By LOUISA CLEAVE
One News is undergoing a major transformation for the first time in nearly a decade.
TVNZ's flagship news bulletin will take on a softer and more modern look used by overseas broadcasters like the BBC and CNN.
The blue colouring used for the One News opening title, set and
graphics will be replaced by softer shades of orange, gold and slate.
The sports news will be presented from a standing position, although news readers Richard Long and Judy Bailey continue to be seated, behind a curved perspex table with space on either side for studio interviews.
A screen behind them will project activity from the "One News Centre", the TVNZ newsroom which is being reconstructed as a separate set.
The centre will show journalists at work and allow Long and Bailey to cross to stand-up presentations from reporters with breaking news, discussing stories or talking to experts.
The two-set concept was adopted after chief executive Ian Fraser put the brakes on a $2 million single news centre development in May. The present transformation is thought to be costing half that amount.
Other news programmes will also have a different look when they return in the new year.
Midday will be cut to 15 minutes and presented by reporters from the Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch newsrooms.
Heaton Dyer, TVNZ's head of news and current affairs, said Late Edition was still being reviewed and Holmes would have a slightly different look in line with the One News design.
The 6pm bulletin's content line-up and hour-long duration is not changing with the design overhaul, the first in eight years, Mr Dyer said.
Andy Jaquet, a former creative director at the BBC and now heading the TVNZ redesign, said One News was moving away from a "big corporation" feel to a "warmer" presentation.
"The way we've done it in the past ... puts a lot of emphasis on Richard and Judy but with this set it's far more about a team approach ... "
He said the changes would be seen on-air in February.
