2025 Federal Election - Media Coverage

Discussion of coverage of the 2025 federal election to be held on or before 17 May 2025.

Seven’s promo as posted in the content and appearance thread

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7NEWS unveils the Election Needle

Australia’s #1 news service to deliver unrivalled coverage in the lead up to the 2025 Federal Election

The Seven Network’s 7NEWS – Australia’s #1 news service – is setting the pace for election coverage with the launch today of the 7NEWS Election Needle, designed to give Australians a clear and immediate summary on the pulse of the upcoming Federal Election.

With every big moment in the lead up to and during the campaign – every swing, every gaffe, every shift in public mood and every poll accounted for – the 7NEWS Election Needle will provide Australians with the most up-to-date prediction on who will win. And on election night, the Needle will move in real-time to call victory between Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party and Peter Dutton’s Coalition as soon as possible.

The Needle will sway based on expert analysis and data from a team of more than a dozen journalists, statisticians, political scientists and researchers, led by veteran 7NEWS Political Editor Mark Riley, as well as weekly data of every poll across the country throughout the campaign collated by leading research company Painted Dog Research as commissioned by 7NEWS.

The 7NEWS Election Needle will be informed by more than just a “poll of polls”. Leading political scientists Simon Jackman and Luke Mansillo will also help guide the predictions.

Dr Jackman is an Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney and is one of Australia’s most accomplished social and political scientists, while Dr Mansillo holds a PhD in political science from the University of Sydney and specialises in public opinion, political behaviour, survey research methods and Australian elections.

7NEWS has assembled the biggest election team in Australia to deliver the most comprehensive and advanced coverage of the Federal Election and put viewers well ahead of the rest across Seven, 7plus, 7NEWS.com.au and socials platforms.

With reporters stationed in every corner of the country, the news network will be unstoppable whenever and wherever viewers need the truth and the pulse from key battlegrounds and booths in all states and territories.

Seven’s Director of News and Current Affairs and Seven West Media Editor-in-Chief, Anthony De Ceglie, said: “This bodes to be an incredibly tight election that could come down to just a handful of seats across the country.

“In an era of information and misinformation overload, the 7NEWS Election Needle will cut through the spin to give Australians a clear picture of which leader has the momentum.

“This is the biggest election team 7NEWS has ever compiled, with award-winning reporters in every state as well as Canberra and our National News Desk ready to bring viewers the facts on every twist, every promise, every gaffe and every swing across the nation,” he said.

Riley, who is covering his 12th federal election in his 32-years in Canberra, a major part of 45 years in journalism, said: “It will be a fascinating, combative and important contest as a first-term government battles to hold power against a buoyant and uncompromising Opposition.

“It will be an honour to lead the biggest-ever election team across the platforms of Seven to bring viewers and readers the best, most accurate and informed coverage in a highly competitive and diverse media landscape.”

Riley will be joined by 7NEWS Chief Reporter Chris Reason, 7NEWS Foreign Editor Hugh Whitfeld and 7NEWS Business Editor Amelia Brace, while each state will have local award-winning reporters on the campaign trail too.

Be watching 7NEWS live at 6.00pm on Tuesday for the first reveal of where the Election Needle currently sits.

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Let’s hope Seven has fixed up their IT after the last election where their “Screen of Dreams” and computer were all over the shop with the numbers going up and down like someone was hitting “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.

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I don’t think that Screen of Dreams has ever worked as advertised.

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Yep - they tried to claim that it uses the same technology as CNN, but either someone installed the software wrong, or it was false advertising, as it looked more like a basic touchscreen set-up in comparison to CNN. Mark Riley fumbling when presenting the data wasn’t a good look either - should be on the desk doing analysis, with someone like Hugh Whitfield doing the screen of dreams (if they wheel it back out).

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to be fair their claim of being U N S T O P P A B L E also hasn’t worked as advertised :stuck_out_tongue:

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What is this - gameshow.
Does De Celige know the difference between reporting and gimmicks?
This isn’t The Chase Australia.

The biggest question of all the coverage will be this:

Who will have the biggest gimmick - Seven’s swinging needle, or Nine’s machine to kick out outgoing politicians which also serves as either a take on a political joke from the past few years or a cross promotional tool.

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This gimmick is tired and stale. Election coverage in Australia needs to be shaken up a bit IMO.

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10 enters the chat
Now that would shake it up.

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But 10 have already been doing election coverage for the last two elections

That Parliament House backdrop looks new. Probably just on the Sydney set though.

Was used in the 2019 election coverage where the photo was taken


Ah explains it

Seven’s Election Needle will be introduced tomorrow, January 28.

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7NEWS Election Needle

Knife-edge poll is a ‘toss-up’, with Albanese slightly ahead

The Seven Network’s 7NEWS has tonight released the first prediction from its Election Needle, revealing that the Federal Election remains a “toss-up” but with a slight lean towards Anthony Albanese to remain as Prime Minister.

If an election were to be held today, the most probable outcome according to the 7NEWS Election Needle would be a minority Labor government led by Albanese in a hung parliament.

The 7NEWS Election Needle is designed to cut through the information overload and party spin to give Australians a clear and immediate pulse check on the upcoming Federal Election.

It indicates who is in the best position at any given moment to form government.

The Needle sways based on expert analysis and data from a team of more than one dozen journalists, statisticians, political scientists and researchers, led by veteran 7NEWS Political Editor Mark Riley, with leading political scientists Dr Simon Jackman and Dr Luke Mansillo.

It is also informed by weekly data of every poll across the country throughout the campaign, collated by respected research company Painted Dog Research.

Many published polls currently have all the momentum with Dutton and the Coalition. However, as Dr Mansillo explained to 7NEWS, traditional two-party preferred polling is becoming less reliable for predicting who will an election as the race becomes more about seat-by-seat battles. The rise of independents is also making polling much more complex.

“For about one-fifth of the seats it [two-party preferred polling] no longer makes sense, and that means when you look at the national totals it really does not make much sense because we’re starting to see the introduction of strategic voting 
 And that really plays havoc with the way our mental models for how we think about Australian politics,” he said.

Dr Mansillo said that many Australians are not voting for a certain party but rather against political parties.

“It’s always been right that getting more votes is good, but they just have to be in the right places. If they’re not in the right places, you’re not playing the game right. And the Coalition [is] boxing themselves into a corner. But that being said, the Labor Party isn’t doing themselves any favours [either],” he said.

Dr Mansillo said the most likely current scenario is a minority Labor government, with both parties likely securing about 66 seats each. The Greens and the Teals would then be needed to prop up a Labor minority government.

“The crossbench are in a position where they are dependent upon the Labor Party for their legitimacy in the sense that the Teals exist because they have removed the Coalition [in 2022] and the Greens are enfeebled because they cannot reasonably prevent the Labor Party from securing government,” he said.

7NEWS Political Editor Mark Riley added: “All the published polls point to a hung parliament, which gives Labor a decided advantage. A majority of the 15 Teal, Green and independent crossbenchers are likely to back Labor over the Coalition to form a minority government. That being the case, the first 7NEWS Election Needle points to a minority Labor victory. But it is tight. The 7NEWS Election Needle says a “toss-up”.”

With every big moment in the lead up to and during the campaign – every swing, every gaffe, every shift in public mood and every poll accounted for – the 7NEWS Election Needle will provide Australians with the most up-to-date prediction on who will win. On election night, the Needle will move in real-time to call victory between Labor Party and the Coalition as soon as possible.

7NEWS – Australia’s #1 news service – has assembled the biggest election team in Australia to deliver the most comprehensive and advanced coverage of the Federal Election and put viewers well ahead of the rest across Seven, 7plus, 7NEWS.com.au and socials platforms.

With reporters stationed in every corner of the country, the news network will be unstoppable whenever and wherever viewers need the truth and the pulse from key battlegrounds and booths in all states and territories.

Video

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The first Four Corners of the year

As a federal election looms, Four Corners returns for 2025 with reporter Angus Grigg examining whether our two-party system is collapsing

The network that brought you the “Screen of Dreams” and “The Panic Station” during the 2022 race between Scott Morrison and Albanese rolled out the Election Needle’s first prediction this week.

“The federal election remains a ‘toss-up’ but with a slight lean towards Anthony Albanese to remain as prime minister,” Seven News said.

The idea appears to have been borrowed from the New York Times Needle, which launched in 2016, and was popular on the night of the US poll which saw Donald Trump elected as president.

And on the topic of debates:

The ABC told Weekly Beast it has proposed “a prime-time debate that would be available to all Australians, including in regional and remote areas, across our television, radio and streaming platforms”.

Last Friday at the National Press Club Albanese challenged Dutton to election debates at the club during the campaign, joking: “I’ll even offer to give Peter Dutton a lift down from Parliament House in case he can’t find it.”

The networks’ approach to debates can be an emotive issue for political journalists and in 2022 former Nine political editor Chris Uhlmann objected to a critique of his network’s shambolic debate written by former Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy.

“It’s hard to find words for how terrible that second leaders’ debate was,” Murphy, now a Labor adviser, wrote. “A genuine shit blizzard. It was the Jerry Springer of leaders’ debates.”

Uhlmann returned fire with a piece in the Nine papers, describing the Guardian as “angrily post-Christian”.

From The Guardian’s Weekly Beast:

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According to The Australian’s Media Diary, Seven has signed up recently retired Labor MP Bill Shorten, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, Victorian Liberal Senator Jane Hume and former politician Warren Mundine to be part of the election panel. Michael Usher and Natalie Barr will host Seven’s election night coverage, while Mark Riley and Hugh Whitfield will also be involved.

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