New Channel 4 News site gets 'under the skin' of the newsroom

Channel 4 News today unveiled its new website which runs on responsive design across digital platforms, and aims to offer readers more information on how the team "arrive at a story", as well as reporting the story itself.

According to a release from Channel 4 News, its redesigned site is "the first UK news programme to use responsive design", which will see the website "automatically reorganise its content for optimum viewing on any platform, from mobile to tablet to a resized browser window".

New features on the site include a 'live from the newsroom' feed of behind the scenes content, as well as a live stream of the 7pm programme.

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk, acting head of online Anna Doble said the broadcaster wanted the website to be "more reflective of our TV team and their activity throughout the day and not just in the programme".

"So I hope people will find, as they get to know the news site, that there's a bit more sense of how we arrive at a story and not just the story itself."

She added that the idea is that the site is "getting under the skin of what we're doing as a newsroom a little bit ahead of the programme".

Doble also spoke about the idea of bringing together journalists activities across the web, such as on social media platforms, in one place.

"We've got all these great journalists all over the place, busy making contacts and reporting things, but its not, in the past, always been reflected very dynamically on to the site."

Now the aim will be for these interactions to be "focused into one place", she added.

Over the course of the redesign the online team "has grown a little", she told Journalism.co.uk, including the hiring of "a couple of new producers".

"Our focus is really adding value to what the TV team are doing," she said. "What we try to do on the online team is rather than duplicate what they have found in their journalism we will add value".

This may include "more interactive stuff, better use of social media, more graphics", she added, as well as "news that's born from the internet".

Here is a how the Channel 4 News site used to look, in a screenshot from 2010:

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