''Dateline London'' is a weekly

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

discussion Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...

programme. A panel of four leading

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

s, and foreign correspondents discussed top news stories from an international perspective. The last episode made was on 15 October 2022.

Production

Prior to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, ''Dateline London'' was recorded live on Saturday at 11.30am on the

BBC News Channel The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London from which it is anchored during ...

and

BBC World News BBC News is an international English-language pay television channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd. – a subsidiary of BBC Studios – and operated by the BBC News division of the BBC. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, an ...

. It always featured four guests in a round-table discussion of the weeks' main stories. When the pandemic curtailed all in-person activities, only three guests participated in the programme. Two foreign correspondents from other news agencies or papers joined the programme virtually, with an in-studio guest usually being a relevant BBC correspondent with previous background to the stories being covered. In mid-2022, the virtual guests were stopped as they were accommodated in the studio, and on occasion a BBC correspondent would participate. Additionally, the programme moved to being recorded live every Friday at 7:30pm, with repeats continuing as normal over the weekend. If significant news stories occurred during the day, the programme was able to be recorded earlier or later on the Friday. In mid-2022, at the same time as axing virtual guests, the BBC announced its decision to axe the programme later that year. The final episode was broadcast on 15 October 2022.

Hosts

''Dateline London'' was first hosted by Charles Wheeler, and subsequently by Gavin Esler.

Shaun Ley Shaun Dominic Ley (born 14 June 1969) is a British journalist and newsreader for BBC News. He currently appears regularly on a wide range of BBC programmes from ''HARDTalk'' to BBC Radio 4's ''The World Tonight'' and the BBC World Service's ''Ne ...

and Maxine Mawhinney served as stand-in hosts during Esler's tenure. Esler hosted his final edition on 25 March 2017, and Mawhinney on 8 April 2017. Since 15 April 2017, ''Dateline London'' was hosted on

rotation Rotation or rotational/rotary motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as an ''axis of rotation''. A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersect ...

Jane Hill Jane Amanda Hill (born 10 June 1969 in Eastbourne, Sussex) is an English newsreader working for the BBC. She is one of the main presenters for BBC News, and is the main presenter on the '' BBC News at One'', as well as regularly presenting the ...

, while Carrie Gracie and

Tim Willcox Timothy Melton Willcox (born 28 May 1963 in Wellington, Somerset, Wellington, Somerset) is a British journalist who formerly worked as a presenter for BBC News. He presents news programmes on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel. He is proba ...

provided occasional cover. Carrie Gracie had presented ''Dateline London'' following her return from paid leave in mid-2018. After 33years with the BBC, Carrie Gracie left in August 2020. Shaun Ley or Geeta Guru-Murthy presented the programme following Gracie's departure. On 21 May 2021, Martine Croxall presented ''Dateline London'' for the first time. As of October 2021, Shaun Ley was the main presenter of Dateline London. Other presenters occasionally seen hosting the show were Martine Croxall, Ben Brown and Geeta Guru-Murthy.

Regular panelists

* Lyse Doucet chief international correspondent and presenter

* David Aaronovitch is an ''

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a board of trustees. Four prizes are award ...

'' winning journalist * Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is an ''

'' winning journalist * Mina Al-Oraibi is editor-in-chief at '' The National'' * Abdel Bari Atwan of ''Rai-al-Youm'' * Stephanie Baker of ''

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...

'' * Stefanie Bolzen of ''

Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...

'' * Henry Chu of '' Variety'' * Janet Daley of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' * Alex Deane is a political commentator * John Fisher Burns is a ''

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

'' winning journalist * Eunice Goes is a Portuguese writer and lecturer * Michael Goldfarb is a journalist and author * Johan Hari is a journalist *

Owen Jones Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984) is a left-wing British newspaper columnist, commentator, journalist, author and political activist. He writes a column for ''The Guardian'' and contributes to the ''New Statesman'', ''Tribune (magazine), Tribune ...

is a journalist, author, and commentator * Mustapha Karkouti is a freelance journalist * Gregory Katz of

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

* Thomas Kielinger is a '' Theodor Wolff Prize'' winning journalist and the London correspondent for

* Jeffrey Kofman is an ''

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

'' winning journalist and lecturer * Laura Lynch is a Canadian writer and broadcaster * Suzanne Lynch of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' * Vincent Magombe is a journalist and analyst * Nesrine Malik is a Sudanese writer * Maria Margaronis of ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'' * Iain Martin is a journalist and author * Jef McAllister is a journalist and lawyer * Stryker McGuire of ''

'' * Brian O'Connell is a journalist and communications advisor * Annalisa Piras is an Italian writer and film maker * Agnès Poirier is a journalist, writer, and broadcaster * Nabila Ramdani is a journalist, writer, and broadcaster * Steve Richards is a political writer and broadcaster * Marc Roche of ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' * Jonathan Sacerdoti is a journalist, political commentator and foreign correspondent * Shahed Sadullah is the former editor of the Pakistani daily The News in London * Rachel Shabi is a journalist and author * Ned Temko is a political commentator * Polly Toynbee is an ''

'' winning journalist at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' * Isabel Hilton, founder of

Chinadialogue Dialogue Earth, formerly China Dialogue (), is an independent, non-profit organisation based in London. It was launched on July 3, 2006. Dialogue Earth is funded by a range of institutional supporters, including several major charitable foundations ...

* Nazenin Ansari, Iranian exile journalist * Clive Myrie, BBC News Presenter and foreign correspondent *

Celia Hatton Celia Hatton is a Canadian journalist who is now based in the UK and works for the BBC. She spent fifteen years living in Beijing, working primarily for CBS News before becoming one of the BBC’s China correspondents in 2012. In 2016, she moved ...

, BBC News Asia Editor and presenter

References

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