第一報

The BBC is interrupting its normal programs to bring you an important announcement.

This is BBC News from London Buckingham Palace has announced the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

エリザベス女王死去を伝えるBBCの第一報です。上記のコメントの後、以下のバッキンガム宮殿からの発表を読み上げています。

Announcement of the death of The Queen

The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.

The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.

黒スーツと黒ネクタイとで報じているので、それなりの準備ができていたのでしょう。バッキンガム宮殿はこの前に医師団が容態を見守っていることを発表していました。死去の発表が18時30分。健康状態を懸念している発表が12時30分なので、その間、6時間ありました。

Published 8 September 2022

Following further evaluation this morning, The Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision.

The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral.

ちょっと横道に逸れますが、第一報が事実を簡潔に伝えるのに比べて、ニューヨークタイムズの記事では女王の足跡を簡単に纏めた形でニュースの第一段落を伝えています。比べるとその違いが際立ちますね。

Queen Elizabeth II Dies at 96; Was Britain’s Longest-Reigning Monarch

By Alan Cowell　Sept. 8, 2022　Updated 5:46 p.m. ET

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-serving monarch, whose broadly popular seven-decade reign survived tectonic shifts in her country’s post-imperial society and weathered successive challenges posed by the romantic choices, missteps and imbroglios of her descendants, died on Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, her summer retreat. She was 96.

戻りますが、BBCの報道の舞台裏を報じてくれている記事がありました。メディアは非公式ながら午後遅くに亡くなった情報を得ていたようで、公式発表を待ち構えていたようです。また、年齢も年齢だったのでまさかのための準備はなされていたようです。定期的にリハーサルもしていたとか。

BBC One announces Queen’s death and plays national anthem

Broadcasters followed carefully laid plans to deliver news of monarch’s passing

Media sources learned that the Queen, 96, had died late in the afternoon, with the expectation of official confirmation between 6pm and 7pm.

Official news of the Queen’s death was announced by Edwards at 6.30pm on BBC One, breaking into programming on the BBC’s other channels. The broadcaster then played the national anthem, in line with a well-rehearsed plan that has been practised regularly in recent years.

The BBC’s news division has been holding regular rehearsals on how to cover this moment, not all of which went to plan. On one occasion, in 2015, a BBC journalist announced on Twitter that the Queen had died after mistaking a training exercise for the real event.

しばらくの間、女王の功績を取り上げる番組によって埋め尽くされるのでしょうが、今の時代、そればかりの報道だと苦情がくる可能性があるので、バランスを気にしているそうです。

Broadcasters face a delicate balancing act between marking the historic moment and not causing modern audiences to switch off or turn to other forms of media. Last year, the BBC received its highest-ever number of complaints about its wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death.