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As parties and pundits pick over the last of the three prime-ministerial debates broadcast last night, we've taken a quick look at viewing figures.

, an average audience of 8.4m people watched the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s debate on the economy, according to early overnight figures.

Online, it looks from our provisional figures as though we had around 3.2m UK unique users visiting the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News website yesterday and just under 3m internationally. The live coverage page on the build-up and the debate itself received around 850,000 UK pageviews and the live stream had over 350,000 plays - more than either of the previous two debates.

For the first time, we ran the live stream directly on , from where it could be shared, and it was also on .

We made it available to other sites too - including several UK newspaper sites, Yahoo, Fox News and the New York Times. Following the debate . On our own site, we're currently linking on the front page to .

Alongside the video last night, we provided rapid updates via Twitter and our live page from ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ correspondents because we see them as a valuable extra element. In fact there are a few things which can come together for a live event like this on the web; getting the ingredients right, and laying them out clearly, is an interesting challenge.

Some of the ingredients might be:

• the live video stream of the event, assuming there is one
• a stream of rapid updates in text - these also work well on mobile and for anyone who can't see the video
• snippets of quick analysis and explanation by experts from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and elsewhere
links to interesting or useful content elsewhere on the web
• the key points boiled down: facts, figures, statistics

Another could be the ability to discuss the event with your friends on the same page, or to see what others are saying. And what about the ability to vote or register instant feedback? Would that ever be relevant for you when following news events?

Maybe if we included all of these things, it would just be too much. After all, you're trying to focus on the actual event. What's the right mix? What do you look for when you're following a big event online?

Steve Herrmann is editor of the .

As the election campaign enters its final week, we're gearing up for election night coverage and of course the last of the prime-ministerial debates, hosted this time by the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.

The debate will be live from 2030 BST on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News website, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News channel and Radio 4.

On the , alongside the video stream we'll have live text reporting and analysis, an optional view of instant audience reaction via an "audience worm", and we're aiming to run the stream on the . The code enabling other websites to embed the video will also be made available.

After the debate, online we'll stay with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s TV coverage of the reaction and we'll bring you assessment of how it went from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s correspondents and other commentators. Don't forget that if you're on Twitter, you can follow the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Laura Kuenssberg (), Rory Cellan-Jones () and Jon Sopel (), as well as our overall account.

A few hours later, we'll also make the whole hour-and-a-half debate available on demand as a searchable "video transcript", an which allows you to search the video for key words or moments, or to see the main points by subject.

Last time I blogged here about a few of the things we'd developed for the campaign coverage - thanks for your responses and comments. A number of you thought, as we entered the campaign, that there would be too much coverage.

That assessment probably depends on how interested you are in the election, but our stats have shown a good level of traffic to election stories, with about 3.25m UK users to the election site last week, for example. According to our latest audience research, two-thirds of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s audience thinks we are doing about the right amount of coverage.

A couple of the features on the election website that I am pleased to see have been consistently well-used are the to issues (party by party) and the .

And for those who remain resolutely more interested in other news, it's obviously true that we've had plenty of room for that too; in fact, the broke a record for the busiest ever weekend day on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News website - with 5.5m global users visiting the site on Sunday 18 April.

Steve Herrmann is editor of the .

We've just had the results [1.04Mb] of our opinion poll of - and I promised I would blog about them.

They make interesting reading and illustrate some generational and demographical differences among young adults.

I blogged about apathy before - so let's start there.

Just one in three first-time voters told our pollsters that they will definitely vote on 6 May - far lower than the figure for the general population which hovers around 65%.

That's about the same level as in the previous election, but a drop from our 2001 figure of around 40%. So why's that?

Disinterest in politics tops the list of reasons: simply "not wanting to" and feeling that their decision won't make a difference. Women are less likely to vote than men.

Money and jobs are the key election issues for young voters - perhaps no surprise there.
There are some interesting demographic findings, too.

David Cameron appears to be winning over young working-class voters - while first-time voters in wealthier social groups are more likely to favour Gordon Brown.

That suggests the reverse of demographic trends in other polls among the general voting population. Nick Clegg comes third among both groups; again, his support tilts towards the middle classes.

Almost a quarter of first-time voters are more interested in the smaller parties than they were 12 months ago. Of those, 48% say they are taking more notice of Green Party ideas; another quarter say the same for the BNP and one in five say they are interested in UKIP.

Here again, there is an apparent trend by social group. First-time voters in a middle-class bracket (57%) are significantly more likely to be interested in the Greens. Working-class first-time voters are more interested in the BNP's policies (52%).

In case you were wondering, this is not a "voting intention poll" as they're called in the trade: the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ doesn't do that sort of polling.

The findings are pretty much in line with our audience tracking data over time. Disillusionment with politicians in the wake of the expenses scandal is nothing new among all our audiences - but for younger voters, many of whom start with a natural disconnect from Westminster, it can't have helped engagement.

Comres interviewed 1,000 first-time voters (aged 18-23) on fixed line and mobile phones in England, Wales and Scotland from 6-10 April. Data was weighted to be demographically representative of all 18-23 year-olds.

Rod McKenzie is editor of and 1Xtra News.

The range and depth of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s election coverage is impressive. It's something we ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ journalists are naturally proud of - but for some of our viewers, listeners and readers this is a clear case of overkill.

Some of Radio 1's young listeners have been expressing their opinions in a powerful and robust way - Steve texted to say "I won't be voting".

Apathy among young voters is nothing new to us - but the reasons have changed from five years ago. He continues "...politicians are only interested in lining their own pockets...I can't see the point in electing self-serving, lying, cheats".

Apathy turning to Anger. Still a month to go. Blimey.

We're doing our bit to engage audiences who want something less intense than rolling minute-by-minute coverage of press conferences and appearances, live TV debates and deep analysis.

Our research shows many of our young listeners are intimidated by some of the basics - how to register to vote? What to do when confronted with a ballot paper and booth - a black box and a pencil.

Luckily, : Jamelia, Tinchy Stryder and Ricky Whittle have been telling us - and we've been checking the courtesy of Radio 1 DJ Greg James.

It is possible to have a sense of humour at election time. It's also right to be serious.

Our panel of first-time voters are ready to ask party leaders tough questions and keep our journalism relevant to their needs.

Our mission at Radio 1 is to engage those who want to debate the issues but wouldn't normally have the means, access or know-how to be able to do so.

One of our challenges during the coming weeks will be to balance election news with very many other interesting and important but not election-related stories.

And that's one cause of annoyance with audiences. "Too much on the election - we're bored already!"

Looking through our social networking friends comments, Steve's theme is developed and repeated. "Money grabbing... lies... you can't trust a politician" - words and phrases that come up again and again.

Of course, citizens' cynicism for politicians is nothing new. There was plenty around in Gladstone and Disraeli's day and it stretches further back to Walpole and beyond but some might argue that cynicism increases with age and political disillusionment.

A selection of young voters beaming hopefully out of the page of one of the broadsheets this morning is a stark contrast to our own experience.

Andy "Woody" Woods Facebooked us:

"Why does it matter who you vote for, it just seems like they go back on their word and lie anyway, in the long run all parties attempt to solve all issues only in a different order and different ways."

With first-time voter turnout at the last election at 37% and maybe more than half of "virgin voters" not registered this time round, we could well see a drop in that figure.

We'll soon have the results of our latest poll which will give us some fresh insights into the changing - and still disconnected - world of many young Britons. I'll blog again when we've seen the results.

Rod McKenzie is editor of and 1Xtra News.

As the 2010 general election campaign officially gets under way, I thought it might be useful to give you a quick summary of how we'll be covering it on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News website, and the key features you can expect; the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s coverage plans as a whole are outlined at the press office.

On the website, our aim is to bring you all the best of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s election output so you can follow what promises to be a hard-fought, engaging and fast-moving campaign online and on your mobile.

Our focus will be on up-to-the-minute live reporting and video of all the key moments, as well as in-depth information, analysis and context to help make sense of it all. And our web designers and developers have helped us come up with a number of new ways to present the story as it unfolds.

means you can keep in touch with key developments and events wherever you are - in running text updates, video and audio. The page will be updated throughout the campaign by ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ journalists across the UK, with video and audio streams of all the key live events

To explain the background to stories and issues, we've developed a set of interactive features, including a , a , as well as , and .

There will be analysis from ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Political Editor Nick Robinson, blogging throughout the campaign, and our other political reporters across the UK. A Reality Check feature will test the campaign claims and promises as they are made. On Twitter, you can follow as he reports on how digital technology is affecting the campaign, and the live campaign reporting of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News Channel Chief Political Correspondent .

Our teams across , , Wales and are covering the campaign around the country and you can find latest campaign news for where you live on your local news index and .

You can tell us what you think about what you've seen and heard in our , on and on . And if you feel like it, you will be able to tell the world - in video - what you think should be done by the next occupant of No 10 - in If I Were PM.

When the results come in overnight on 6 May and into the next day it'll all be at - a fast and comprehensive service of latest results on your PC, laptop or mobile, along with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s special TV and radio programming.

So when you get a chance, ; we hope you'll like what you find.

Steve Herrmann is editor of the .

After four years of cheerful obscurity editing , I have emerged from the shadows this week with some new labels attached. I've been called a misogynist, a mediocrity, a moron. Alarmingly, I am not alone. My actions have revealed "a seam of misogyny that runs deep at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳". All this heat, hyperbole and wild alliteration I unleashed in the space of a few minutes on Feedback.

I was asked why there aren't more women presenters on Today; apparently I said that they are too thin-skinned to cope with such a difficult environment. No problem on the News Channel, I was reported as saying, where looking good will suffice. But Today is tough, and only men have the skills, and the dermatological depth, to survive.

Except, in fact, I didn't say any of those things. I don't believe them, either.

I did say that we don't have enough women on Today - as presenters, as reporters or as guests. I said the main reason is that we're part of a wider ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, and a wider news world, in which women have not been well represented in the most senior positions. I said that this is changing, and that those changes would feed through into Today. We're not at the forefront of all this, I said, because the programme is not a place for novices (and, categorically, novices of either gender: not just women). We're always likely to be a lagging indicator of trends in news.

In other words, I made an argument based solely on experience, and not about gender. Then, of course, I made a mistake.

I was asked why there are more women in parts of television news than on Today and I pursued my argument about experience. Those are slightly easier jobs, I said, and you don't need such a thick skin to do them. If I'd added a few more words - if I'd made it absolutely clear that I think that presenting Today is a more difficult job whether you're a man or a woman, and that the programme demands a thicker skin of journalists of both genders because the scrutiny is intense - we wouldn't be here now; but live interviews don't always turn out that way.

Cue instead the forces of indignation. Cue a tremendous amount of over-cooked and under-researched commentary. But don't queue here if you want a serious discussion.

You can take a scalpel to my argument if you wish. The idea that a dearth of senior women in news means we struggle to find more than one female presenter on Today is worth debating. The notion that we have to wait for the rest of the world to change before we follow suit is open to challenge too. But we're not talking about that; we're talking instead about the alleged re-emergence of bull-headed sexism in a macho workplace. Is that the most reasonable interpretation of what I said?

As ever in journalism, it's worth running a quick plausibility-check before you leap to an easy assumption.

First, is it plausible that the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ in the shape of Helen Boaden (director of News, and my boss) would appoint an editor of Today who thinks that women are congenitally incapable of presenting the programme? I haven't asked her, but I struggle to think that it would look good on the application form.

Second (assuming I'd concealed my antediluvian attitudes from Helen), is it plausible in this day and age - and in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ - that the editor of an important programme would be moronic enough to deliberately denigrate all his female colleagues in public, and to expect to be considered a rational being?

If the answer to either of those questions is "no", there may be an alternative reading: on some occasions, one imperfect phrase can be ripped out of the fabric of an interview and turned into a canvas onto which critics project prejudices and preconceptions. To some extent, that's always been the burden of the Today programme - and it's actually why editors and presenters, male or female, need a thick skin.

What this misplaced row says to me is that Today is still part of the problem of the representation of women in news. We haven't yet managed to become part of the solution, and that's a matter of regret. Brian Redhead used to say "We're called Today not Yesterday". And OK, in some respects we haven't earned ourselves the right to be called "Tomorrow", but we are working on it - and that's a fact which has been lost in the fog of the gender war this week.

Ceri Thomas is editor of the .

At the beginning of April 1970, Nasa was preparing the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission for launch and the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ was preparing to launch The World Tonight.

I was a starry-eyed 10-year-old collecting Apollo transfers to stick on the end of my bed and obsessed with space exploration, but at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ the bosses were thinking of other things - they wanted a late-evening news programme for Radio 4 listeners, starting to air on 6 April, which would cover international news and take a more analytical approach to the day's events .

Forty years on, The World Tonight is still doing just that. The daily task we set ourselves is to try to make sense of what's happening in Britain and the world for our audience who - our listener numbers suggest - want to know what's going on in the world and why.

We set out to go behind the headlines and explore issues in depth.

We also aim to spot emerging trends in global events, so when they do become headlines, our audience are, we hope, better placed to make sense of them.

I remember, after the war between Georgia and Russia broke out in August 2008, a senior ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ manager came by the programme desk and said "at least your listeners will know where South Ossetia is". That's because we had been reporting on the rising tension in the region which followed the decision of major Western powers to recognise the independence of Kosovo early in the year.

The world we report has changed out of recognition following the end of the Cold War 20 years ago.

In April 1970, Richard Nixon was President of the United States. His country was locked in a hot war in Vietnam and a cold war with the Soviet Union.

The Americans were sending men to the moon

China was pretty much closed off to the world and still ruled by Chairman Mao.

But in other ways, things have not changed so much.

We've pulled together some classic clips from the big stories of the last 40 years. Take a look and you'll see that some of the issues the programme covered in the first few years are still with us today - the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians; the division of Cyprus; how to govern Northern Ireland fairly. Interestingly, all can be seen as ethno-religious disputes over territory.

And in the past 20 years since the end of the Cold War, such conflicts have become a major driver of the events we've covered.

Whole countries have disappeared from the map - think USSR and Yugoslavia - while other states still exist on the map but have either failed or are in state of extreme fragility - think Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan - and again ethno-religious conflict is central to their problems.

Why is this of interest in a media landscape where much coverage has become more local in focus and the news agenda has broadened to include coverage of the lives and loves of celebrities?

The number of our listeners suggests it is of interest. The way radio audiences are measured has changed dramatically over the years, so direct comparisons with 40 years ago aren't possible, but in the past decade we have seen the audience rise to hit a record last year of 1.8 million a week, which tells me there is an appetite for serious coverage of global affairs.

We continue to take seriously parts of the world not much covered elsewhere. Over the past year, our presenters have reported on the drugs war from Mexico, the end of one party domination from Japan, what's holding back development from India, and most recently, from the emerging power of Brazil.

Some key moments stand out.

Given the time of transmission, The World Tonight was well placed to cover the Watergate crisis and established its reputation early on covering the historic demise of the Nixon presidency.

Our presenter Robin Lustig was in Moscow when the USSR bit the dust; in Hong Kong when it was returned to China and in Washington when Barack Obama became the first black American to be elected president.

It's not been all plain sailing. As a live news programme, we've had our fair share of bloopers - a special programme from Nigeria on the first democratic election following the fall of the military junta in 1999 lasted just a few seconds before the line to Abuja went down, not to return.

Then there was the time we put a French union leader live on air without checking if he could speak English - one of the shortest interviews in the programme's history.

Though the programme has remained true to its original agenda, in another way things have changed radically.

The first edition of the programme was broadcast live on the radio and if you missed it, you missed it.

Today we are on the radio and the internet. If you miss it at 10pm on Radio 4, you can catch up for a week on the iPlayer.

The programme has a webpage including a blog on current events and stories we cover. Listeners can see .

Presenters Robin Lustig and Ritula Shah also communicate directly with the audience through the blog and Facebook, and Robin sends a weekly e-mail newsletter to listeners who subscribe.

As for the next 40 years, well I hope I'll still be listening, however the programme is broadcast, just as our launch presenter, Douglas Stuart is still listening today, 40 years after he first said "This is The World Tonight...".

On Monday 5 April, we're doing a special edition of the programme. We'll be looking back at the stories we covered in the first days of The World Tonight and look at how they have moved on - among the stories we'll be looking at are Northern Ireland, the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and we'll also have an interview with the first presenter of the programme, Douglas Stuart.

Alistair Burnett is the editor of The World Tonight.

I recently posted some thoughts and questions here about external linking from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News website, and there are a lot of interesting and useful responses.

I want to answer some of the questions you raised, and also pick what I think are the main themes in the responses, and use these to help frame what we do next. Thanks to all of you who have contributed so far.

Links policy: There are some questions on our policy about linking to sites with contentious content. This is currently summed up as follows in our editorial guidelines:

"³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ sites which cover a controversial or public policy matter may offer links to external sites which, taken together, represent a reasonable range of views about the subject. We should ensure that when we link to third party sites that we take into account any concerns about potential breaches of the law eg defamation or incitement to racial hatred, or the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ guidelines on harm and offence."

This question will also be covered in the new draft guidelines [754KB PDF] due to be finalised and published later in the year.

Hosting source documents: On whether we should host or mirror certain source documents (government reports, budget documents, for example) or
simply link: we are keen to simply link when possible, and we are talking to Directgov, for example, about making sure this works well. But if, on any occasion, the best way to ensure quick and simple access for you looks like hosting them ourselves, that's what we'll continue to do.

Languages: Some of you ask about linking to non-English sites. We
are going to add more numerous and prominent links to our own ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ websites in different languages at index level soon. At story level, it depends on the journalist being able to read, check and understand the content he or she is linking to.

Subscription sites: There seem to be mixed views among those of you who have replied to this question, but a number of you say that if we link to content which must be paid for, we should label it as such. We are still working on this. Currently the Newstracker module indicates if the link is going to a site that may require registration.

Opening in new windows: Quite a bit of debate in the responses. Our current standards across the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ site are not to automatically open new windows for links, on the basis that we are leaving you to control how many browser windows you want open and how you use them.

Enabling comments on stories: So people can tell us what they know, what they think, or indeed suggest different links to add, we are aiming to get a system in place to allow us to do this efficiently before too long for a wider range of our stories.

On Newstracker: Interesting feedback on our Newstracker module - some of you see it as of limited value; there's a suggestion that, rather than news stories, we include more comment and analysis from other sites (including blogs) and that the module should remain ("frozen") on archived stories, rather than automatically dropping off as it does now. We'll look into these suggestions.

References and sources for science reports: You've made a lot of interesting suggestions on this area, which we'll be weighing up in detail, for example:

• Add inline links (embedded in the story) direct to the source information wherever this is available
• A collection of all links related to the article alongside or at the end of the article
• Provide citation details for our sources (eg authors, publication number, date, etc) especially if, for whatever reason, we can't link to them
• Don't report on research until a full peer-reviewed paper is published
• Highlight when stories are not based on published peer-reviewed evidence
• Make use of the Digital Object Identifier System and/or Pubmed
• Help put greater pressure on the scientific publishing industry to make scientific research available to the taxpayer

A couple of other comments which I want to respond to on linking from science stories:

WhitewaterOregon acknowledges that good linking takes time:

"I was astonished to see a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ reporter at a science conference taking the time to fill out the linking sidebar for a story he was filing. Had always assumed this was the editors' job. I wonder how many readers realize the extra lengths your reporters go?"

It is certainly true that adding good links takes time, and this may affect the speed of the story, or even the range of stories we have time to do, but it is and should be an integral part of the process. Giving people access to the data that lies behind stories should be an important priority for us. It's something we are doing more of as more data is made available, for example by public bodies. But we also want to get new lines out quickly, alerting you as soon as we can to new developments. So I think we need to balance both these things.

Dr Lee Hulbert-Williams said we should have more science graduates writing science stories so we don't sensationalise them. We have got specialist journalists and they are well qualified. But they do not write every single science story on the website, because they aren't here 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Wherever possible, though, they do write them, or check them or follow up.

Linking in general: There seem to be lots of shades of opinion here. Many of you want us to link more; others appreciate the links we already have; one or two don't want more, or even any. There is support for good, relevant links embedded within the text of our stories, but also for the "links box" area where we collect together the relevant links on a story.

These are some of the comments that highlight areas we need to consider:

Shevek wrote:

"I appreciate the separate links section because it means I can easily see a set of references; something not possible if the links are only embedded in the text and must be discovered serendipitously."

Boilerplated likes the format of an "info box" - or even "history box" containing the relevant links - "the only problem... is that there is hardly ever room for raw URLs." The idea of an info box or history box is intriguing and I think it could be a good way of evolving what we do now.

Matti Koskimies wrote that, "while it seems from the comments that a lot of people are favouring embedding links within the story, I would advise strongly against it." He says hypertext traditionally means this sort of linking, "but the origins of hypertext are not in news articles", where he argues they can distract the reading process because they are in a different colour than the normal text. "You may think of it as insignificant, but it's not. You wouldn't want to read a paper article with random words or partial sentences in blue color either." He goes on to make clear he's completely in favour of even more linking, but in a separate area, which "a) keeps the article itself easy to read through, b) centralises all the links into one place where they are easy to go through, c) allows for better semantics e.g. for search engines - you can give the link the same name as the title of the page instead of some random part of a sentence".

I think this is also an important point for us to consider. In a nutshell it describes why we have traditionally not included embedded links in news stories, and why even now we include them mostly just in background and reference articles.

The opposite point of view is well expressed by blahedo who says "the problem with linking on the side has always... been that you only find links if you go looking for them. This always seems twice as egregious when the article itself is *about* a website, and then I have to go hunting in the sidebar for the actual link to the website - and sometimes the link labels are not perfectly obvious".

The comment pinpoints the kinds of links which might work best as embedded: "when linking to a website under discussion (when the website itself is the article topic), a document under discussion (eg the Pope's recent Ireland letter), or some sort of scientific development."

This seems to me like a pretty good starting point when considering what links should be embedded in a story.

jack_hatfield says he is torn about where links should go: "Currently, the stories are lovely uncluttered blocks of text, but consequently I never notice or click on the related links because they're in a completely different place. I think inline links should be kept to a minimum and only used for relevant stuff like sources."

Pogal says we should make every effort to link to a publication when we are reporting exclusive - pointing out that this may have come from a local or regional journalist. It's hard to disagree with that.

Guide to linking: Megan suggests that, as a growing number of students use the internet for research, we should have "an authoritative article on how to quote, cite and reference material found online" Megan, this looks like a good idea to me - I'd be interested to know what advice you've given to your students, and what other similar guides others know of.

Context: Lastly, David Smith makes a point about the way we provide context on news stories.

"Sometimes I read a news story where the news stops after the first couple of paragraphs and the rest of the page is filled with context. It's right to provide this information, but there seems to be an old-media desire to keep each story standalone, as if in print. In some cases this is entirely appropriate (eg obituaries); in others, I feel it would be better to use a timeline approach: each story tells you what's new and links to a (probably auto-generated) timeline giving you the context."

There's been a at the and this is an area we're thinking hard about, both in relation to linking and in general. Any thoughts on this and what you think works best would be welcome.

If you've read this far - thanks for your perseverance, and for taking an interest in how we do things.

The next step for us will be for a few journalists, designers and developers to get together to go through the points above, look at some examples - good and bad, ours and others - and work out what should change. There could be some "quick wins", which I can report back on soon; other things may take a bit longer. I'll keep you posted on how we get on, and we're still interested in your thoughts and ideas on this.

Steve Herrmann is editor of the .