It’s not a real number. A 100% fall would mean 0 people left watching. You can’t have a fall over 100%…
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It’s a percentage between 1 ratings figure and another. It’s the way it’s calculated
The proper figure is about 82%.
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A good way to eliminate the local viewers that they have been working on building for a few years now.
Anyone (myself included) that was a regular Nine News watcher has now switched over to 7 News and you can bet they won’t return.
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82% is indeed a massive drop.
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Most of it was from the metro bulletin anyway. Sport and weather will be noticeably different but with local news they are trying to incorporate some of it into metro stories. As @OnAir mentioned earlier, the main story everywhere is the Coronavirus.
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…and regional viewers would like to know how that story is impacting them. How many cases in the local area, how government restrictions are effecting local businesses, where the elderly and vulnerable (those people who may not be able to access internet in their homes and derive news from old media) are able to access help in their communities. If Nine isn’t prepared to provide such information to regional viewers, they should get out of local news and stop pretending they give a rats about these viewers.
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Local news is recorded hours before it is aired. The information, that is rapidly updating, becomes outdated when it airs on local news especially in an era of social media. That doesn’t just apply to the Coronavirus.
In QLD this afternoon, the health minister provided an update on the number of cases that had spiked overnight, including in regional QLD. I saw this news on 10 News and the story was about second or third on Nine. There is no way that the local bulletin would have had time to prep and record a story to provide additional information that the metro didn’t. All they would have done is copy and paste the intro and air the same package.
On Tuesday, the first night of this change, the lead story included a package and live cross to Ebony Cavallaro. You could tell that she intentionally added information (and included interviews with locals) about northern QLD in an attempt to make it more relevant.
I appreciate that the local angle is important and I’m not suggesting axing local news. I’m just saying this temporary measure from Nine is a measured, proactive response, IMO. No one has lost their job, they’ve tried to redeploy journos to the metro areas (a great opportunity for them actually) and we’re yet to see if other local newsrooms follow suit.
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This is why Channel 9 implemented a live format to their bulletins in regional areas to deliver breaking news after the 4:30pm deadline.
If Seven chose to axe regional news instead of Nine, I think it would’ve been more understandable but Nine is more than capable of delivering the same service as metro to regional areas under the format. I think this is where the majority of anger has come from members of this forum.
Nine are barely providing for regional areas right now except for the potato local bulletins in Darwin. I personally think 1 hour straight of coronavirus reporting is TOO MUCH plus the 9:00pm bulletin ontop. It’s just causing more panic. Spend the first 10-15 minutes reporting, take a break then touch base on it later in the bulletin.
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I’ve been watching Nine News Sydney all week and I can’t say I’ve noticed one of the NSW/ACT regional journos appear in the metro bulletin. They may well be playing supporting roles in the background but taking them out of regional areas in a time of crisis is inexcusable. I’ve see they’re utilising Vanessa and Lorrigan but they’re Sydney based anyway. You’ve put up a pitiful defence of Nine’s lack of commitment to these communities and haven’t addressed how people in these areas access information to help them in a time of crisis.
My opinion of these Nine produced regional bulletins hasn’t changed in the time they’ve been airing. It is a waste of time and resources to produce a separate one hour bulletin for regions when they only contain three or four stories of local significance. Those reports are of high quality but they can just as easily be aired as an opt out package during the bulletin or ACA. It is possible to air a comprehensive service containing up to date information of national and local significance.
A regional reporter is wasted reading a few local headlines to camera when he/she could be in the field making a real difference to the lives of people trying to get through this.
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Nine News “Brisbane” was massively SEQ-centric tonight with no mention of regions. Report on guard testing positive in Brisbane - no mention of any others; report on medical centres - all in Brisbane.
Yet Sunshine Coast viewers of 7QLD and WIN News saw multiple local stories on COVID-19 with both bulletins headlined by an athlete testing positive at a local triathlon; report on 2 cases for the local area and reports on the effect the downturn in tourism was having on local businesses plus the cancellation of the Gympie show.
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Maybe NSW is different, you are the only one that reverts to the Sydney bulletin for major national stories. But, maybe it is because the Director of Regional is based up here, QLD has been different. We’ve had local angles incoporate, interviews with locals in regional QLD, and Paul Taylor (the anchor) did an in-studio segment tonight. Local reporters have also been used for live crosses. One of them, Lily Greer was very good, actually better than some of the Brisbane ones.
I wasn’t defending their local news offering. It’s awful and I don’t watch it. Any one knows up here if you want to see a local story, it is likely to be on 7. Nine hasn’t had a commitment to local news in years. Even when WIN was the affiliate, the local bulletin was thrown around different timeslots, 6pm to 6.30 back to 6 then bumped to 7pm. I’m just trying to explain the current, temporary change.
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The Qld Coronavirus numbers were top story on 7’s CQ Bulletin which is recorded earlier so if 9 was still bothering with the local bulletins I’m sure they could have included it also.
I honestly don’t get the defense of 9/SCA on here from some members, for ditching the token 15mins they provided when 7 and WIN are both maintaining half hour bulletins. If they wanted to divert more resources to the Metro bulletins then just insert a 10-15min local window for each market into the metro bulletin, don’t ditch it altogether.
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Nine just aired an apology about the series of fake coronavirus posts earlier day at the start of the bulletin.
It’s good they acknowledged it but not really an apology and used it as a way to support their own story.
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There’s no way I’m going to excuse how Nine have essentially put their regional news commitments on pause during the coronavirus crisis, but surely by now we should not be overly surprised given the several major missed opportunities there has been since the regional editions launched in 2017?
Remember when Vanessa O’Hanlon remained in the studio while Peter Overton travelled to Tathra for bushfire coverage and Canberra for the Leadership Crisis? I was disgusted that Sydney viewers arguably received better coverage of these events than viewers in the areas they were taking place in.
Or how about the lack of special weekend editions for Elections and leading into major football matches (State Of Origin, NRL Grand Final) on Sunday nights? We all know that viewers in Melbourne, Brisbane and even Northern NSW would NEVER accept having to watch Nine News Sydney on the night of an important election or sporting event, so why were viewers in Regional Queensland/Darwin, Southern NSW/ACT and Victoria being treated as second class citizens by Nine?
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saying something happened isn’t an apology.
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I did mention that.
It was so bad considering they released a series of clearly false information and basically added fuel to the “fear of coronavirus” fire. The government even had to step in and respond to Nine’s reporting.
A better way of explaining it could’ve been “the team here at nine acknowledges this blah blah we deeply apologize” etc
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Was this 7 or WIN’s bulletin?
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At the very least for Darwin they could’ve kept Samantha or Paul in the regional studio in Brisbane and keep the current journos on the ground in Darwin. Essentially, they’d be reverting to how it ran before Darwin was centralised, only it would be broadcast live from Brisbane where all the facilities and studio staff now are. The same could’ve been done for Canberra and the ACT too. That way, all capital cities (and in ACT’s case, the entire territory and surrounds) would be getting their own live bulletin nightly.
How many journos are on the ground in Darwin and ACT? Surely the Sydney and Brisbane split shifts could cope without a small handful of extra staff.
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Does viewers in Mackay get a Merged Central Queensland Bulletin?