Newsday (TV programme)


Newsday is a news programme on BBC World News that was first broadcast on 13 June 2011. The programme is normally hosted by Babita Sharma and Kasia Madera in London, with Rico Hizon and Sharanjit Leyl in Singapore. During important news stories, the programme is broadcast from Washington with either Katty Kay or Laura Trevelyan instead of the traditional London broadcast. Such news stories have included the death of Muhammad Ali, Hillary Clinton receiving the Democratic nomination, and Donald Trump getting important votes in his presidential nomination for the Republican Party. When there are presenters from other countries presenting during the programme, the titles narrated by Mishal Hussain - showing the London and/or Singapore studios - are not shown.
The programme is broadcast around the world on BBC World News, as well as PBS affiliates in America, and is also shown in the UK on the domestic BBC News channel throughout the night, with the 00:00 and 01:00 GMT bulletins. Newsday is sometimes broadcast on BBC One. It covers international news with a specific focus on Asia and its financial markets.
BBC World News invested in a new Asia Pacific news HQ in Singapore with broadcasts commencing from Monday 3 August 2015 with a revamped studio and graphics and theme music composed by David Lowe.

Schedule

Newsday is aired on weekdays on BBC World News. The programme acts as a morning programme for Asia, an overnight broadcast in Europe and the UK and a late night news programme for the Americas. It features analysis and discussion of the top news stories of the day and also previews the exclusive reports, correspondent feature films and interviews.
On 18 June 2012, Newsday broadcast times were changed to 23:00–02:00 GMT on Sunday to Thursday. It is shown from 00:00–02:00 on Monday to Thursday in the UK.
During commercial breaks for international viewers, UK and PBS viewers used to get news from around the UK "in brief" with the London presenter. From an unknown point, this bulletin was removed and instead, "This Week In History" is broadcast while the breaks happen.
Since the lockdown of the UK began in March 2020, as a result of the 2019 coronavirus pandemic, Newsday has not been broadcast, and the slot has been replaced with additional half-hour BBC World News bulletins.

Presenters

The programme features split presentation, with a presenter in London and a presenter in Singapore each introducing reports and interviewing occasional guests in-studio. The London presenter also presents links for UK viewers during commercial breaks, while the Singapore presenter goes on to present Asia Business Report at the bottom of each hour. Sport Today follows at the quarter to the hour. During major events in North America the programme is also presented from Washington.
On occasion the programme is broadcast from other locations, such as in November 2013 when Rico Hizon co-presented from Tacloban, Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan. In January 2014 for a while Sharma presented from Singapore and Hizon from London. Madera reported from Poland during 2015 election. During the last week of May 2017, the week had Hizon presenting from London and Sharanjit Leyl from Singapore.
For a two-month period from February to April, Leyl presented Newsday from London, with Hizon or Oi in Singapore. This was due to Sharma being absent for this period of time, as she was writing a book. On Sharma’s return on 3 April, she announced that she will present from Singapore in a few weeks time.
During coverage of continuous international events, such as the Summer Olympics, the Newsday broadcasts may be presented by only a single presenter from the Singapore studio, rather than split broadcasting with a newsreader in the London studio.
During September 2018 the week had Hizon presenting in London and Sharanjit Leyl or Mariko Oi in Singapore
YearsPresenterCurrent Role
2011–presentBabita SharmaMain London Presenter
2011–presentKasia MaderaMain London Presenter
2011–presentSharanjit LeylMain Singapore presenter/Producer
2012–presentMariko OiSingapore Relief Presenter
2018–presentKarishma VaswaniSingapore Relief Presenter
2011–presentChris RogersLondon Relief Presenter
2014–presentAlice BaxterLondon Relief Presenter
2015–presentPhillipa ThomasLondon Relief Presenter
2015–presentLebo DisekoLondon Relief Presenter
2015–presentBen BlandLondon Relief Presenter
2016–presentAlpa PatelLondon Relief Presenter
2016–presentKarin GiannoneLondon Relief Presenter
2016–presentNuala McGovernLondon Relief Presenter
2017–presentReged AhmedLondon Relief Presenter
2019–presentLewis Vaughan-JonesLondon Relief Presenter

Former Presenters