Differentials

Dear BBC News/Studios strategists, 

Another mild warning about USP damage. Most of the BBC News Channel was anchored from Washington overnight. With very little film (repeated shots of what looked like fading fireworks in a dark sky; webcam shots over Tel Aviv and Haifa, with nothing happening), there was a lot of chat. 

Once James Landale in Jerusalem had gone to bed, analyst Seb Usher took a rest, then we were left with a California-born host, with a former CBS State department correspondent as presenter's friend. And a litany of guests from a US contact book - generals, analysts and academics in Florida, California, Colorado and Washington. And if you'd put sticky tape over the branding, watching in the USA, you wouldn't have known it was the BBC. 

Yrs

Bill