What's happened to BBC News?

This morning on the BBC News homepage at least three prominent stories are promoting BBC tv and radio programmes - here, here and here.

To my taste all interesting and worthy pieces, but it opens up a question about the nature of the BBC News brand. Increasingly it's being used to extend BBC output from airwaves onto the net.

Some would argue that this is harmless. It's not much different, after all, from the softer news focus of something like Breakfast on BBC One, which frequently puffs other BBC programming.

And yet there is something unsettling about the 'impartial' BBC News machine being used as a promotional tool for other parts of the Corporation. At a low levels this may be acceptable, but in recent months I've noticed more and more examples cropping up.

The solution, I would argue, is not to stop doing it - that would be a shameful waste - but rather to establish a 'Features' brand online distinct from BBC News. The new brand would signal to users that such features are not quite the same as a regular news.

Moreover, such a brand could provide useful focus internally. Currently there is lack of clarity concerning which BBC division is responsible for online content that isn't news/sport/weather. A BBC Features brand would help force BBC departments to present a unified, single, offering to users.