Here is the news ... we're sitting down

CHANNEL Five, the first broadcaster to take news- readers out of their seats, is putting them back in again.

The bulletin's new editor has told staff that "sitting down is the new standing up".

Five sent shockwaves through the industry a decade ago when Scots-born Kirsty Young delivered the news perched on her desk.

Other broadcasters soon followed suit, with newsreaders walking around the studio.

But from last night, Five newsreaders were to be back in their seats and banned from perching or moving around the studio.

In an e-mail to staff, David Kermode, the editor of Five News, said walking around the studio now looked clichd because it had been copied so much.

He said: "As of tonight, our evening updates will be read from the main seated position, in line with our other output.

"This will give us a more consistent feel and will also keep us visually ahead of all our rivals, who copied us and moved to standing up."

The trend away from desks quickly spread to other broadcasters, with the BBC, ITV and Sky News all introducing standing newsreaders.

But last month ITV said it would no longer permit newsreaders to stand on-air as part of a move away from "gimmicks" in its news programmes.

Mr Kermode also recently banned "noddies", the term used when interviewers were seen to be nodding in reply to a comment made by someone who had actually been interviewed earlier.

A bigger revamp of Five's news bulletins is expected to coincide with the poaching of Neighbours from BBC1 next year. The channel is also appointing a new presenter to replace Kirsty Young, who left Five earlier this year.