July 5th: The Day The BBC News was First Televised

First newsreader of BBC News: Richard Baker

Fifty-eight years ago today, the first BBC News programme was broadcast in a studio with a newsreader. At first the reception of this change in newsreading was fairly disapproving, naming it 'crazy' and 'as visually impressive as the fat stock prices'. Evidently, this opinion soon shifted into support of a visible newsreader narrating the articles, thus allowing the BBC News to grow and develop into what is such a mundane and normal part of our lives.
    Before the News bulletin was introduced in 1954, the BBC offered a Television Newsreel that covered major news stories without a presenter. Directors and producers were hesitant about the newsreader element as they believed the visible facial movements may distract the viewer from the actual news stories. Therefore it wasn't until a year later in 1955 that Kenneth Kendall became the first ever visible newsreader. Described as an 'illustrated summary of the news', the 20 minute daily bulletin soon dramatically increased in popularity, becoming the country's most watched TV News channel. In September 1984 the BBC 6 O'Clock News was officially the most watched programmer in the UK, which was then overtaken in 2006 by the BBC Ten O'Clock News.
    July 5th 1954's show involved the voice of Richard Baker offscreen, reporting the news stories to a series of still photographs. The current BBC Director General Sir Ian Jacob stated in 1954: 'This is a start of something we regard as extremely significant for the future.' And he really hit the nail on the head, seeing as since that day every news channel I can think of has an onscreen newsreader, and the expansion of the BBC itself is outstanding. Today they generate about 120 hours of TV and radio output every single day, employing 3,500 staff, with 44 foreign news bureaus and correspondents in nearly every country. The BBC probably would have struggled to have achieved this momentous amount without their groundbreaking commitment back in 1954 to use a visible person to read the news. 
   As Kanye West points out in the song Murder to Excellence: 'ain't nothing on the news but the blues', but think how depressing the news would be without a presenter...just a string of shocking or saddening images with a monotonous voice droning on in the background. So we have July 5th and the BBC to thank for adding a personal and potentially optimistic touch to all the seriousness and formality of the news.