Britain's TV journalists last night flicked two fingers at the ITV paymasters who decided that they no longer needed a 24 hour news channel. Just two months after the ITV News Channel was closed down, the editor in chief of ITV News, David Mannion, a man who fought tooth and nail against that decision, was given the prestigious Judges' Award at the RTS Journalism Awards.
To be fair to David his award was not just a protest vote. In adversity, and in a year of momentous news stories, ITN has more than held its own, from its innovative use of the traffic cameras on 7/7 to the ITV Evening News. As presenter Mark Austin collected their award for News Programme of the Year, he said: "When ITV decided it did not need a news channel any more, you (Mannion) took it very personally. Well, you should take this (award) personally too, because it's for you."
Another who can be proud is Sky News' Jeremy Thompson, who was great when he was on BBC Look North and is still great today. As he held his award aloft, he declared: "This is for my weblog." He may have been joking, but Sky also, again, claimed the innovation prize at the awards ceremony. Sky News has undoubtedly changed the face of British TV journalism - from the very concept of rolling news to the Day Today inspired NewsWall. This time it claimed a prize for its "Message Home Ticker" that ran messages to and from friends and family from the tsunami to 7/7. As Julian March, Sky News executive producer, said last night: "You can have an idea at Sky News and it will be on air in five minutes."
But not all of Sky News' innovations have gone down quite so well. Its Eammon Holmes and James Rubin-starred revamp managed to lose it the News Channel of the Year Award, which it had won every year since its inception. It has not been Sky News' best ever year, but were the judges right to say that BBC News 24 is better?
And one final thought: if you have not seen Children of Beslan, the BBC/HBO produced winner of the international current affairs category, then find a repeat of it on BBC4 or somewhere and make time for it. Not a single adult is interviewed in one of the most starkly honest and moving pieces of TV you will ever see.
