TV4 News Biggest Change in Four Years

Tonight marks the biggest change for TV4 News in four years. New graphics, new departments, logo - and the studio has been redesigned. Plus the 10 p.m. news broadcast will be on ehour with news and in-depth reporting Monday through Thursday.

"For 15 years, we've talked about extending the news in teh evening but tonight we're finally daring to do it, since the 10 p.m. news is going so well," says Göran Ellung, program director for the news. "It's the most popular news broadcast among viewers under 60."

TV4 has a total of 25 local TV stations throughout Sweden. With the new initiative, the local broadcasts will be integrated into the national news broadcast. Local news will no longer be shown at 6:30 p.m.

"For the first time, local and national news will be 'married' for all the daily broadcasts," says Ellung. "My hope is that the collective news power will mean a more attractive and stronger news service that speaks to our viewers."

Every broadcast will have its own anchor. Anna Lindmarker or Ulrika Nilsson will anchor the 7 p.m. edition and Bengt Magnusson will anchor at 10 p.m. For both 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Maud Bernhagen will cover sports and Rafaela Lindberg business news for both the editions.

Last but not least, there will be an increased focus on interactivity. News site Nyhetskanalen.se and weather site väderkanalen.se will be combined into nyheterna.se. During the 10 p.m. broadcast, viewers can interact with the news desk via the site as well as Twitter by using the hash tag #nyheterna. A moderator will be on duty in the control room and leading the discussion. Selected comments will be shown during the broadcast.

"The possibility of following the news while discussing or asking questions has pulled in a record audience on the Internet and contributed to improving the news desks' journalism," says Anne Lagercrantz, news manager. "Furthermore, the initiatives we've done so far in Japan and big sports events such as the handball world championships where we combined live broadcast with interactivity have been appreciated by viewers."