South Africa in December 2013 following the death of Nelson Mandela and during live coverage from the trial of Oscar Pistorius in Pretoria. Madera presented from Poland during the 2015 Polish parliamentary election. Thomas, Sharma, presented from Washington in October / November 2016 for the 2016 US presidential election.

Guest presenters

The list below refers to people who have occasionally presented on an ad hoc basis:

Former presenters

Years Presenter Role
200?–2012 Kirsty Lang Deputy presenter
2013–2014 Rajesh Mirchandani Relief presenter
2007–2014 Zeinab Badawi Main presenter
2006–2010 George Alagiah Main presenter 12:00GMT
2006-2010 Jonathan Charles Main presenter 12:00GMT
2006–2010 Mishal Husain Main presenter 13:00GMT
2008–2015 Peter Dobbie Relief / main presenter
2015 Dani Sinha Relief / weekend presenter
2014–2017 Adnan Nawaz Relief
2014–2016 Daniela Ritorto
2014–2017 Christian Fraser
2016–2017 Tom Donkin
2007–2021 Phillipa Thomas Main presenter 2014-19 / deputy presenter 2013-14 & 2019-21 / relief presenter 2007–2012

This page was last updated at 2024-02-25 08:04 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari