Anticipation

Nelson Mandela's death, at 95, was hardly unexpected, but tv news teams still had a night of scrambles, here and in South Africa. BBC World News slammed into Mrs Brown without ceremony, hosted by Kasia Madera and Gavin Grey, to bring Jacob Zuma's announcement; I found out by a black caption suddenly imposed on BBC4. Madera and Grey had an uncomfortable gap to fill (and Madera rather over emphasised "sadness") before Huw Edwards just "happened" at 10, so we got Zuma twice more.

In Joburg, ITV's Rohit Kachroo and Sky's Alex Crawford won the race to the Houghton streets outside the Mandela residence. Bureau boss Milton Nkosi made it on the phone for the BBC, but had to talk over pictures of Alex tucking her shirt into her trademark jeans. Alex managed some great early interviews with people who had turned up there, at least justifying a little more our news organisations' obsession with presenteeism. Back in the office, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse began what I imagine was a thankless marathon of two-ways.

On the BBC bulletin, you sensed a clash between getting those lovingly crafted ready-made films on, and realtime reaction and interviews. We missed Obama live. Huw looked sad and thoughtful, but on occasions he may well have been playing for time while gallery decisions were made. My mum was shouting at him to move his musing fingers away from his mouth.

Within ten minutes or so, I imagine there was a queue of correspondents outside the studio, wishing to opine. James Robbins got through - one presumes John Simpson will show up soon. Also through the door came Joburg-based new girl Nomsa Maseko, who was for many, the star of the night in terms of insight.

Behind the scenes, controllers' teams dithered over where to put Question Time, which eventually followed an hour and twenty minutes of Newsnight, where Yentob made it through the studio door at the end. Many local news slots on BBC1 had pre-prepared Mandela obits with local spin.

With all the BBC's national channels, clever captions and creative writers, I felt there could have been at least brief acknowledgements much earlier, if only as punctuation marks, of the biggest tidal surge off the East Coast since 1953, and the pension changes announced in the Autumn statement. BBC News now is often more about impact, than information. It was a significant moment, and clearly there were no brownie points awarded last night to anyone who suggested "enough".  But newspapers have managed to keep some space for other events. And there'll be innumerable think pieces and discussions between now and the funeral. What will Harding's new boys think ?