The concept itself is, without a doubt, a very good idea. It is an excellent way of using our BBC to vent our frustrations at the politics and everyday monotony that exists on our little island. The show even has a feature in which the bewildered residents of a city are approached and told to do a piece-to-camera about what they’d like to see more of on the news.

But, upon first look it is very clear who the target audience of Your News is. The presenter shots are ridiculously over-played. The dialogue itself is fine; there’s little sensationalism, which you’d expect in this style of programming. However, the camera work is beyond slick. It is beyond modern. It is simply awful.

The camera zooms in and out quickly in response to every comment made by the presenter. It rotates around said presenter in some sort of Matrix style clockwork. It pans around trees and lamp posts which block the presenter’s face over and over again and it slips in and out of this sloppy, wannabe-modern style of filming as it so pleases.

So after being held on the edge of your seat at the suspense, being bombarded with the opinions about the state of the news by people chosen ‘at random’, and finally feeling very sick at the sheer volume of camera movement and rotation, you don’t even have enough time to take it all in; the programme is just too short.

I did try and find a YouTube clip, but those Copyright Police have been out in force across the network so you’ll just have to make do with the BBC’s online version. Click here to watch the latest episode. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good show. But be warned: you may need a bucket.

UPDATE: As of today (9th December 2007) the YourNews video on bbc.co.uk hasn’t been updated since 3rd November so you may not be watching the most recent edition.

Most people are aware that a rule exists for UK news broadcasters regarding impartiality. Broadcast news must remain so, meaning political bias is a big no-no in the United Kingdom. So Rupert Murdoch’s idea for a more ‘American’ Sky News seems to imply that a change in the law is required.

Sky News is owned in full by BSkyB (Sky), a 39% owned subsidiary of Murdoch’s News Corporation. Sky News’ chairman also happens to be James Murdoch, Rupert’s son.

Recently, Rupert Murdoch also told the Committee that he takes editorial control over his tabloid papers in the UK, The Sun and the News of the World. He decides what political party to support and what the papers’ stances are on Europe.

It’s against the law for him to operate the same control over his two other papers, The Times and the Sunday Times.

But in a country that is already heading further and further in to a wholly-owned and operated media conglomerate of political bias and cheesy entertainment being pushed out as ‘news’, can Murdoch’s comments really be taken with such a pinch of salt as they usually are?

There’s no denying that the Murdochs have massive power over the entire media world what with news broadcast, print and films all long-established with News Corp. but, who is Rupert, an Australian with his loyalties to his American business, to decide what the UK’s favourite papers and news broadcasters support politically? It’s comparable to a Yank telling a Brit how best to run their country.

Okay, that’s an exaggerated analogy, but they both equate to a blow to national pride, something that Americans and Australians feel just as strongly about, I’m sure. Or maybe we’re all just too stupid to take notice of the state of the country’s news media. Perhaps we’re just used to the ever-changing face of the news. Perhaps it’s just the way the cookie crumbles, as our cousins across the Pond would say. Or maybe, just maybe…we don’t care enough?

When Sky News decided to introduce their current graphics to a somewhat mixed reaction almost a year ago now, I wasn’t too impressed. But, none-the-less, they have come to grow on me.

I do, however, have one big anxiety about it… The never-ending ‘BREAKING NEWS’ banner that scrolls ominously at the bottom of the screen in bold yellows and blacks.

I recognise instantly a massive similarity between this and CNN’s own ‘BREAKING NEWS’ banners, with the bumblebee style yellow and, in fact, all the rolling news stations have started to mimic this style.

But, back to the point, BBC News 24. They’ve started to do the same thing themselves with that annoying scrolling banner which is allegedly giving us breaking news. Lets get one thing straight… News does not break over three hours.

There may be one or two developments, but that most certainly does not warrant such an obtrusive banner. This should be reserved for national or international catastrophes; not a ship that is sinking somewhere near the Shetland islands.

Warning: A comedy quote that has been completely fabricated for effect follows:

“Don’t worry, folks. Those people who were rescued from the ship two hours ago; they’re still rescued. But the bloody ship, it’s sunk another centimetre! STOP PRESS!”

The constant stream of this ‘breaking’ news on my screen which is only there because, lets face it, the newsters and journos really have nothing else to tell us, wouldn’t even bother me that much. But it covers up the ticker! So I have to sit there and wait fifteen minutes until they read out the headlines… But surprise surprise! It’s all about that holed ship again.

At this point I have my own sinking feeling. I just want to cry! All I want to know is what else is going on in the world.

Trying to keep me watching just drives me to the Internet instead. Too bad Mrs. Beeb. Until you sort out that God-awful red ticker banner… I’m just not watching. I expect this from the likes of Sky News, but honestly… My PSB?!