Four News-Items about Kendal on ITV Border Lookaround. North Lancastrians would get more Local news than from ITV Granada Reports

Posted bynorthwestisnorthwestPosted inUncategorizedTags:, , , , , , , ,

26th August 2022

Dear Readers

As this Website exists to help viewers of Regional TV in northern North West England get more local (and more geographic-appropriate) news-coverage, and to help them in pressurising the mainstream Regional TV News-services serving them provide more geographic-appropriate North West Regional TV, it is appropriate to point out that whilst ITV Granada Reports rarely covers Cumbria- and majors on Greater Manchester/ Merseyside- ITV Border Lookaround covers Cumbria extremely well. In fact, this evening (26th August) there were no less than four news-features about Kendal on ITV Border Lookaround, two covering how the rising cost of fuel and gas impacts upon businesses and organisations in the town, whilst one of the news-items was an extensive piece about flood defences being built on the River Kent, which runs through Kendal.

Now Kendal is just ten miles from the Lancashire-Cumbria border, most of Cumbria is within an hours drive but both Manchester and Liverpool are well over an hour’s drive away from the Lancashire- Cumbria border: Viewers of ITV Regional News in places like Carnforth, Hornby, Silverdale and Arnside are in the ITV Granada transmission area by default, they are told by ITV that ITV Granada Reports is the most appropriate for their community. Yet it is patently obvious that ITV Border Lookaround covers Cumbria, including South Cumbria very well- and much better than ITV Granada Reports ever would!

Furthermore, ITV Border Lookaround sometimes has news-features of more direct interest to North Lancastrians, including the news-feature on its website about hen harriers that have been found nesting in upland parts of Cumbria, the North Pennines, Nidderdale in North Yorkshire and the Bowland Fells, just south-east of Lancaster. Yet North Lancastrians watching ITV Granada Reports are less likely to find out about these wonderful birds in the Bowland Fells!

Of course, it is not every night that there will be four news-items about Kendal on ITV Border Lookaround, but there is usually one or two on most nights and- occasionally- their news-reporters will just cross the border to report on major happenings- like traffic chaos on the M6 in Lancashire or light helecopters crashing in the far west of the Yorkshire Dales. And, as this Website has pinted out for some time now, ITV Border Lookaround devotes at least 50% of it’s coverage (virtually without fail) to Cumbria- that’s at least four or five news-items a night!

However, this Regional news-programme, with four news-features about Kendal this evening should illustrate one point, that if you live in North Lancashire or South Cumbria you should, where you can, switch over to ITV Border Lookaround by pointing your aerial northwards. Watch BBC1 North West Tonight for Lancashire news (the programme covers the county reasonably well) but to find out what is happening just northwards of you switch over to ITV Border Lookaround. You will get a much more all-round coverage of your local area by watching ITV Border Lookaround, then BBC1 North West Tonight. Get your local friends and neighbours to do the same.

If you live just a bit too far south to get ITV Border Lookaround on your television, or in one of those parts of South Cumbria where the signal is blocked by the Lakeland fells you can Lookaround from the ITV Border Website (here: https://www.itv.com/news/border) from about two hours after ITV Border Lookaround is aired live.

Anyone living north of Preston would actually get better, more geographic-appropriate and local news by watching ITV Border Lookaround and BBC1 North West Tonight in combination because that is how bad ITV Granada Reports are at getting north of the M62 corridor! Who are ITV.Plc Regional Programmers to decide what Regional TV News-service almost one million viewers in northern North West England should and should not watch? If , for instance, a Carnforth viewer finds 95% of the coverage from the ITV Regional News-service they are lumped with to be irrelevant and about places over an hour’s drive southwards, they are totally free to swivel their aerials round to watch the ITV Regional News for the next ITV Region northwards if the news is more local to them!

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 have friends who live in northern North West England - near Lancaster (which is where I went to University and used to live until 17 years ago) and in other parts of Cumbria. I have two Website Campaigns that seek to promote more localised Regional TV coverage for large rural areas across the North of North West England and North East England. . 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! . People living in the westernmost part of North West England (around St. Bees Head) have local BBC news on their televisions which is 90% about North East England! 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 for significant happenings of interest to North Northumbrians. I have also done walking in the area, including around the Cheviots in the past- and the Northumberland/ Scottish Borders/ East and Mid Lothian area is vast- but it is largely overlooked by mainstream Regional TV! . North Yorkshire, the largest county in England also falls in the gaps between coverage from BBC Look North (NE/ Cumbria) or ITV1 News Tyne Tees in the north of the county, and the Leeds-based BBC1 and ITV1 Regional TV- services in the south of the county: North Yorkshire is a huge, yet beautiful county, which I have visited and explored in the past, yet is poorly covered in Regional TV. . Based near Alston, near the Cumbria/ Northumberland boundary I am well-placed to discuss Regional TV in all these large rural areas, in which collectively some two million folk live, yet they are poorly covered by the Regional TV News- services set up to serve them. These huge areas are an hour to two hours' drive from where I live: North Lancashire and South/ West Cumbria are to the south-west, Northumberland and the Scottish Borders and Lothian are to the north and north-east, and North Yorkshire is to the south-east of my home near Alston. I am well-placed to draw attention to deficiencies in Regional TV coverage for folk in all these areas. The North Pennines, where I live, is arguably another large area that touches on the other three where Regional TV coverage falls through the gaps completely (and that is despite the North Pennines running north to south down the middle of the BBC1 NE/ Cumbria Region). . 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, funding for which should be given a higher priority (and if necessary via statute through the BBC's Charter), than funding for Soaps, Films or Sport- which are for leisure. I also give viewers the tools to fight effectively for better- and more geographic-appropriate Regional TV where they live- and to seek it through alternative (often little-known) local TV services, some of which may only be available on the Internet.

2 thoughts on “Four News-Items about Kendal on ITV Border Lookaround. North Lancastrians would get more Local news than from ITV Granada Reports”

  1. in isle of man this week we had the Manx Grand all week not one bit of it on bbc or itv like no news on Manx Grand prix and so bad off bbc and itv like manx radio make own channel on AM for the Manx Grand prix like do for tt and be host do reely good coverage on manx radio on MGP like news updates travel reports road closures even live coverage of the event even coverage radio also videos and photographs even interviews with the winners what did BBC and ITV did nothing

    Even another big news a massive court battle thing with the Isle of Man government vs Dr Glover and that’s not even been covered on bbc and itv

    yep one agin bbc and itv do nothign for isle of man like do for Lancashire-Cumbria

    also this BBC Isle Of Man As A TV Channel i change my name to Isle Of Man TV Media Watch

    Like

  2. Pingback: Eight News Features about Cumbria on ITV Border Lookaround, these not including sports coverage of Carlisle United and Aspatria Bowling Club. – NORTHWEST IS NORTHWEST

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