BBC News Online

BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. It is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the UK's internet users for news. The website contains international news coverage, as well as British, entertainment, science, and political news. Many reports are accompanied by audio and video from the BBC's television and radio news services, while the latest TV and radio bulletins are also available to view or listen to on the site together with other current affairs programmes. BBC News Online is closely linked to its sister department website, that of BBC Sport. Both sites follow similar layout and content options and respective journalists work alongside each other. Location information provided by users is also shared with the website of BBC Weather to provide local content. From 1998 to 2001 the site was named best news website at the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards when the award category was withdrawn. It has previously won both the Judges' award and the People's Voice award for best news site at the annual Webby Awards. The website was launched on 4 November 1997, and was headed by founding editor, Mike Smartt, and Project Director Bob Eggington. The broader editorial team was brought together from within the BBC, from print journalism and from some online sites. The BBC had previously created special websites marking the 1995 Budget, the 1996 Olympic Games, 1997 general election, and the death of Princess Diana in 1997, but nothing on the scale of the launch of the main site itself, which required the development of a completely new production system, for which a team, led by Matthew Karas, was specially hired. The original design was created by a team, including Matt Jones, and was based on designs by Mike Bennett and design studio Sunbather.