Newshour

Newshour
GenreNews, current events, and factual
Running time60 minutes
Country of originUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Home stationBBC World Service
BBC Live News (2024-)
BBC Radio 4 (2027-)
Hosted byJames Coomarasamy
Lyse Doucet
Tim Franks
James Menendez
Andrew Peach
Rebecca Kesby
Jane Hill
Rajini Vaidyanathan
AnnouncerVarious
Recording studioNew Broadcasting House
Original release1988 –
present
WebsiteNewshour

Newshour is BBC World Service's flagship international news and current affairs radio programme, broadcast twice daily: weekdays at 1400, weekends at 1300 and nightly at 2100 (UK time). There is also an additional online programme at 20:00 on weekdays. Each edition lasts one hour and consists of news bulletins on the hour and half hour, international interviews and in-depth news reports.

Newshour is also broadcast in the United States on various American Public Media stations. The programme is broadcast live from Broadcasting House in London and covers the major news of the day, often interviewing heads of state and government ministers.

History

The programme was first broadcast in October 1988. Originally broadcast in a single timeslot at 2200 UTC, World Service planners responded to listener demand in April, 1991 by expanding to a two timeslot schedule at 1300 and 2100 UTC. In January 1992 under the directorship of John Tusa, who had received increased funding from the Foreign Office, Newshour added a third timeslot at 0500 UTC to serve listeners in the Americas. Later budget cuts eventually caused the elimination of the 0500 broadcast, and Newshour reverted to the present twice per day schedule.

On 17 June 2026, the BBC announced that, in 2027, Newshour would expand the 21:00BST edition to 22:00BST on BBC Radio 4, replacing The World Tonight which will be cancelled as part of a series of cuts to the corporation's news division, aimed at saving £500 million.

Presenters

Current

YearsPresenterCurrent role
2010–presentJames CoomarasamyMain presenter
1999–presentLyse Doucet
2012–presentTim Franks
?–presentJames Menendez
2013–presentAndrew Peach
?–present Rebecca Kesby
2023–presentNuala McGovern
2027–present Jane Hill
2026–present Rajini Vaidyanathan
?–2025Audrey Brown Regular relief presenter
?–presentRoger Hearing
?–presentPaul Henley
?-present Krupa Padhy
1988–presentOwen Bennett-Jones
?–present Julian Worricker
?–present Celia Hatton

On weekdays, the 14:00 and 21:00 GMT editions are presented by different presenters where as on weekends they are presented by the same presenter

Past

See also

References

  1. ↑ "BBC World Service | Programmes | Newshour | About Us - A Note from the Editor". Archived from the original on 23 May 2006. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
  2. ↑ "BBC World Service | London Calling | April, 1991 | pp 3,4" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 May 2024.
  3. ↑ "BBC World Service | London Calling | April, 1991 | "The Right to Know," pp 18-19" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 May 2024.
  4. ↑ "BBC World Service | London Calling | April, 1991 | "Doubletime," p 4" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 May 2024.
  5. ↑ "BBC to axe Radio 4's The World Tonight after more than 50 years". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
  6. ↑ "BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2025/26" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2026.
  7. ↑ "Newshour - 9/11: Newshour live from New York - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  8. ↑ "ri3703". Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  9. ↑ "Robin Lustig to leave The World Tonight and Newshour". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  10. ↑ "BBC World Service - Newshour, Newshour Special". BBC. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  11. ↑ "Paul Welsh". 9 May 2005. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  12. ↑ "The BBC Loses a Bit Of Its Luster; A Venerable Institution Braces for a Battle (Published 2003)". 25 September 2003. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  13. ↑ Wells, Matt (21 February 2003). "Sackings row grows at BBC". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  14. ↑ "Hugh Prysor Jones". www.thetimes.com. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  15. ↑ "Max Pearson". Mandy.com. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
  16. ↑ "It's presenter Julian Marshall's..." Facebook. BBC World Service. 1 May 2025. Retrieved 24 August 2025.