I don’t think the format is to blame for much of the current issues; it’s not just that a big local story waited for the local window, or was broadcast across Sthn NSW (whichever they were to choose to do in a particular case), neither case justifies a Sydney local news story leading a bulletin here, nor the lack of proper presentation (graphics, etc.), a poor intro not mentioning the location of a story’s events.
If anything the ‘local’ windows should get bigger (a few minutes more), even if that’s where (initially/for example) the Illawarra bulletins gets some of those Sydney stories, most of Sthn NSW gets another NSW politics (or other statewide type) story, and Canberra gets another international one.
No format is perfect, and while some old guy getting set upon near a train station in Sydney wasn’t of interest to Canberra viewers & certainly shouldn’t have lead the bulletin here, I thought the same will be true for the Riverina, south coast, and western NSW (as opposed to western Sydney!), and for the Illawarra viewers who may be interested, would this be of enough significance to lead the bulletin?
I concluded no, it isn’t that important/of that sufficient interest/etc.
This is 9News dropping the ball; some Sydney-based idiot who just can’t get his/her head out of where they live and view things from the different perspectives across the broadcast region, and decide the run-down appropriately.
If this clown can’t do the job, Nine need to replace them with someone who can.
Live news is a difficult job, very stressful, not much time to think, people make mistakes and of course they shouldn’t be sacked for a simple mistake, but this isn’t a mistake here or there, it’s happening too often.
Because of their complexity these bulletins are tougher so need the right people who can do the job, including putting themselves in the mindset of their vastly different viewers across such hugely different areas, not an easy remit but vital otherwise…it will continue to fail.
PS: Nine need to understand that if a Sydney local story isn’t of sufficient national interest to lead in their Melbourne or Brisbane bulletins, then it shouldn’t lead in Canberra, or Wagga, Dubbo, Bombala, etc. Is this such a difficult concept to grap?
According to my calculations, the rollout of the regional Queensland bulletins should finish in mid-August. If Nine follows the original press release for the order of the bulletins launched as they did in Southern NSW/ACT and Victoria, expect this to be the rollout plan:
*Cairns - July 3
*Townsville - July 10
*Mackay - July 17
*Rockhampton - July 24
*Wide Bay - July 31
*Toowoomba - August 7
*Sunshine Coast - August 14
In any case, it’ll be very interesting to see how the new editions of Nine News go in the regional Queensland ratings, with almost all markets (Mackay being the exception, where it will be a two way battle between Seven and Nine) having a three way battle between Seven, Nine and WIN at 6pm!
Vanessa O’Hanlon has been a guest on the “Chat Room” on Nine News Now a few times from my very limited recent observations of that bulletin. My guess is that the segment is done from the same studio as the Southern NSW/ACT regional news, hence the Sydney backdrop in that pic.
Seven will reign supreme no doubt, because of the fact that it is a very entrenched bulletin in all of the regions, not to mention long-serving presenters who while might leave a lot to be desired, are considered to be somewhat of a local icon if you get what I mean
SC9 Canberra stuffed up the transition from the NRL to 9News Canberra; the league match disappeared leaving a black screen with just the HD (which was next to the 9WWOS logo) for several seconds, then that was replaced by the “[CC]” box at the top left, 9News started but “[CC]” stayed on screen for over 9 minutes (sorry I didn’t get any pics).
Ideally Nine should’ve aired a regional version of the Good Friday story instead of the Sydney story, but that would’ve required a bit of work to get video from ACT & Southern NSW, and of course someone to edit it together as something which isn’t focussed on a particular city/area (unlike the definitely Sydney-centric report we saw).
And at the first break the theme suddenly came on (& quite loudly) while Vanessa was still on-screen, so it’s not just SCA that are making mistakes this evening.
I’m sure regional viewers must’ve loved seeing the Sydney-centric Good Friday report about crowds at the Pyrmont Fish Markets and Homebush Showgrounds…not!
But to give credit where it’s due, it is good to know that Nine are still producing their regional bulletins on Good Friday.
The Easter Show is primarily an agricultural show with many farmers etc from regional areas of NSW coming to Sydney to participate. I think it is valid to report about the show in other areas of NSW.
