"News at Ten" began broadcasting on 3 July 1967 under the editorship of Cox, who stipulated that the aim of the new programme was to "remove the spin and bring facts and the news as it really was." ITV's stance was seemingly confirmed early; the programme had little news to cover in its first few editions, having launched in the middle of summer during a slow news week. However, a reversal of fortunes quickly took place after an "action story" from ITN reporter Alan Hart on the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders re-entering Crater, which ran for a then-unheard-of length of 5 minutes. A series of similar in-depth reports eventually helped to give "News at Ten" a regular viewership of seven million every night, forcing ITV to keep the programme. By 1969, "News at Ten" had become the first news bulletin in Britain to enter the top 20 most-watched programmes of the week.