Channel 4 News at 25: the first '50' years

Little did we think as we celebrated our silver anniversary back in 2007 just how much radical change would envelop Channel 4 News in the second quarter century of its life. Some even feared for its future existence in the first decade of the millennium as what we then called 'the broadcasting industry' battled hard against the arrival of digital viewing via the internet.

Some see Jon Snow's return in 2023 after his spell as UN Secretary-General as the turning point - others see Ofcom's decision to allow sponsorship of news in 2012 as a critical moment. Certainly Saga Channel 4 News - as we've now learned to call it - has demonstrated a remarkable ability to tap into the key 68-92 year old demographic that all advertisers are now desperately trying to reach.

Jon's continued tenure as anchor - at the age of 85 - no longer looks as surprising as it might have done in the age-obsessed early years of the century.

Yet more point to the radical decision to offer multi-language versions of news in 2015 - the Polish and Farsi versions of Channel 4 News proved remarkably popular, especially after the 5th Gulf War. The eclipse of BBC Radio 4's 'Today' Programme - remember that? - by 4Radio's breakfast show was a pivotal moment. Who can forget that morose final 'Thought for The Day' from Rabbi Lionel Blue?

Undoubtedly the BBC's decision to move its broadcasting operations to an offshore wind-farm after an unsuccessful bid to raise the licence fee to 650 euros per year did weaken what was at the time the country's biggest public-sector broadcaster. But its sale to Googlebook (the search engine innovator and social networking site Facebook had merged in 2018) is usually regarded as the defining moment.

Beeblebook is now the world's leading Web 15.0 innovator, though it actually stopped making programmes in 2028 labelling them as 'anachronistic and backward-looking'. Channel 4 itself bounced back after the 'dwarf nun' incident in Big Brother 26 and has gone from strength to strength. It reinvented its portfolio of property programmes in 2025 when family residences were officially banned as the population of the UK reached 80 million.

'Loft Ladder' and 'How to Make 3 Square Metres Look Good' have proved incredibly resilient. So as we draw breath and celebrate the moment - let us pay tribute to all those fine Channel 4 News staff without whom we'd not be where we are today, especially those who've taken advantage of our sponsors' kind offer to accommodate them in the Saga Home for the Digitally Distressed. As we used to say, see you at 7!

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