[RadioRob]

R4's "The Bottom Line" is shown on BBC News on Saturday evenings, and it's a very good listen.

Looks like they have poshed up the studio a bit for the cameras but it's identifiably a radio broadcast more than a TV programme, with a standard BBC six-sided table, bulky mics and pop-shields.

I'm guessing the cameras are tiny jobs, remotely controlled (at least one of them pans). The lighting is a good compromise of cosy radio studio and bright TV studio.

The Radio 4 mugs and the logo on the acoustically damped walls give it visual branding, and in a compromise for the camera angles the three guests are a bit cramped together opposite ED rather than all around the table.

At the end of the prog ED reads the credits to mic, definitely not to camera. As the in-vision credits roll, everyone gets up from the table and walks towards the door chatting.

The result worked very well for me. It was like being in the studio or the control room, rather than abstracted and detached as Newsnight's visual presentation encourages us to feel.

Got to say that Evan Davis makes it all work very well with his relaxed and non-confrontational style and casual shirt, and he seems to bring as much to any interview as his guests do.

Is this the future for savings in programme budgets? You watched it on the radio?

[Mapperley Ridge]

Originally Posted by RadioRob

R4's "The Bottom Line" is shown on BBC News on Saturday evenings, and it's a very good listen.

The result worked very well for me. It was like being in the studio or the control room, rather than abstracted and detached as Newsnight's visual presentation encourages us to feel.

Is this the future for savings in programme budgets? You watched it on the radio?

They've been doing it for quite some time. It certainly doesn't save money on the budget as it means fixing up a couple of cameras and having a vision mixer and director for the News Channel, and presumably an editor too.

That said, it's cheaper for the News Channel to make this kind of show rather than, say, Click - with its multi location reports etc.

It's an interesting model for the future, when BBC News and te World Service merge. I can see a lot of the BBC World programmes being scaled back or given more of an airing on the half hour.