New York – They speak English at the BBC, but CBS News veteran Rome Hartman still faced a language barrier when he was hired to create a newscast for American viewers.
Almost all of the TV terms he was accustomed to were different. The American anchorman is a “presenter” at the British Broadcasting Corp. The producer works in a “gallery,” not a control room. And a voiceover is known as an OOV – “out of vision.”
“I’m not so arrogant that I think the entire BBC should adopt my lingo,” Hartman said, “but it does make my head hurt.”
Nearly four months of planning bear fruit today when the hour-long “BBC World News America” debuts at 5 p.m. MDT on BBC America, a network available in about half of the nation’s TV homes. Parts of the newscast also will be seen on PBS stations that regularly air news material from the BBC.
Matt Frei, the BBC’s lead correspondent in the U.S. for the last five years, is the anchor. Oops, we mean “presenter.”
While many American networks boast of having a worldwide reach, it’s mostly just talk compared with the resources of the BBC, Hartman said.
“BBC World News America” won’t ignore breaking news from the United States – but if you’re looking for extensive coverage of a tornado blowing apart some mobile homes, it’s best to turn to the American networks.
Frei is looking forward to presenting an outsider’s view of the upcoming presidential election.
