ITV ANNOUNCE ELECTION COVERAGE PLANS

ITV have unveiled the senior team that will spearhead the network’s coverage of the General Election and outlined the comprehensive special programming scheduled throughout the campaign.
ITN’s Political Editor, John Sergeant, will lead a team of ITN’s correspondents reporting for ITV News from Westminster and around Britain on the election trail.
Jonathan Dimbleby is to present a series of programmes which will get to the heart of the election.
Sergeant will give live analysis on all ITV News programmes. He and Jo Andrews, Senior Political Correspondent, will report on the main political issues of the day supported by political correspondents Lauren Taylor and John Ray.
Tony Blair’s campaign will be covered by one of ITN’s senior correspondents, Bill Neely. Juliet Bremner will follow William Hague’s campaign and Mark Webster will report on Charles Kennedy’s campaign.
ITN will provide specialist coverage of the election throughout the UK with Linda Kennedy covering events across Scotland and Tim Rogers following the Welsh campaign.
The ITV News at Ten, which will be extended during the campaign, will carry in-depth reports on the main issues of the election from a range of senior correspondents. Caroline Kerr will track the opinion polls with the help of ITN’s political analyst, Professor Colin Rallings.
On polling night, ITV will broadcast a special election programme, ITV Election 2001. Jonathan Dimbleby will lead a team of presenters and correspondents for the programme including John Sergeant, Dermot Murnaghan, Mary Nightingale and Katie Derham. The election night programme, which will come from a specially-built set on two floors at ITV's headquarters, will be the most ambitious ever undertaken by ITV and ITN.
The ITV Election 2001 programme aims to bring viewers the fastest results service, plus all the election news, with cameras at key locations. The set, and further details of the programme and presenting team, will be unveiled at a later date. (CD)