BBC News 24 gets new editor

Mr Popescu will take over until the end of the year

BBC News 24, the corporation's rolling news TV channel, has appointed a new editor ahead of a relaunch.

Mark Popescu, a former ITN news editor who currently heads the BBC One's Ten O'Clock News, will take over the channel later this month.

The channel's relaunch this autumn will come after a government review stating that the news service had to be more distinctive, particularly when compared to its rivals.

Head of BBC TV News Roger Mosey said the changes would give it a "fresh look". They will include a redesign of the sets, making them brighter.

A BBC News 24 insider once described the original sets as looking "like a car crash in a shower room".

Competitive

Mr Mosey said Mr Popescu would take over until the end of the year, returning to helm the Ten O'Clock bulletin in 2004.

Mr Popescu will swap jobs with the current head of BBC News 24, Kevin Bakhurst.

An overhaul of the channel had been promised earlier in the summer, when the BBC's head of news, Richard Sambrook, said the service would look radically different in 12 months time.

The BBC has admitted that it wants to make sure it is competitive in terms of quickly reporting breaking news, while still keeping to the corporation's strict guidelines on attributing stories.

The value of rolling channels has been emphasised after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US and the conflict in Iraq.