By Lisa Burroughes, 24 September 1998 18:05
NEWS Technical problems with the BBC's news editing system have got so bad that TV journalists are close to boycotting it altogether. On Wednesday, journalists were exasperated as the system slowed so much, it nearly came to a standstill. That left them unable to edit or access scripts just moments before going on air. There have also been problems transmitting scripts to the autocue. A source close to the corporation said: "The journalists were tearing their hair out." The Electronic News Publishing System (ENPS) from Associated Press is nearing its final stages of implementation - a project that began six months ago. Radio and TV journalists who have traditionally used separate systems are now using ENPS. Last week it was revealed that BBC Radio staff were ready to strike because many programmes were 'dropping off air'. However, a source close to the company said the problems are due to an overloaded central network and the transfer of the editing system from Unix to Windows NT, causing the server to suffer serious crashes. ITN has also just begun integrating ENPS, but Ted Taylor, ITN director of operations, said he is not concerned because he plans to run it over a dedicated ATM network. The BBC network runs on 10Mbps Ethernet. The Corporation was unavailable for comment at the time of publishing.
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