Despite some teething technical issues that I’m sure will be resolved eventually, the bulletin is much more watchable now that what it was under previous management. The previous incarnation of NBN News was stuck in the early 2000’s and needed a major shakeup. The story choices, style of reporting, and live crosses, now bring this bulletin into the 21st century and on par with how we source news nowadays. I’ve got family in Newcastle and they have noted how much more ‘slick’ the bulletin has been lately.
Clearly some old (now former) dinosaurs at NBN hate change and were getting in the way of progression. I mean, if you drag your feet and talk crap about the company and people you work for, off course it’s not going to end well for you.
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Well said.
I live here and watch every bulletin. While there have been times that they’ve done a good job, practically every single bulletin has had an issue. These things need addressing.
Whether it’s 2-3 second pauses between live crosses, or graphics firing off at the wrong times, the lights going out, cameras going crazy, weather graphics stalling, ad breaks firing over the top of stories, the low volume on openers/wipes.
It’s nothing like the old NBN News where people could turn on at 6pm and knew what they were getting.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of the “dinosaurs” you talk about - I like the fact there’s more live crosses. But you still need to get the basics right - and that’s not happening. And it’s been two months since the move - surely Brisbane would have it worked out by now.
Now something I’ve noticed in the past few days is the pauses between live crosses are less noticeable, so I’m wondering if that’s something that has been worked on and sorted. Timing and pacing is getting better - but there’s still so many small things that always seem to go wrong.
Also having lived here all my life, I seriously cannot recall any newsreader ever being fired from NBN - whether Lobb deserved it or not, they should have known what reaction they were going to get from the opposition media in the town, who love to put the boot in.
And when you have QUALITY people like David Threlfo resigning and smacking the company publicly, you know there’s something seriously wrong with the place. Words like “ethical,” “integrity,” “principle” and “morals” appear regularly. Speaks volumes I reckon. https://twitter.com/David_Threlfo/status/1469576945058807810
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I wonder if Paul Lobb’s sacking and all the negative media/comments would have impacted the amount of advertising dollars they get.
At the very least, Lobb should’ve been given the opportunity to say goodbye on air rather than being unceremoniously dumped. He’s not some everyday reporter but the anchor for 10 years so surely he deserves some recognition for his commitment to the bulletin?
I don’t mean to sound like I’m stuck in the past but whatever happened between Lobb and the management he should’ve been allowed to do a final bulletin and viewers (who let’s face it, are the most important drivers of this bulletin’s fate) wouldn’t have a massive revolt.
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Regional newsreaders rarely get fired anywhere as they don’t have the same level of competition as metros - excluding where newsrooms got centralised in recent years at Prime7 and WIN.
Geoff Phillips didn’t get to do an on air farewell to viewers although they did air a farewell package when it was announced he wouldn’t be returning. I always wondered what triggered his sudden departure from WIN News. Was Geoff unable to come terms on a new contract or did he decide to retire so Bruce Roberts and Lincoln could keep their jobs when Bruce Gordon decided he didn’t need so many newsreaders on the payroll following bulletin cuts?
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I speculate he was given a six-month extension and wanted to bow out quietly, such the modest guy that he is. Surely anyone else, and they would’ve cut the role end of June when the Border/CWest bulletins were cut.
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Doesn’t help either that people generally don’t like change. His departure was always going to elicit a strong response from viewers (and maybe other media).
A later tweet seems to give a greater indication of his concern:
https://twitter.com/David_Threlfo/status/1475631822176342017?s=20
I wonder how many of these people thought that they had “jobs for life” at NBN and are not used to working for large corporations.
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Seems to be the norm in radio and TV broadcasting nowadays: once it used to be the loudest sales rep that got to be the boss now it’s the most MBA credentialed type. The MBA person is worse that the loud sales rep as some of reps knew the value of connections in the community in order to sell airtime whereas the MBA person just puts college knowledge into the business without experience to back it up.
I used to bump into the NBN techs on TV sites through Northern NSW and found them a good bunch to deal with. I did radio TV engineering for 30 years on and off but gave it up as a sick joke 7 years ago - I miss some of the people but don’t miss any of the people running it.
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The same could be said for any industry. I’ve seen senior management for companies that I’ve worked for in the past that have had SFA idea of how to run the joint properly. They’ve never been on the front line and don’t understand the issues that everyone else below them faces. I bet many of the front line could do a better job that these people with a university qualification.
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NBN News appeared to be using it’s weekend format tonight, presumably it was a public holiday?
Local news window was only 4 minutes long, and Central Coast got it’s own weather report, but got the Newcastle sport report.
No obvioux technical issues tonight.
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I don’t like how Jane was saying “Checking the weather in your region” when doing the quick weather update.
It should be “Checking the weather in OUR region” being the Hunter Region
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The Herald having some more fun today, talking with Lobb and Ray Dinneen. Dinneen sinks the boot into Nine. Lobb was too nice to say anything detrimental
In better news, they actually got through a whole bulletin last night with no stuffups.
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Didn’t The Herald and NBN use to have some agreement whereby they wouldn’t paint each other in an adverse light? Seems like that’s gone out the window.
Jane also used the “in your region” for Central Coast weather too, seems like it’s become habit forming from all the pre-records?
It was quite a shame that they let him go without a proper farewell. Shows a lack of respect on the part of management.
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It’s a bit difficult to have a proper farewell when it’s not one that anyone really wanted.
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