Nine will air an exclusive interview with convicted drug smuggler, Cassie Salisbury on Sunday following her release from jail.
Also tonight:
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Sunday
Inside the COVID-19 ICUs
Where cameras have never been allowed, until now. Sunday on 60 Minutes, the life and death reality inside the COVID-19 ICUs at Australian hospitals. The patients battling to survive and the healthcare heroes fighting to save them.
Plus
https://twitter.com/60Mins/status/1253611047258214400?s=20
We are the virus
Sunday 3 May
Sunday Telegraph reporting that Nine are looking at saving money in its news devision. 60 minutes costs $20 million a year and they’re looking at either axing it altogether or continue in a format that audiences may not recognise.
These networks just don’t get it. News is something the streaming services don’t offer. They should be bolstering their news and current affairs output not ripping it apart.
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Terrible if so.
60 Minutes has really had a good rating boost over the last few months.
That would leave Seven and Nine out of investigative journalism essentially.
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Sunday 3 May
https://twitter.com/60Mins/status/1254998779519959040
https://twitter.com/60Mins/status/1255777140764635136
Plus:
Trading Blows
It was an almighty slap. A few days ago Australia was described as chewing gum on the boot of China that needed to be scraped off on a rock. The insult came from an influential Chinese newspaper editor who is backed by the ruling Communist Party. Australia’s crime? The Chinese think we’re troublemakers because the Morrison government is calling for an independent inquiry into the origins and spread of coronavirus. It’s fair to say Canberra’s relationship with Beijing is currently fractured, but understanding why China is so defensive, not to mention petulant, can be difficult because the regime is so suspicious of the western media. However, in an exclusive and at times robust interview with Tara Brown, Professor Chen Hong, head of the Australian Studies Centre in Shanghai, argues the Chinese case.Reporter: Tara Brown
Producer: Thea Dikeos
How does it manage to have five stories in just over one hour?
I’d imagine that the license to use the brand would cost a lot especially now with CBS having a presence in the Aus market.
Maybe if 9 was to axe it we could see 10 pick it up? Would hate to see the show disappear.
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Didn’t they already air this story last week?
Also, not sure what Nine sees in the potential cost-cutting and axing of 60 Minutes. It’s probably one of their few credible news programs other than the national and local bulletins, plus it’s a heritage brand that rates.
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Not surprising, I think the best approach would be to cut down on episodes and go for a more quality over quantity approach. The ratings have their peaks and troughs throughout the year. I think it is reasonable that they cut some of the weeks that wouldn’t be profitable. Some eps are shafted to late nights following reality shows, would people even notice if those episodes were cut instead?
Surely these shows have been loss leaders for a while, they only stick around as a network branding device. I dont think cutting down from 40 to 20 episodes per year would have a large impact on branding/credibility. but if it meant the show became good quality journalism again it would have a big positive impact.
I’d probably say that 60 Minutes doesn’t have quite as much credibility these days compared to what it was like during the 1980s and 1990s (Would the late Richard Carleton and Peter Harvey be happy with current/recent standards of 60 Minutes journalism? I’d be inclined to say no), although it’d certainly wouldn’t be great to see the program axed.
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rebrand: 30 minutes.
I would say that not many of the past reporters (except for maybe Peter Overton) would have good words to say about the show’s quality today, but then again it still rates so I don’t see the point in axing when it is one of the elements that allow Nine to cement their dominance on Sunday nights.
I mean, would the likes of Jana Wendt, Ian Leslie, Ray Martin, George Negus, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Paul Barry (funny how he went from a reporter on the show to a critic of the show as the host of Media Watch isn’t it?), Mike Munro and the other reporters of the past want to be associated with the 60 Minutes of today? I somehow doubt that.
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Paul Barry had a year of hosting Media Watch before his brief stint at Nine during the Early 2000s, but I certainly take your overall point!
For the ratings it gets over 40 weeks in the year, could you make any other non news show that rates as well for less than $20m? I wouldn’t have thought so.
Hypothetically if 9 gave hamish & andy a show there, $20mil would go a long way in production costs and offer better demographics, product placement opportunities, cross promotion opportunities and more appropriate use of the trashy reality show leadin.
60mins is hardly setting the ratings bar high at the moment, especially being in one of the best slots of the week with a strong leadin. The business case for axing 60mins would be easy, but I don’t think its existence has ever been about making money.
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They will more likely do A Current Affair Sunday.
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If you break it down though it prob airs maybe 40 weeks out of the year (non ratings being repeats) so it costs about $500k per episode. Wouldn’t they make that back in ad revenue + more?
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