I would like to take this opportunity to remind anyone who visits this Website who lives either in the northern two- thirds of North West England, the Isle of Man or indeed Northumberland to share their views on the BBC and ITV Regional Television where they live: Is the Local News where you live really “Local” or even half- “Local”. What can be done to improve Regional Television where you are?
If you live in Lancashire or South Cumbria are you happy with both BBC North West Tonight and ITV Granada Reports offering 80%-plus Manchester/ Merseyside/ Cheshire output, little coverage of Lancashire and South Cumbria and none of northern Cumbria (which is still part of North West England geographically). If you live on the Isle of Man are you happy to have 95% coverage of mainland (southern) North West England both with BBC North West and ITV Granada- without any real local alternative?
If you live in North or West Cumbria you will have ITV Border, which is arguably excellent (but maybe you think there’s too much coverage of southern Scotland). Do you like BBC Look North with 85% coverage of North East England or would you a) Want much more Cumbrian coverage and b) have other Regional news mainly about Lancashire (not Manchester/ Merseyside) and the Scottish borders, but not North East England? Do share your views.
Finally, if you live in Northumberland, do you think BBC Look North and ITV Tyne Tees covers too little of your county and far too focused on Tyneside, Wearside, Teesside and parts of North Yorkshire (and, in the case of BBC Look North, Cumbrian news)? Do you think overlap coverage into southern Scotland would provide better all-round coverage of areas you want to hear about if you live in northern Northumberland.
What do you think of the That’s (Cumbria/ Lancashire) TV available on Channel 8 (Freeview). Do you think these very local TV stations will ever get off the ground to provide an alternative to BBC North West Tonight, ITV Granada, BBC Look North (North East/ Cumbria), ITV Border and ITV Tyne Tees. Share your views here: https://northwestisnorthwest.org/contact/
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Published by northwestisnorthwest
My name is Ian Pennell and I am a freelance Book-keeper. I live near Alston in the North Pennines in north-east Cumbria. I used to live and work in Lancaster until 19 years ago and have friends in northern North West England. I have two Websites devoted to campaigning for local, relevant Regional TV, one for Cumbria/ North Lancashire the other for Northumberland/Scottish-Border.............................................................................................................................. A big problem is that the Regional Television Bulletins for the North West covers the southern third of the Region about 90% (plus a part of Derbyshire which is NOT the North West of England), covers the middle third of North West England poorly and covers the northern third of North West England not at all! When I was studying at Lancaster University, I used to watch BBC1 North West Tonight because it covered areas up around where I was brought up- in northern Cumbria as well as more immediately locally around Lancaster. Then I came home one day, turned on BBC1 North West Tonight wondering why they were silent on Cumbria and discovered why: Most of Cumbria had been chopped off the weather-map! ........................................................................
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In rural and northern Northumberland too, Regional TV, as is received by viewers, tends too often to be Tyneside/ Wearside/ Teesside- focussed with little news locally. Communities in North Northumberland have strong links across the Border into south-east Scotland and towards Edinburgh but none of the Regional TV News- services serving Northumberland today ever goes across the Scottish Border to cover significant happenings of interest to North Northumbrians. The region of Northumberland/ Scottish Borders/ East and Mid Lothian area is vast- but it is largely overlooked by mainstream Regional TV! .................................................................................................................... ................
In two websites, one for northern North West England and the Isle of Man (a country in it's own right that does not have it's own TV service!), and another Website focussing on Northumberland, North Yorkshire and the North Pennines I make the point that Regional TV that informs viewers of important things in their local area is a Public Service that must be funded better, in order that rural areas of northernmost England get good geographic- appropriate local news-coverage.
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