It is the longest-running programme in the history of television in Italy as it has been broadcast daily since 3 January 1954.

The Undersecretary to Communications Paolo Romani, member of The People of Freedom, in an interview with the newspaper Il Tempo, has defined that the TG1 "seems politically affiliate with the Centre-left".

[1] However it was criticized by the newspaper la Repubblica[2] for political bias in favour of The People of Freedom party and its leader Silvio Berlusconi, when the politician Antonio Di Pietro requested the dismissal of the editor in chief of TG1 Augusto Minzolini, comparing him to Emilio Fede, editor-in-chief of a newscast broadcast by one of Berlusconi's networks.

[3] The opening theme for the newscast has been done by an orchestra since its debut in 1952, although the arrangement has been modernised several times, most recently on 8 October 2023.

This is usually broadcast between 23:00 or early next day (between 00:00-00:10) Note: From December 1987 to June 1988 the 1.30 pm edition was hosted in pairs, made up of Claudio Angelini and Danila Bonito, and finally Giulio Sciorilli Borrelli and Angela Buttiglione.