Newyddion S4C (S4C News) is a Welsh-language news programme broadcast on S4C and produced by BBC Cymru Wales, covering national and international news stories from a Welsh perspective.
History
Welsh-language television news on the BBC first aired on 6pm on 16 March 1956. Under the name Tele-Newyddion, this fifteen-minute bulletin was broadcast as an opt-out on the Wenvoe, Sutton Coldfield and Holme Moss transmitters, in the style of a newsreel, presenting news items from the past weeks at the time of broadcast.[1]
Before S4C started broadcasting in November 1982, the BBC's main Welsh-language TV news programme was Heddiw (Today), which ran from 1961 to 1982. Initially shown in a lunchtime slot on certain transmitters around the UK, in later years, Heddiw moved to an early-evening slot in Wales following Nationwide, which incorporated the sister English-language programme Wales Today.
Both the BBC and HTV Wales bid for the provision of a news service, but in 1981, HTV's decision to withdraw, following disagreements with ITN over the use of its material, saw the BBC win the contract by default.[2]
Heddiw ended in July 1982 and was replaced by short five-minute bulletins while preparations were made for the launch of Newyddion Saith, S4C's first regularly scheduled programme, which went on air at 7pm on 1 November 1982. A short news summary was also aired later in the evening, along with 15-minute bulletins at weekends.
In 2020, S4C launched a digital version of the Newyddion service, employing its own journalists and producing original stories, that would be repackaged for the television bulletin.[2]
Overview
The main evening programme (branded Newyddion) is broadcast each weekday evening at 7:30pm with shorter editions airing throughout the day and at varying times on Saturday and Sunday evenings.
Five-minute updates are broadcast at midday, mid-afternoon (2pm, 3pm), and evenings (8:55pm).
Dewi Llwyd, who presented the programme for almost 30 years, was dropped from the presentation team in 2013.[3]
Spin-offs of Newyddion have been created for younger audiences. These include Newyddion Ni for school-age children and Ne-wff-ion for preschoolers.
Newyddion Ni is a successor to S4C's previous newscast for school-age children known as Ffeil.[4] It mainly covers general topics and sport. The current Newyddion Ni presenter is Siôn Tomos Williams.[5]
Ne-wff-ion covers general topics in a perspective that preschoolers can easily understand. There are no human presenters; instead, 2 dog puppets act as the presenters.
Awards
Newyddion won the 2012 BAFTA Cymru Award for News Coverage for a special programme broadcast from New York to mark the tenth anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks.[6]
At the 2013 BAFTA Cymru Awards ceremony Newyddion was mistakenly awarded the News Coverage award. The award was later correctly presented to ITV Cymru Wales.[7]
At the 2015 BAFTA Cymru Awards Newyddion9 was awarded the News Coverage Award for a special programme on the Paris Attacks.
They also won the News Coverage Award at the 2016 BAFTA Cymru awards for a programme about the refugee crisis.
Ratings
Viewing figures for Newyddion ranged at one time from 180,000 to 250,000 according to S4C's weekly ratings report.[8]
^ abElain Price. Broadcasting for Wales: The Early Years of S4C Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2022.
^"S4C thanks Dewi Llwyd" (Press release). S4C. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2018. S4C has thanked Dewi Llwyd for his "huge contribution to journalism" after the BBC announced changes to the Newyddion presentation team in the new year. Dewi will leave the programme after almost 30 years as a member of the team.
