End of story time

Another victim of the BBC News cuts, at least as a distinctive brand, is BBC Stories.

It was at the forefront of a misguided hunt for 'virality', the usually-unexpected soaraway nuggets that catch millions of clicks around the world. It started out on Facebook in 2016, with items headlined "Murdered for her selfies: Pakistan's 'Kim Kardashian'", "I killed my rapist", "Sex, honour and blackmail in an online world".

In 2017 it was moved into the heart of the BBC News website, by Fiona "TVFiona" Campbell, now running soaraway BBC Three.  The watchwords were "personal, emotive, immersive, best of video".
The headlines gave the intention away: "What did we learn about sweary people this week?", "Why my bones are crumbling at 27", "The weird world of a Kim Jong-un impersonator" and "Last call for Nevada's brothels ?" .

Fiona left news in 2018. In 2019, Kamal Ahmed was given custody of BBC Stories, and formed "Digital Current Affairs" around it, to "create and curate excellent original journalism". The headlines ploughed the same furrow: "The doctor wrote a question mark for my child's sex", "Black beauty and the Brazilian butt lift", "I helped test a wonder drug - then I was denied it", "Housemates from Hell - me and my 23-year-old son".

Today's BBC Stories on offer: "We are systematically programmed to kill", "He wrote to us as he waited for the train to Auschwitz" and "Lockdown love and guilt: I had to talk to my ex".