Does she only do the early news? Is she seen on the Sydney or National bulletins?
Who knows, but certainly some interesting changes in the 7 news & current affairs department at the moment.
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Jodie is only seen on air at 5am. And also doesn’t do any stories for any bulletins. Literally just 5am.
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I’d guess this was initiated by Sunrise to boost the ratings.
@spw68 said the other week she was reporting on Sunrise (which is unusual). Unless it is cost cutting, I’d assume she will be absorbed this way.
I’m not sure why Jodie doesn’t do TMS news though. That seems like a good fit IMO.
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Good on Jodie for doing the 5am bulletin for the past 8 years. That’s a long time to be having early starts with a young family. I hope she stays with Seven in an on-air role in some capacity.
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Agreed. I wonder how they do it seeing her husband would also leave for work around the same time.
Who does the news on TMS? She could move to TMS, that’s if she says with Seven.
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She might just be contracted to do the early bulletin, and that works for her? Maybe this will work for 7 if they no longer require her services.
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Weird move. Why not just keep the Seven News brand and have Edwina read it like on Nine News Early with Alex?
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Ratings:
And I guarantee it will be matched by Today if not on Monday, soon after (possibly with the main hosts though).
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definitely a cost-saving move. They would have to pay Jodie for a minimum number of hours when she really only works for 30mins, plus extra hair, makeup and wardrobe. way more financial sense to have Eddy do the bulletin. 7 will spin it as a brand extension, but its all money.
It rotates around. Usually Amber Laidler, sometimes Kylie just does it herself, sometime Sally Bowrey.
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Good Morning Britain did a similar thing back in 2020/21.
A half hour bulletin hosted by the Good Morning Britain newsreader at 6am, branded under GMB, then the main show with the two presenters from 6.30.
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Wouldn’t they already be there for Sunrise?
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Yeah but point is they’re doing an extra person. Without Jodie, it’s one less person to put together.
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And because technically Jodie presents “7NEWS”, there’s probably a portion cost-coded back from Sunrise to 7News internally. But the bigger cost would be paying her essentially 3hrs 45 mins (according to Journalist award) pay to essentially do 30mins -45 mins work, and wardrobe.
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Just because Jodie only broadcasts the 5am news doesn’t mean she isn’t doing other behind the scenes work. She is probably employed full time so it would cost Seven the same if they decided to keep her on but have Eddie present the early news and have Jodie in a behind the scenes capacity. This might be her choice. Just because you might only see Jodie for 30 minutes on air she is probably working a full 8 hour day. We are going via a change in a TV guide and making assumptions it hasn’t been confirmed or denied that Jodie is leaving. Maybe Jodie is taking leave for a few weeks we don’t know.
You see Mark Ferguson for 1 hour a day at 6pm plus some updates during the afternoon but I am sure he works a full 8 hour day like most people
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I know for a fact she is not full time, and leaves the building straight after the bulletin (except that day she had to file from the newsroom for 5.30 Sunrise news). With 7 cutting costs the way they are at the moment, I’d be very surprised if they’ve put her into a BTS role.
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hahaha oh I doubt that, most anchors wouldn’t be seen til mid arvo. They’d roll in, get make up done, read updates a producer had written. Especially now with local arvo news, the 6pm anchor isn’t seen til 5ish.
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That is still working.
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How does this boost ratings? If it was all coded as “Sunrise” then it would increase their reach number (while dragging down the average), but it’s still coded as its own separate bulletin. Do you think branding it as “Sunrise” is suddenly going to get people out of bed at 5am to watch?
It’s not a coincidence that this comes right after The Latest was shifted to TVW. The Sydney news operation is clearly being downsized - which is a great shame given a few years ago they were running a 24/7 newsroom in the heart of the CBD.
Logically these decisions all make sense in isolation but you have to wonder what the bigger picture, long term impact will be in terms of the strength and capabilities of Seven News as a whole.
In Melbourne, Peter Hitchener apparently arrived at 2pm and left at 10pm when he was doing weeknights in Melbourne.
UPDATE - EPG now lists the Sunrise 5AM News program from Monday onwards.
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not a full 8 hour day.
Likewise what would Jodie be doing after 5.30am? And she’s not there at midnight the night before producing or writing the bulletin.
I am sure he did at some stage, but can’t imagine in recent years he was there til 10pm. I know promos like to show us anchors being these integral parts of the news team, but the majority of the time, especially some of the longer serving and senior ones, they’re in to read the show and then out.
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