The speaker for our latest online Small Talk was ITV News presenter for News At Ten, Julie Etchingham. She gave us an insightful look into how ITV News operates today – the sorts of stories they like and some top tips for PR professionals. As heard by Shout! Communications Joint Managing Director, Keren Haynes.
It can be a long day when you’re one of the anchors for ITV’s flagship programme, News At Ten. As Julie says: “The process starts as soon as your head is off the pillow.” Julie’s day begins with Radio 4’s Today programme, which so often sets the new agenda for the day. But she’ll dip into Times Radio, Sky and ITV’s digital pages too, before looking through the papers, with a particular nod to Politico, then London Playbook and others.
She says she’s been in a cab, on her way to ITV’s studios at her usual time of around midday and the driver has commented she’s going in early. But she really isn’t!
Julie will have already spoken to that day’s News At Ten programme editor, around 10.30, and once she arrives at Grays Inn Road it is as she says: “All hands on deck, from the word go.”
How the day evolves
Any potential stories are put in an ITV News app, accessible to the whole team of input and output staff. They’ll be discussed in the first main editorial meeting of the day at 09.00, but the running order doesn’t really get put into shape until after a second editorial meeting at 17.00.
Afternoons for Julie are busy but varied. She might be involved in a live stream, or record a podcast; or she might work on a story of her own.
News At Ten's USP
News At Ten is an opportunity for ITV News’ experts to appraise and make sense of the day for its audience. It features a broad mix of stories – more foreign stories than you get on the channel earlier in the day at 18.30, and a more detailed analysis of any domestic stories. At its core is original content – stories that ITV News has investigated and developed themselves, unique from any other news outlet.
The first three or four stories will be hard news, and News At Ten maintains a tradition it’s kept up for many years, with its “And finally….” story to round off the bulletin. That’s not a funny story, but it could be quirky or more feature orientated.
The middle of the bulletin is where journalists will look for more varied content. As Julie said, there is so much difficult, hard news about, it’s more important than ever that audiences can be offered something lighter. That might be art based, or equally more science or environment focused.
Julie Etchingham's career
It was, as Julie said, a classic introduction to the world of broadcast. Following a call from BBC Radio Leicester inviting her local Roman Catholic school to get involved in a Sunday morning religious programme, Julie jumped at the chance to get involved. She was there every Sunday morning – making the coffees, answering the phones and looking after guests. But one thing leads to another and before long she had learned to edit and was recording the vox pops for someone’s package.
She read English at Cambridge University, but continued to dabble in radio there too. After graduating she secured a place on the BBC’s regional trainee scheme, which included a stint for Midlands Today in Birmingham. Julie says the time she spent in the regions was invaluable, and that the skills she learned then she still uses today.
Julie then moved to the children’s news programme Newsround, a job she described as amazing. During her five years there she travelled the world, covering all the big stories – but breaking them down into packages that the target audience of 8 to 12 year olds would understand. Newsround’s audience was huge at the time and made up of adults who wanted the news simplified too.
In 2002 Julie jumped ship from the BBC to go to Sky, under the leadership of Nick Pollard, whom Julie describes as a great mentor. Blissfully happy there, Julie might have turned down an approach by ITN in 2007, until they mentioned the role would involve presenting the flagship programme News At Ten, alongside broadcast stalwart Sir Trevor McDonald. It was an offer she felt she couldn’t say not to.
Since moving to ITV News Julie has been involved in all the breaking stories – from all the royal weddings, funerals and coronations to wars, the Euro finals and election debates. The latter is a particular standout for Julie, the first woman to host a leaders debate.
Julie Etchingham's top tips for PR professionals
- ITV’s News At Ten prides itself on its experts. Often they are the broadcaster’s own people, such as their Political or Business Editor. But when they look for external expertise they ideally want the biggest names in their field. In particular, in their effort to be more diverse, they would like to see more female experts.
- Know your audience. ITV’s audience, of around 1.5 – 2 million people per night, is typically over 45. But the same stories that go out on News At Ten are repackaged by ITN’s digital team, so it will resonate for social media including TikTok. ITV also runs a daily stream aimed at 12-14 year olds on Instagram, called The Rundown.
- There will be mention of a CEO’s company, either audibly or visibly, but you can’t expect more than that. If you’re a charity and you’ve facilitated access somewhere you’ll be given the credit, but you can never have editorial control.
- Think ahead. The news team are already planning for the next COP summit, in 2026, for example. It’s never too early to submit ideas for the next big event.
Want to come to other events like this one?
We hold our Small Talks online most months – and once a year, generally in May, we host a larger, in-person Big Talk featuring a panel of speakers.
All our events are free to attend and open to PR and communications professionals. We also hold free workshops. Our aim is to introduce you to, and inform you about, the world of broadcast, by which we mean television, radio, podcasts and digital broadcasting.
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