Interview: David Mannion, ITV News editor in chief (Evening Standard)
By David Rowan
IS ITN facing its final bongs? Just weeks after Sky News took over as Five's news provider, now ITV is threatening to dump its journalistic partner of 50 years. With the network finally under his control, chief executive Charles Allen warned this week that if he didn't gain control of ITN, the company would lose its biggest customer when its contract expires in 2008. Some in the City saw Allen's threat simply as a ploy to drive down the price of the 60 per cent of the news organisation that he doesn't own. But in ITN's Gray's Inn Road headquarters, it only added to the uncertainty that in recent years has brought morale low.
So it must be reassuring for staff to have such a relentlessly upbeat boss as David Mannion. In his airless basement office, the ITV News Channel beaming out of a wallmounted screen, Mannion, 54, exudes the convivial optimism of a man entirely unflustered by crisis. "The future of ITN has been uncertain for as long as I can remember, and I've been around ITN since 1979," he says cheerily. "We just get on with our jobs."
Any suggestions that the company has been weakened by redundancies, budget cuts, regional closures, the loss of Five - well, they are just wrong, Mannion suggests. "It might look like ' weakening', but it's not," he replies. "The cuts were some years ago and now we've recovered. I've also persuaded ITV to invest millions more to cover the war in Iraq, the tsunami, our new studio set. When Charles Allen says news is at the heart of ITV, he has certainly put his money where his mouth is."
Still, Allen's intentions towards ITN are causing some anxiety. In a new book by Richard Lindley, ominously titled And Finally ... ? the ITV boss insists: "We will not renew the [ITN] contract." Unless he can force the three minority shareholders - Reuters, United Business Media and the Daily Mail General Trust - to sell him their stake, Allen says: "We will undertake to produce our own news in-house".
Some commentators see this as a "death knell" for the organisation, which has already dropped its onscreen identity in favour of "ITV News". But Mannion, appointed editor-in-chief a year ago, insists that nothing much, in practice, is likely to change. "It can go one of two ways," he says. "Stay as we are, with ITV owning 40 per cent, or at some point we become wholly owned by ITV again. Either way, the provision of network news to ITV will continue out of that newsroom. On a workaday basis, it doesn't matter much, to be honest."
What concerns him more is Lindley's interpretation. "Richard has got it into his head that were we to be wholly owned by ITV again, that would compromise our independence. If I may use the vernacular, that's bollocks. For 37 years, ITN was wholly owned by ITV. Did anyone then suggest that Aidan Crawley, Geoffrey Cox, David Nicholas were anything other than completely independent editors? Why should I or anyone in my position be any less independent under ITV's ownership?"
BUT isn't the concern that shareholders would press for more audience-grabbing news stories, as with the US networks? "There is not a shred of evidence to back that up," he says, reddening. "I find it slightly insulting that this is being put around. If owners or shareholders appoint someone as editor, they do that because they believe they make the right judgment calls, and, yes, because they believe they'll deliver the best possible audience. But once you start to interfere, the whole thing starts to collapse. It would be bad for business were they to try it."
Even if ITV took full ownership, it would make commercial sense to keep ITN as a separate division, he believes. "It's an internationally renowned brand. Charles Allen, I'm sure, is aware of its value."
The loss of Five was a knock, he admits, but financially "it has not damaged us". Besides, there is enough "good news". The two per cent increase in viewing between 6pm and 7pm since last year, for instance, while the BBC's news audience fell: "People talk about declining news audiences, but we've put bums on seats."
So what of Roger Mosey's comments, some time ago, that Sky, not ITN, had become the BBC's main competition? "If he doesn't see us as the competition, he's blind," he responds. "We outstrip the BBC with far fewer resources."
Still, not all Mannion's plans have succeeded. Last year, he forecast that the ITV News Channel would overtake BBC News 24 by Christmas. "Ambitious bastard, aren't I?" he grins. "I didn't make it. We're well third. But the news channel is still a baby, and has a fraction of the budget of Sky or News 24."
As for the steady, if not startling, viewing figures for a revitalised News at 10.30pm - around three million last year, against a 4.8 million average for the BBC - he blames viewers' unfamiliarity with the new schedule, as well as ITV's mid-evening programmes "not performing particularly well".
He is infuriated by suggestions that ITV's bulletins have softened, increasing showbiz coverage, for instance, to boost ratings. "Show me," he says. "To say we've dumbed down is nonsense. None of the so-called critics have ever managed to find any evidence."
What about his practice of paying interviewees - most recently Monica Lewinsky - to talk about Bill Clinton's book? "If we think the story is of sufficient public concern, and the only way to deliver that story is a payment, we won't shy away," he says. "Besides, the BBC does it. They acknowledged that last year." He appears to be referring to a comment by Peter Horrocks, the BBC current affairs chief, regretting an interview fee paid to George Best in 2002.
As proof of ITN's serious journalism, Mannion cites foreign coverage - greater now, he says, than ever. This has involved tragedy: a photo of Terry Lloyd, a friend killed in Iraq, is by Mannion's desk. His responsibility to his correspondents in Iraq, he says, is "one of the few things that put me off my sleep". With three crews currently there, he reviews their safety "hourly". "It's always a balance between the journalistic compulsion to cover the story and the safety of your teams. I know I'm putting people in danger. I never stop thinking about it."
HE LIVES in Fulham, is married, and has a 21-year-old son. Growing up in Derbyshire, he chose not to go to university, but, without telling his parents, took a job on a local paper, the Long Eaton Advertiser. This led to work in a news agency, local radio and television, and finally ITN. Apart from stints editing GMTV and Tonight with Trevor McDonald, most of his career has been in news. With McDonald, he famously scooped the first interview with Nelson Mandela after his release from jail. His secret: warning Mandela's minders that thousands of journalists would be descending, and offering to "organise them" in exchange for a meeting.
McDonald remains a friend who will be "impossible to replace". His successor, Mannion hints, is likely to be a current presenter. "We have a tremendous amount of talent inhouse. They'll take some beating."
You would expect such loyalty from a man who has made his life here. "I am proud of ITN's history," he reflects. "But I do think, particularly through Richard [Lindley]'s book, there's a bit of looking back at the past with rose-coloured glasses. The journalism today on ITV News - the work of John Irvine covering the tsunami, of Bill Neely, Mark Austin, James Mates - these are wonderful essayists. In 50 years we'll look back and say these were the golden years of ITN."
Assuming, of course, it still exists.
(Evening Standard, January 26 2005)
IS ITN facing its final bongs? Just weeks after Sky News took over as Five's news provider, now ITV is threatening to dump its journalistic partner of 50 years. With the network finally under his control, chief executive Charles Allen warned this week that if he didn't gain control of ITN, the company would lose its biggest customer when its contract expires in 2008. Some in the City saw Allen's threat simply as a ploy to drive down the price of the 60 per cent of the news organisation that he doesn't own. But in ITN's Gray's Inn Road headquarters, it only added to the uncertainty that in recent years has brought morale low.
So it must be reassuring for staff to have such a relentlessly upbeat boss as David Mannion. In his airless basement office, the ITV News Channel beaming out of a wallmounted screen, Mannion, 54, exudes the convivial optimism of a man entirely unflustered by crisis. "The future of ITN has been uncertain for as long as I can remember, and I've been around ITN since 1979," he says cheerily. "We just get on with our jobs."
Any suggestions that the company has been weakened by redundancies, budget cuts, regional closures, the loss of Five - well, they are just wrong, Mannion suggests. "It might look like ' weakening', but it's not," he replies. "The cuts were some years ago and now we've recovered. I've also persuaded ITV to invest millions more to cover the war in Iraq, the tsunami, our new studio set. When Charles Allen says news is at the heart of ITV, he has certainly put his money where his mouth is."
Still, Allen's intentions towards ITN are causing some anxiety. In a new book by Richard Lindley, ominously titled And Finally ... ? the ITV boss insists: "We will not renew the [ITN] contract." Unless he can force the three minority shareholders - Reuters, United Business Media and the Daily Mail General Trust - to sell him their stake, Allen says: "We will undertake to produce our own news in-house".
Some commentators see this as a "death knell" for the organisation, which has already dropped its onscreen identity in favour of "ITV News". But Mannion, appointed editor-in-chief a year ago, insists that nothing much, in practice, is likely to change. "It can go one of two ways," he says. "Stay as we are, with ITV owning 40 per cent, or at some point we become wholly owned by ITV again. Either way, the provision of network news to ITV will continue out of that newsroom. On a workaday basis, it doesn't matter much, to be honest."
What concerns him more is Lindley's interpretation. "Richard has got it into his head that were we to be wholly owned by ITV again, that would compromise our independence. If I may use the vernacular, that's bollocks. For 37 years, ITN was wholly owned by ITV. Did anyone then suggest that Aidan Crawley, Geoffrey Cox, David Nicholas were anything other than completely independent editors? Why should I or anyone in my position be any less independent under ITV's ownership?"
BUT isn't the concern that shareholders would press for more audience-grabbing news stories, as with the US networks? "There is not a shred of evidence to back that up," he says, reddening. "I find it slightly insulting that this is being put around. If owners or shareholders appoint someone as editor, they do that because they believe they make the right judgment calls, and, yes, because they believe they'll deliver the best possible audience. But once you start to interfere, the whole thing starts to collapse. It would be bad for business were they to try it."
Even if ITV took full ownership, it would make commercial sense to keep ITN as a separate division, he believes. "It's an internationally renowned brand. Charles Allen, I'm sure, is aware of its value."
The loss of Five was a knock, he admits, but financially "it has not damaged us". Besides, there is enough "good news". The two per cent increase in viewing between 6pm and 7pm since last year, for instance, while the BBC's news audience fell: "People talk about declining news audiences, but we've put bums on seats."
So what of Roger Mosey's comments, some time ago, that Sky, not ITN, had become the BBC's main competition? "If he doesn't see us as the competition, he's blind," he responds. "We outstrip the BBC with far fewer resources."
Still, not all Mannion's plans have succeeded. Last year, he forecast that the ITV News Channel would overtake BBC News 24 by Christmas. "Ambitious bastard, aren't I?" he grins. "I didn't make it. We're well third. But the news channel is still a baby, and has a fraction of the budget of Sky or News 24."
As for the steady, if not startling, viewing figures for a revitalised News at 10.30pm - around three million last year, against a 4.8 million average for the BBC - he blames viewers' unfamiliarity with the new schedule, as well as ITV's mid-evening programmes "not performing particularly well".
He is infuriated by suggestions that ITV's bulletins have softened, increasing showbiz coverage, for instance, to boost ratings. "Show me," he says. "To say we've dumbed down is nonsense. None of the so-called critics have ever managed to find any evidence."
What about his practice of paying interviewees - most recently Monica Lewinsky - to talk about Bill Clinton's book? "If we think the story is of sufficient public concern, and the only way to deliver that story is a payment, we won't shy away," he says. "Besides, the BBC does it. They acknowledged that last year." He appears to be referring to a comment by Peter Horrocks, the BBC current affairs chief, regretting an interview fee paid to George Best in 2002.
As proof of ITN's serious journalism, Mannion cites foreign coverage - greater now, he says, than ever. This has involved tragedy: a photo of Terry Lloyd, a friend killed in Iraq, is by Mannion's desk. His responsibility to his correspondents in Iraq, he says, is "one of the few things that put me off my sleep". With three crews currently there, he reviews their safety "hourly". "It's always a balance between the journalistic compulsion to cover the story and the safety of your teams. I know I'm putting people in danger. I never stop thinking about it."
HE LIVES in Fulham, is married, and has a 21-year-old son. Growing up in Derbyshire, he chose not to go to university, but, without telling his parents, took a job on a local paper, the Long Eaton Advertiser. This led to work in a news agency, local radio and television, and finally ITN. Apart from stints editing GMTV and Tonight with Trevor McDonald, most of his career has been in news. With McDonald, he famously scooped the first interview with Nelson Mandela after his release from jail. His secret: warning Mandela's minders that thousands of journalists would be descending, and offering to "organise them" in exchange for a meeting.
McDonald remains a friend who will be "impossible to replace". His successor, Mannion hints, is likely to be a current presenter. "We have a tremendous amount of talent inhouse. They'll take some beating."
You would expect such loyalty from a man who has made his life here. "I am proud of ITN's history," he reflects. "But I do think, particularly through Richard [Lindley]'s book, there's a bit of looking back at the past with rose-coloured glasses. The journalism today on ITV News - the work of John Irvine covering the tsunami, of Bill Neely, Mark Austin, James Mates - these are wonderful essayists. In 50 years we'll look back and say these were the golden years of ITN."
Assuming, of course, it still exists.
(Evening Standard, January 26 2005)
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