5 News - History

History

5 News was one of the new station's flagship programmes when it launched on 30 March 1997. It was originally produced by ITN, which at the time also provided the news for Channel 4 and ITV. It was announced on 9 March 2004 that Sky had won the new contract to provide Channel 5 with its news bulletins.

The first Sky-produced bulletin was planned for 3 January 2005 but the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami brought this forward two days in a short Saturday evening update. The contract with Sky was extended to 2012 in January 2009.

Five News pioneered a number of innovations in style, format and content of news and won numerous awards in its early years.

On 20 October 2008, Five News was given a refreshed look with new theme music and titles. The 19:00 edition was also re-branded Five News at 7 and saw the return of presenters standing up to read the news. On 10 August 2009, Channel 5 announced its Five News at 7 programme would be axed in Autumn 2009 along with newscaster Isla Traquair. On 28 August 2009, at the end of the programme, Isla announced it was her last appearance and on 4 September, Matt Barbet presented the last programme. Five News at 7 was replaced by an hour long programme called Live from Studio Five, a nightly magazine programme featuring a mix of news and chat, airing from 18:30 weeknights, from 14 September 2009. The show rivalled the BBC One programme The One Show.

In November 2009, James Partridge of facial disfigurement charity Changing Faces presented the lunchtime news bulletins all week. "We hope it will make viewers examine their own prejudices" commented Channel 5 head of news Chris Shaw.

On 2 August 2010, Five News at 7 was reinstated, after a change of ownership of the channel. Live from Studio Five was cut to 30 minutes as a result.

On 14 October 2010, Natasha Kaplinsky announced that she was leaving Channel 5 at the end of 2010, having spent much of her three years at the broadcaster on maternity leave.

In February 2011, Emma Crosby was appointed as Kaplinsky's replacement and presenter of the 19:00 bulletin, with Barbet hosting the 17:00 edition. The service was relaunched as 5 News on 14 February 2011 to match Channel 5's current re-branding, with Crosby making her first appearance.

On 9 January 2012, due to the production handover from Sky News to ITN, the 19:00 edition of 5 News was moved to the earlier timeslot of 18:30 in place of the axed OK! TV. The ITN produced 5 News bulletins relaunched on 20 February 2012 with newscasters Matt Barbet and Emma Crosby retaining their roles as lead newscasters. The bulletin's website and social media offerings were also relaunched at this time.

On 11 June 2012 it was announced Matt Barbet would leave 5 News to join ITV's Daybreak. He left on 26 July 2012 with Emma Crosby now presenting both editions.