&c1=usa&c2=(none)&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Media,BBC,UK+news&c5=&c6=Matt+Wells,+media+correspondent&c7=2000_10_17){kind=small}
- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday October 17 2000 07.53 BST
The BBC yesterday defended its decision to schedule Panorama in a "graveyard" Sunday night slot, after the programme at its new time lost a quarter of its viewers in a week.
A report on the third world production practices of Nike and Gap, the first Panorama to air at the new time, drew 3.2m viewers. The previous Monday's edition on the Omagh bombing was watched by 4.2m, about the same as the other two Monday night editions of the latest series.
The BBC's flagship current affairs series has been forced to move to Sunday nights, against the wishes of its journalists and production staff, to make way for the main evening news at 10pm.
A BBC spokesman pointed out that Panorama's rating on Sunday was only 0.4m below the programme's 3.6m average for all editions since the start of the year. "We are happy with the way it went. It takes a while for viewers to get used to the new time."
Peter Horrocks, the BBC's head of current affairs, said in an article for the Scotsman yesterday that the BBC would review the move if viewing figures fell drastically. The first BBC Ten O'Clock News went on air last night on an evening of intense competition between BBC1 and ITV. The BBC has packed the first week of the new schedule with trusted hits: the first 9pm-10pm slot was filled by the start of a new series of One Foot in the Grave and The Royle Family. They were up against an hour-long special of ITV's quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Tonight, BBC1 screens the terrestrial TV premiere of the movie Men in Black against A Touch of Frost on ITV.
Lorraine Heggessey, controller-designate of BBC1, said yesterday the news had been moved to 10pm because its ratings would have "dwindled" at 9pm.
• Radio 1 announced yesterday that it has appointed its first political reporter. Polly Billington, 32, will report for Newsbeat and the station's website.
