Nine and Seven are tied on weeknights IMO presenter-wise, but Seven wins by default simply because they have Kay McGrath vs Mr. Stare-right-at-you-in-the-face and Mrs Loud on weekends.
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Much as they themselves might disagree, I donât think the standard of reporters makes much difference to the popularity of a bulletin, though it might in some peopleâs eyes contribute to the quality. Itâs not like the viewer can reliably tune in to see their preferred reporter covering stories, at least not in metro bulletins. It usually all comes down to the people at the news or sports desk or weather wall who are the face of the news.
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Agree- both networks do not produce great bulletins. Content is trash and the presenters are sub-standard (expect McGrath of course). As for the reporters, I get the feeling for both networks it is like junior-central. I find it difficult to recall any senior reporters who have been with the Queensland news for more than a decade and frequently air reports. To me, it seems that there is always an abrupt end of eras for the bulletins where Sydney and Melbourne seem to avoid this-creating seamless changes.
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Although I really donât want this to happen, somehow I feel that Seven News is going to be beaten by Nine News nationwide sooner or laterâŚ
I would say the contrary. Brisbane is neck and neck, they are easily winning in Adelaide, Perth and on the national bulletins and they have gained ground in Sydney. TBH, all Nine have to do is slip-up Peteâs replacement in a few years and they will win Melbourne.
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Yeah, I personally agree that Seven News is more likely to increase itâs ratings dominance nationwide than Nine News regaining the crown.
As much as I prefer Nineâs news service for the most part, theyâve started to become rather complacent (which is how Seven News started to lose it on the East Coast around the start of the current decade) and also making major mistakes lately. Nine needs to take their news service in a different direction while theyâre still a competitive #1 in markets like Sydney, rather than waiting until theyâre a distant #2 and thinking âWhat happened?â!
It probably doesnât help that in recent years at least, a number of quality news reporters (and to a lesser extent, presenters) in Queensland have eventually moved on to roles in Sydney either on a local or national basis.
Of course you certainly canât begrudge people for wanting to move to Sydney for the possibility of national media prospects you wouldnât get in Brisbane, but itâs perhaps not the best for viewer continuity.
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I would actually say that even though Nineâs bulletin in Adelaide is an hour long, I still feel like it is quite fast paced. But at the same time they are able to have a few longer reports thrown in. But not all the stories that they air are longer than what they would have had before the switch to hour long news.
If you were to watch the bulletins side by side, they are very similar (or at least in the first 30 mins of Nine News).
Another reason why Seven News is quite popular with viewers is because for years they have been actively involved with the community. When Nine was owned by WIN and previously before that Southern Cross, they were all about just producing shows and shown little to no interest in the bigger picture. However when NEC took over, things started to move forward and Nine began to involve itself more and more through community events, charities etc.
But definitely I would say wholeheartedly that the reason why Seven News is so popular is because of the presenters, I cannot be any more black and white with it. For 28 years Jane Doyle has been the face of Seven News in Adelaide, and before then she was a reporter and presenter for ABC News in South Australia. She has been a constant symbol in Adelaide Media, whereas her colleagues have been in their positions a lot less. Kate Collins has been with Nine News for 10 years, and has been presenting weeknights since 2011. Rebecca Morse over at Ten took over the reigns from Kelly Nestor in 2006 and has been presenting for 10 years.
Viewers like stability just as much as content.
And to finish off, Today Tonight also does assist in the nightly news battle here. Leigh McClusky the inaugural host of the Adelaide edition was tasked with helping to dethrone A Current Affair and it took her (roughly) 6 years to do so, and the program has been the consistent ratings winner since 2001. And the switch from Leigh to Rosanna was pretty much flawless. I donât even think the ratings fluctuated during the passing of the baton. Adelaide viewers became so disengaged with A Current Affair, as they felt that it was too East Coast related. Which up until NEC taking ownership of Nine, it pretty much was. And thatâs why viewers have been sticking with TT.
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Exactly, generally most of the reporters are still at Seven from when Ian Ross was presenting so I donât think reporters have an influence on the broadcast because most people just care about the presenters
Itâs just like Nine Perth they werenât involved in the community as much compared to Seven who have always been in the community sponsoring all these events (Christmas show, sky works, telethon, crab festival and a lot more. I also feel that all east coast stations lack in community involvement.
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Although I think Brisbane stations are involved with community events etc. Not too sure about Sydney and Melbourne. Although then again Nine Sydney always have giveaways etc during the NRL season and Royal Easter Show.
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Are there still some reporters at Seven Sydney who were there when Roscoe presented the bulletin? Yes.
Would I say that most of the reporters currently at Seven News Sydney were there ten, or even five years ago? Probably not. Thereâs been a fair few high profile departures over the last few years (same with Nine of course, but thereâs been considerably more from Seven) and I would say maybe half or more of Seven Sydneyâs current reporters have joined the stationâs news service in recent times.
Itâs probably true that reporters donât have as much of an influence to the popularity of a news bulletin, although I think there would be some reporters at the network who would be rather popular with viewers. In particular, the Fluff/Puff Piece Correspondents who do their very best to make reports which often lead into entertaining segues to Sport or Weather. The late Peter Harvey was very good at this for Nine Sydney, so too his successor in the role Mike Dalton. The same couldâve been said for Damien Smith when he was still at Seven Sydney.
Not to mention that Nine Sydney also has the annual Gold Telethon on the Queenâs Birthday Public Holiday in June, hardly at the level of Sevenâs Good Friday Appeal in Melbourne or Telethon in Perth by any means but still fairly successful for something only established in 2010! 
Having the NRL and cricket rights probably helps Nine a fair bit with those semi-regular ticket competitions in Sydney, but of course theyâve done others like for the Royal Easter Show in Autumn, Taronga Zoo in Spring and Wet & Wild Sydney leading up to Summer.
Broadly, Sydney is probably the least community minded of all major metro markets but Iâd probably have to say that out of the two major networks, Nine is probably the one that has the longer term commitment to itâs viewership in Sydney and I think the local TV ratings reflect that to some extent.
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I didnât know 7 was starting a local late night bulletin! (check out the tweetâs timestamp) âŚ
7 Nightly News? 7 News: Midnight Edition? 
Yes this is nothing more than a glitch/mistake as there is no midnight 7 news bulletin, but I found this funny nonetheless.
Iâve included a screenshot for context for when the tweet is removedâŚ
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Wow, and a local double header as well!
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I wonder what Seven did with their Rio Olympics set? It was well constructed, modern and worked well in different colours (red, blue and green, really any colour would work on this set). Nineâs new national look is impressive, but itâs a bit too busy; this set is still sophisticated in design, but more minimalist. Sydneyâs old number 7 desk could work very well in this space.
They could use Red as the standard colour, Blue for Today Tonight (like they already do with the red -> blue Adelaide set trimmings), Yellow/Orange for breaking news. Other colours could be used for themed stories or celebrations. The possibilities are endlessâŚ
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The LED screen wouldâve just been hired by 7, along with most of the other elements. Youâll probably see bits of it at the Logies.
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My understanding is that they will be using it again for future events.
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Just use it for Seven News already!
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7 actually used that set again (in smaller form) for the upfronts
Can you give some examples, please?