New man to lead News 24 relaunch

The BBC has appointed a new editor to relaunch its News 24 service after losing the ratings battle to archrival Sky.

Mark Popescu, a former ITN editor with a track record in popular broadcast journalism, has been appointed to revitalise the 24-hour news channel.

Mr Popescu is currently in charge of the Ten O'Clock News on BBC1. In his new role he will be pushing to improve both ratings and the public's perception of News 24.

The relaunch will take place this autumn, and follows criticism of the channel in aGovernment-ordered review by former Financial Times editor Richard Lambert. He said News 24 needed to be more distinctive from its commercial rivals.

BBC bosses plan to make major changes with a brighter and more stylish set than the current 1999 beige and red, while a more versatile layout will allow presenters to move between different areas.

The channel will also try to get rid of unpopular elements of the service such as the "interminable two-ways" between presenters and reporters.

Instead, the channel will try to become more analytical than its competitors through better use of commentators used to generate debate and controversy.