MUMBAI: BBC Television News turned 50 today. The Beeb stated that since the Television News unit launched, it has maintained its core commitment to strong, impartial, distinctive journalism covering events both in the UK and across the globe.

It is responsible for the two BBC news channels BBC World and BBC News 24. BBC World launched in 1991. The latter channel launched in the UK seven years ago. BBC Television News generates over 18,000 hours of programming originate from every year. That means an average of almost 50 hours of output every day. Over the past five decades major news stories it has covered included the landing of man on the moon in 1969, the assassination of John F Kennedy, the Vietnam war and the ongoing war in Iraq. The first news bulletin in 1954 had dealt with the Indo China truce talks.
Another landmark happened in 1964. That year it launched the first news bulletin for the deaf. Television News now belongs to the wider stable of BBC News. It claims to be the largest broadcast news operation in the world with more than 2,000 journalists and over 40 newsgathering bureaux. The majority of them are overseas.
BBC News director Richard Sambrook noted, "BBC Television News has been there for moments of great historical change such as the fall of communism and the end of apartheid as well as tragic stories. We cannot know what the future will bring but what is paramount is that BBC Television News continues to uphold its core values, always seeking to act in the public interest."