Ian Pennell

GRANADA REPORTS FEEDBACK ITV Granada Reports is a great news- programme if you live in Manchester, Liverpool or Cheshire- you are guaranteed excellent coverage of the area (at least 80%). Lucy Meacock is an excellent seasoned presenter with a good rapport with their Viewers. For viewers north of the M62 Corridor I would advise switching over to BBC North West Tonight for more geographic- appropriate all-round news-coverage. BBC North West covers Lancashire fairly well, and which covers south Cumbria from time to time (Granada rarely does). If you live north of Preston, however your only hope of getting more local coverage northwards of you (rather than always to the South) would be to try and get ITV News Border and watch their flagship evening news- programme Lookaround, as this has some 50% coverage of Cumbria, sometimes more. If you cannot get ITV News Border by pointing your aerial north you can get it off the Internet from the ITV News Border website- that evening's version of Lookaround is normally on their website by about 8.30 pm. Of course, ITV News Border has some news about southern Scotland but if you live in Lancaster or Carnforth it is no less local than news about Cheshire or Buxton. And news to the North of you- rather than always to the South- will enhance rather than diminish your northern pride! Regards Ian Pennell (Cumbria)

BBC LOOK NORTH REVIEW Great programme presented by the excellent Carol Malia and Paul Mooney, an experienced meteorologist, is a fantastic weather- presenter. The programme covers Tyneside and Teesside well and it goes out of its way to cover some Cumbrian news- items. However rural Northumberland is not so well covered despite 200,000 people living there and some overlap coverage of the Scottish Borders would be much appreciated for folk living in places like Berwick-upon-Tweed and Otterburn- in recognition of the fact that there are strong historical (and current) links between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. Ian Pennell (Cumbria)

Excellent Regional news-service covering (most of) North West England with a charismatic news-reader in Roger Johnson and out-going weather-presenter. Fairly good news-coverage of most of the North West, including Lancashire (I used to live in Lancaster) through Cumbria is not covered at all well. Rarely, ever, covers northern and central Cumbria (because it is outside transmission area). If you live in any part of Cumbria I would definitely advise watching ITV Border Lookaround- (great coverage of Cumbria); if your default ITV Region is ITV Granada you can still watch the latest installation of Lookaround from the ITV News Border website from about 8.30 pm- after it is uploaded. Overall, BBC North West Tonight does cover Lancashire better than does ITV Granada Reports, it does cover South Cumbria from time to time but Granada very rarely mentions Cumbria. For anyone living north of a line running from Southport to Rochdale BBC North West Tonight should be your go- to Regional News programme, not ITV Granada. Additional plus-sides for BBC North West Tonight are the charismatic Roger Johnson and Owain Wyn Evans (weather -presenter): They make a good double-act as-and-when they are on together.

ITV BORDER FEEDBACK ITV Border (England), which serves most of Cumbria is an excellent local news-service providing at least 50% coverage of the county of Cumbria in its news-output, plus some coverage of significant happenings in southern Scotland. For viewers in northern Cumbria, this is excellent all-round local news coverage which far beats the alternative of 85% North-East England- based news from BBC Look North (NE/ Cumbria). For those in South Cumbria that can get ITV Border's Lookaround it's excellent coverage of Cumbria contrasts with the very Manchester and Liverpool- dominated coverage of BBC North West Tonight. I would like to see ITV Border's remit extended south to all of South Cumbria and northern Lancashire, which ITV Granada practically ignores. Viewers in those areas have strong links with Cumbria and the Lake District, and they would not travel to Manchester and Liverpool by choice! They would also get much more local coverage being part of a transmission region with just one million people compared to seven million (as at present). Northern Northumberland would also benefit from being returned to ITV Border (Scotland), especially as the programme still covers Berwick-upon-Tweed in output. North Northumbrians get very little local coverage from either BBC Look North (NE/Cumbria) or ITV Tyne Tees and they have stronger links with the Scottish Borders than Newcastle or Sunderland. Such moves would also further safeguard ITV Border's future by increasing the total population of the transmission areas. It would be possible to retain the excellent local coverage: ITV Border no longer covers the Isle of Man, so adding northern Lancashire wont dilute coverage for Cumbria. The programmes coverage of Coronavirus and the impact upon Cumbria (and the impact of the different regulations for southern Scotland) have been extremely positive and sympathetic. Ian Pennell (Cumbria)