TV4 News

TV4 News is a nightly news & current affairs show in the Euro Republics shown on TV4. It is hosted by Elaine Holden & Daniel May. It is intended as an alternative show to Three News on TV3. It airs nightly from 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm, along with a round-up edited weekly show on TV3.

With a light-hearted tone compared with most news programming, TV4 News is "pacy, energetic, irreverent and satirical" acting as the programme's USP against the flagship Three News.

History
The programme launched on 31st October, 1995 as three programmes, the main Channel 4 News, followed by entertainment and lifestyle magazine show Life at 19:30 & irreverant showbiz news programme Newsnight, screened at 00:15.

A 12pm bulletin was launched on 1st September 1997. The two programmes were not straight bulletins like those on ERTV1, ERTV2 & TV3. The 7pm show often started at 6:58 to get a head-start on other programmes. offered a fast-paced, more wry view of the headlines, carefully segmented into different segments.

Life was axed in October 1998 with the final edition going out on Friday 18th December 1998. Replacing it on Monday 4th January 1999 was 4D, a heavier and newsier programme than it's predecessor, with the primary idea being that 4D would be a lengthy in-depth programme counterbalancing the energetic, pacy feel of the Channel 4 News.

4D failed to rate well and was generally poorly received by viewers who didn't feel a serious programme like it didn't work on C4. This was evident during the period in April when the show took a two week Easter break, replaced by repeats of The Simpsons, which managed to rate much better opposite ETV1 and TV3's main evening news. The programme was axed in June with it's final episode going out on Friday 3rd September 1999. The Simpsons repeats resumed in the 7.30pm slot from the following week on Mondays and Fridays, initally joined by Friends on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air on Wednesday.

Channel 4 News was revamped with a new format in January 2000. John Evans, for eight years the host of Tonight - the 6pm news-magazine show on EBC Radio 1 - was brought in to present the new look programme. During his tenure as the voice of Tonight, he'd gained a cult following for his dry wit and sarcasm and his often brutal questions during interviews with politicans. Joining him as co-host was Nicola Porter, joining from Early Sunrise.

The programme was renamed to The Latest in 2003 as part of the rebrand of Channel 4 as the more music oriented ZTV. Despite the mass changes made to the channel, The Latest remained the same format and faces, with new graphics, music and a new set. The programme began to use edited versions of Three National News reports with flashier graphics and background music, modeled after the theme music.

John Evans announced in October 2005 that he was going to reduce his role at The Latest effective from December 2005 to return to EBC Radio and Tonight, presenting his last edition as main presenter on 23rd December that year. He continued to work for EuroMedia (then CLT-UFA) as a columnist for The Euro Independent and The i Paper. He now edits the Saturday edition of the former paper. John Evans also announced that he "wouldn't rule out" reappearing on The Latest in the future.

Replacing him from 9th January 2006 was Mark Kelly, a business correspondent for Three National News and TV8 as well as a host of Liquid News. and already a regular stand-in presenter for John Evans on The Latest. Stephen Cole also joined the team, joining from the BBC in the UK, where he'd previously presented Click Online, as the main weekend and holiday presenter.

John Evans returned to The Latest in August and December 2006 as a week-long stand-in for Mark Kelly. The Latest was renamed as TV4 News in 2007 to bring it in line with the channel more closely and to tie in with the rebrand of ZTV as TV4, which focused the channel more on entertainment programmes again. The set was revamped, with a darker blue look in contrast to the brighter red look used on The Latest. The music from The Latest was remixed with a more serious and sombre sound, particularly the preview bed used at the start of the programme and headlines bed. However, the 2003 theme tune of The Latest remained in use as the business bed (business often featuring in the Midday edition) and as the closing theme.

Criticism
The first show received some criticism by the media due to how a report on last-minute deals for the PS5 & Xbox Series X was featured as the second main story, with a report on Donald Trump's last weeks in power the leading headline.