BBC World Service shelves publishing system

NEWS The BBC's Bush House newsroom has shelved its high-tech electronic news publishing system (ENPS) and reverted back to using the old system - Edit. The journalists switched back to their old system on Monday evening, according to a source close to the situation. Since the implementation process of Associated Press' ENPS began, the World Service news team in Bush House has experienced a number of problems including programmes rewinding and replaying, or even dropping off air altogether. A spokesman for the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said: "The complexity of the system means it doesn't handle the particular needs of the journalists, for example moving audio around. It is cumbersome." This week the journalists gained NUJ support to boycott the system. The decision will be reviewed in four weeks. However, the NUJ spokesman added: "They are talking to the management about improving the system, so a resolution could be found more quickly than that." A spokesman for the BBC said: "We are making every effort to resolve the problem. We have faith in the system as a whole but are talking to ENPS on ways it can be improved." BBC TV and radio journalists have also experienced serious problems with ENPS, but are continuing to use it for the time being. However, they are also threatening a boycott if the problems continue. ENPS is designed to combine all aspects of the journalist's job including wordprocessing, editing and research, as well as visual and audio editing. Rival broadcaster ITN is to begin installation of ENPS before the end of this year and CBS has also bought it. Associated Press declined to comment.