News & Current Affairs FAQs

What are your commissioning priorities?

We are looking for noisy and impactful journalism. The kind of programme that could only be made for Channel 4. The kind of programme that causes trouble or raises eyebrows. The kind of programme that gets talked about AND leads to real change. The more ambitious the better.

The fall-out from Coronavirus and helping people rebuild their lives will feature strongly in our output – but we are particularly keen to hear your non-Covid ideas, especially around the following topics: climate change content to mark COP-26; British politics; Brexit; and institutional racism.

Our flagship current affairs programmes is Dispatches and we are seriously looking for major domestic and international investigations – real wow stories that have the ability to cut through and get talked about: think Starbucks & Nespresso: The Truth About Your Coffee, Britain’s Coronavirus Catastrophe, and The Battle for Hong Kong.

We’re keen that some of our investigations have a real mischief-making feel about them like the recent Celebs for Sale did. Unique access with strong current affairs purpose is important to us.

Everything we do should be rich in humanity. We’re also looking for strong counter-cultural programmes that challenge the current way of thinking.

We love consumer journalism with a focus on exposing pricing tricks, uncovering sophisticated scams, finding good quality for less, saving money, and hearing insider knowledge. But we’re also looking for an added twist of being unpredictable, approaching the topic in a way that the other channels possibly wouldn’t do. We’re looking for pitches with a sense of fun and mischief that also have a topical edge. These can be mini-series that provide strong journalistic examinations of major brands, such as our recent The Truth About Amazon series, or singles built on a populist idea, such as Coronavirus: How Clean Is Your House?, Inside John Lewis: Trouble at the Tills or Christmas Luxury For Less.

We’re also looking for ideas around healthy living. We have a new series with Michael Mosley that builds on the success of his Lose a Stone in 21 Days series, and we are always keen to see ambitious ideas in this area that will have a broad appeal.

Channel Four News also commissions films from independent companies. They worked with fifteen companies this year. If you have a good idea, which might be an investigation, a short film or an exclusive interview, contact louise.turner@itn.co.uk directly at the news.

What are you not interested in?

Comfy thinking

What are the tariff prices for programmes you currently commission?

£120,000K - £180,000K for hours / £70,000 - £100,000 for half hours

What is the biggest creative challenge your team or genre faces?

Re-inventing the form of current affairs programmes.

What advice would you give to new talent companies keen to connect with your team?

Fire off ideas to us as soon as you have thought them through. Current affairs must be current.