Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Former CNN'er Becomes Overnight Star on BBC
Source: Telegraph News The strike by BBC journalists and technicians appears to have given rise to an unlikely new star.
Stripped down news bulletins presented by unfamiliar faces might have had viewers switching over in droves but instead, Monday's 10 o'clock news, read by the little-known Stephen Cole, attracted 200,000 more viewers than it had the week before.
It was the stuff of television dreams for Cole, the dapper rugby-playing newsreader who replaced Huw Edwards in the flagship news slot.
Some 5.6 million watched him, possibly stirred by his appearance four hours earlier reading the 6pm news. BBC executives, obviously aware of the implications for the highly-paid Edwards, pointed out that Cole could have had an advantage, as 7.9 million people had watched James Bolam, Amanda Redman and Denis Waterman in the drama New Tricks just before. It was, nevertheless, a coup for the silver-haired Cole, drafted in from BBC World to cope with the bare necessities of pre-recorded material and no high-tech graphics.
For 12 years Cole was the front man for Sky News and CNN, and for the past five years at BBC World - covering every major international news story in that time.
# posted by ATN @ 9:35 PM 
