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| World News Today | |
|---|---|
 Final title card, used from 2019 to 2020. | |
| Created by | BBC World News |
| Presented by | Philippa Thomas Karin Giannone Kasia Madera (Fri) Alpa Patel (Sat-Sun) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Production locations | Studio C,Broadcasting House,London |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC World News BBC Four BBC Four HD (2013-2020) BBC News Channel BBC One (2008-2010) |
| Release | 30 May 2006 (2006-05-30) – 20 March 2020 (2020-03-20) |
| Related | |
| The World BBC News at Nine BBC World News BBC World News America Newsday GMT Impact Global Focus on Africa, Outside Source, BBC Breakfast, BBC News at One, BBC News at Five, BBC News at Six, BBC News at Nine, BBC Weekend News | |
World News Today is a current-affairs news programme, produced byBBC News that was presented on Friday-Sundays withPhilippa Thomas,Karin Giannone andKasia Madera. Presenters alternated the weekend shifts. It was originally conceived as a morning television show aimed at American audiences, hosted byGeorge Alagiah, but later expanded to six editions a day aimed at different markets. There was then one daily edition only, aimed as an evening news programme for the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa part-simulcast onBBC Four,BBC News Channel andBBC World News. The programme aired until 20 March 2020.
The programme originally used the same graphics and music as BBC World, though whenThe World onBBC Four was renamedWorld News Today, all editions were given a separate set of graphics and music with three being simulcast in the UK (03:00 on BBC One & BBC News, 12:00 on BBC Two, 19:00 on BBC Four). Since April 2008, the programme used the standard title sequence of the BBC's English Regions, with some graphical alterations and with international images included. The first 30 minutes of each broadcast are still simulcast onBBC Four.
As part of a channel refresh on BBC World News, five editions ofWorld News Today were replaced on 1 February 2010 withGMT,Impact Asia nowImpact,The Hub (later replaced withGlobal in 2013),Business Edition (later replaced byOutside Source andWorld News Today but returned replacing an edition ofWorld News Today under the nameBusiness Live), and a standard edition ofBBC World News (replaced byOutside Source in 2014).[1]
These five editions were again relaunched asBBC News Now,Verified Live andThe World Today with Maryam Moshiri in 2023 and 2024.[2] While the successor to Beyond 100 Days, The Context continued.
On 5 June 2015, a new edition was launched on theBBC News Channel andBBC World News at 21:00 BST (summer) or GMT (winter) on Friday–Sunday.[3] Half an hour was dropped in November for the return ofBusiness Edition. This replaced theBBC News at Nine and a standard edition ofBBC World News on weekends.
Since the inauguration ofDonald Trump as US president,World News Today has not been broadcast on Monday to Thursdays. Additionally, beginning at the end of April,World News Today was off air for a number of weeks, a change that was originally meant to be permanent but was later reversed, meaning thatWorld News Today continues to be broadcast at 19:00 UK time on Fridays and at 21:00 UK time Friday–Sunday.
However, the 17 July schedules show thatWorld News Today would return to the Monday-Thursday at 18:00 GMT (19:00 BST) on BBC Four and BBC World News.[4] Katty Kay and Christian Fraser announced on100 Days+ that the programme would end on the Thursday.[5]
Between 22 December and 1 January,Beyond 100 Days andOutside Source were both replaced with an edition ofWorld News Today at 19:00 on BBC World News and at 21:00 on the BBC News Channel. On 1 December,PBS America announced that the US network has acquired the rights to simulcastWorld News Today, starting from 1 January.[6]
From 15 July 2019, BBC News and World News were integrated into the BBC's custom font (BBC Reith) andWorld News Today was given a BBC Reith update. It was first seen at 12:00 on BBC World News and BBC News.
The final episode ofWorld News Today aired on 20 March 2020 at 22:00 GMT.[7] It was eventually replaced byThe World Today with Maryam Moshiri which has a similar remit in 2024.[8]Kacungria, Madera and Giannone still cover the slot as relief presenters when Moshiri is unavailable
The remaining original edition shown on BBC Four andBBC World News was presented by:
| Years | Presenter | Current role |
|---|---|---|
| 2018–present | Nancy Kacungira | Main presenter[4] |
| 2008–present | Karin Giannone | |
| 2013–present | Kasia Madera | |
| 2009–2017, 2018–present | Tanya Beckett | Relief presenter |
| 2007–present | Tim Willcox | |
| 2014–present | Geeta Guru-Murthy | |
| Babita Sharma | ||
| Alice Baxter | ||
| 2015–present | Chris Rogers | |
| Ben Bland | ||
| 2016–present | Reged Ahmad | |
| Maryam Moshiri | ||
| Lebo Diseko | ||
| Nuala McGovern | ||
| 2017–present | Samantha Simmonds | |
| Duncan Golestani | ||
| Lukwesa Burak | ||
| Lucy Grey | ||
| Celia Hatton | ||
| 2018–present | Lewis Vaughan Jones | |
| Krupa Padhy | ||
| Martin Stanford | ||
| Aaron Safir | ||
| 2019–present | Simon Pusey | |
| James Reynolds |
WhenBadawi presented, the title sequence statedWorld News Today with Zeinab Badawi. However, when she did not, as she was often on assignment, the titles only showedWorld News Today, regardless of who the relief presenter actually was. This only happened if she was not reporting from a location on a topic covered in the programme.
Thomas, Giannone and Madera still presented from different parts of the world. Giannone presented from South Africa in December 2013 following the death ofNelson Mandela and during live coverage from thetrial of Oscar Pistorius in Pretoria. Madera presented from Poland during the2015 Polish parliamentary election. Thomas, Sharma, presented fromWashington in October / November 2016 for the2016 US presidential election.
The list below refers to people who have occasionally presented on an ad hoc basis:
| Years | Presenter | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 200?–2012 | Kirsty Lang | Deputy presenter |
| 2013–2014 | Rajesh Mirchandani | Relief presenter |
| 2007–2014 | Zeinab Badawi | Main presenter |
| 2006–2010 | George Alagiah | Main presenter 12:00GMT |
| 2006-2010 | Jonathan Charles | Main presenter 12:00GMT |
| 2006–2010 | Mishal Husain | Main presenter 13:00GMT |
| 2008–2015 | Peter Dobbie | Relief / main presenter |
| 2015 | Dani Sinha | Relief / weekend presenter |
| 2014–2017 | Adnan Nawaz | Relief |
| 2014–2016 | Daniela Ritorto | |
| 2014–2017 | Christian Fraser | |
| 2016–2017 | Tom Donkin | |
| 2007–2021 | Phillipa Thomas | Main presenter 2014-19 / deputy presenter 2013-14 & 2019-21 / relief presenter 2007–2012 |
