I don’t believe it’s been mentioned in here, but former 9 News Perth reporter Estelle Lewis joined the Melbourne newsroom around mid Oct.
They need a US correspondent. Or a split payroll with CBS.
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I’d rather they put an Australian correspondent in Asia or the Pacific to report stories form our own region that others won’t cover. (Yes I know, blah blah blah viewer interest, commercialism etc… but if you tell an interesting story well and make it relevant to your audience, people will watch).
10 can get access to hundreds of CBS reporters in the US who’ll already be reporting almost any story 10 might be interested.
But 10 (or anyone besides the ABC) won’t put a presence in Asia/Pacific because it’s far more important to have someone in Los Angeles covering Hollywood and repackaging US affiliate footage.
If you had to do US make it New York or Washington where news actually happens.
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I actually tend to agree. Getting CBS Newspath correspondents to record 10 News First sig outs would be great.
But from the contrarian POV, firsthand talent is crucial to establishing presence in a major geographical beat and for getting at the big US story when the parent company’s resources are tied up. The big point of difference from 7 and 9 is that Hugh’s beat has strictly been DC in the time he’s been there and that’s a credit to the network.
Better ideas? Have 10 reinforce CBS bureaus in Beijing and Tokyo as well as hitching new ones in India and either Singapore or Jakarta.
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All very do-able and would be clever resource allocation.
And that’s what it comes down to; resources.
You have divide up a limited amount of cash and it’s up to 10 to decide on priorities.
In a perfect, endless budget world, you’d do all it! In fact I’d put a showbiz reporter in LA and a news reporter on the east coast.
And just to be contrarian, while I don’t disagree with the presence argument, it’s fine if they actually go to locations, so often they don’t and CBS News is never really going to be in a position of being so stretched they can’t help an O&O
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The commercial networks don’t need a full time correspondent in Asia, as its only a 6-8 hour flight from Melb/Syd.
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You have a big future as a commercial network news director.
But seriously, the “time to get there” question is essentially irrelevant these days, you can be almost anywhere in the world within 24 hours.
The big stories will always be covered… it’s the 2nd tier stories that would get coverage with a correspondent in the region. “Yes, it’s a good story but we’re not sending anyone…”
You can argue those stories not important but they are in our region and properly told they can be a significant point of difference.
And how many times have you seen pissant stories from the US mid west covered because there was a reporter in LA?
By the way I don’t know who you’re flying, but 6 to 8 hours out of Melbourne would get you to Singapore or Manila at best… there’s a lot of Asia beyond.
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Whilst they could have someone from CBS cover the US they keep sending Hugh so clearly there is a need.
They’ve also used a freelancer in Europe quite a lot this year.
They certainly do need a couple of foreign correspondents. Where they are located however that’s another debate.
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With regards to Hugh, who is without question an excellent reporter, there’d be an element of ego massaging going on there… he was dumped as an anchor and no doubt is being styled as chief correspondent etc etc.
But did the death of George H W Bush require an Austelajan reporter? It’s a story but it’s not earth shattering breaking news and there’s no particular Australian angle.
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My pic would be New York (North America) and London (Europe). Although, I think LA is better suited to Australia TV time zones.
Am I correct in remembering all of the Australian networks had a reporter in both L.A. and Washington DC back in the '80s?
I don’t think so… the commercials were in LA and the ABC was in New York or DC.
I don’t think anyone else was in DC… but I could be wrong.
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Speaking of Lachlan, he’s been writing a number of pieces for 10 daily the last few days in particular but in general also. Good to see them using their journalists across different platforms.
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Hugh Riminton or Lachlan would be great weekend newsreaders.
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Which is bad why? Diversity 
Nerelda doing a bit of a dance in the closer of tonights news. 
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