BBC World News America Information

BBC World News America is a current affairs news programme produced by BBC World News to be shown initially for American audiences. It is presented by Katty Kay, who was announced as the main anchor in September 2011.

Until 25 March 2011, the programme was shown daily in a full hour format on BBC America and BBC World News, and for the first half hour (on tape delay) on the BBC News Channel in the middle of the night in the UK. On 28 March 2011, the programme was reduced to a half-hour from the previous full hour. It is no longer shown on BBC America or BBC News Channel, and is now shown on BBC World News, and made available to PBS stations in the United States.

Schedule

(all times UTC)

Weekdays:
BBC World News - 22:00 to 23:00

Special broadcasts

In some instances, this programme has been cut off on its hour broadcast to a few snippets because of a breaking news broadcast (e.g.: 2007 Karachi bombing). But in the case of the 2008 US Election primaries & caucus, the programme has been extended to 3 hours (e.g.: 2008 Iowa Caucus) and even up to 6 hours (e.g.: 2008 Super Tuesday) and only being presented by one host. BBC World News America also covered the three presidential and the only vice-presidential debates.

Criticism

Some American TV critics had criticised the program for following "the British way" although the programme is more focused in the Americas, but Hartman stated that they value both sets of viewers since it was being shown worldwide.

Presenters

Katty Kay is currently the main presenter. Kay, a Washington correspondent for the BBC, replaced original presenter Matt Frei who quit in July 2011 to join Channel 4 News. Kay was previously the Friday anchor and a regular substitute for Frei.

Other presenters include Laura Trevelyan, Michelle Fleury, Jane O'Brien, Scott Simon and Madeleine Morris. Jon Sopel and Philippa Thomas have also appeared on the programme.

Ted Koppel regularly contributes to the programme as a contributing analyst, and presented a special edition of the broadcast in March 2011.

Former presenters

• Matt Frei (Main Presenter, 2007"2011)
• Philippa Thomas (Relief Presenter, 2007"2009)

Awards

In 2010, BBC World News America was a recipient of the 69th Annual Peabody Awards. The award given was "Unique Broadcast, Unique Perspective", and the show was described as "A nightly newscast like none the United States has ever had, it places our actions and concerns in a global context."