‘ITN has helped raise standards in British TV news. It is established as a journalistic powerhouse’
ITN has held a special place at the heart of public service broadcasting for 65 years, and is unique around the world for providing distinct, high-quality news content for three rival networks: ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
In 2020, a year like no other, the value to society of trustworthy and impartial television news shone through more brightly than ever. While the country was locking down, and people were being urged to stay at home, ITN had to do precisely the opposite. It found ways to adapt and report safely while striving to stay across a story that has no parallels in recent memory.
It demonstrated that a commercial operator could both deliver crucial public-health information and hold the government to account for its handling of the pandemic at the same time.
That meant offering a window on how the virus was affecting people via reporting from the frontline of the NHS, scrutinising government statements and challenging its strategies, and offering clear, factual guidance around how viewers should change their lives to stay safe and protect themselves and others.
News audiences surged as a result of the huge appetite for the type of information being offered up by ITN and its UK peers, the BBC and Sky News.
For six-and-a-half decades, ITN has provided plurality and helped raise standards in British TV news, and has expanded its remit significantly, producing a wide range of news, daily topical current affairs, factual series and live debates.
It is established as a journalistic powerhouse that is an outstanding counterbalance to the type of fake news and misinformation that swirls around online.
ITV News kicked off 2021 with a brilliant scoop – Robert Moore’s remarkable report from inside the US Capitol as it was ransacked by protestors – and there will be many more like that.
Award sponsored by EMG UK
No comments yet