This centralisation nonsense is by far the worst decision Ten have made, in my opinion. Even worse than the News Revolution, the disgusting way Helen Kapalos’s sacking was handled and overlooking Sandra for the current late news bulletin combined (but those are gripes for another day).
Thank goodness they’ve seen the light with Perth and Adelaide though (and to an extent Melbourne, as although we kept Jen K and Quarters we had to share them with Adelaide). What on earth is stopping them from going back to a dedicated QLD bulletin? No-one outside of Sydney is interested in Sydney news and the ratings clearly show it (not even just on Ten, it’s a thing with all the networks).
Overlooked? She was probably not in the running for a number of reasons, notwithstanding the fact she likely wouldn’t have given up 5:00pm for the late news.
Wanting something to happen and reality are two very different things.
It has been outlined in these threads several times, but the costs in getting Qld set up again (equipment upgrades etc) is the reason and the huge outlay required means returning to a Qld presented bulletin is cost prohibitive at this time.
Given she didn’t want to stay back to do the Perth bulletin when it was moved to Sydney, she probably doesn’t want to do the late news either.
Costs of upgrading the current studio (although they could just upgrade the cameras, use the old set, and have it controlled from Sydney), or lack of space in Sydney (Green Screen space is used by Adelaide).
Ron Wilson did present the Perth bulletin (in addition to doing Sydney) in 2003-04, and Tim Webster did likewise between 2005-08 (albeit presenting sport on the Sydney bulletin and then co-presenting Perth with Celina Edmonds, then the late Charmaine Dragun, and then himself solo).
That was their choice. Sandra is probably now the longest serving and highest paid presenter, and probably has the ability to say no to staying back late, taking one day off per week, etc.
Do we know for sure that’s what happened? Not that anyone could have blamed her if she did - it would have made for a very long day.
What I was thinking would happen if Sandra had done late news was she would have been taken off the Sydney bulletin, with someone else (most likely Hugh as he seems to be her main understudy) replacing her. Therefore she wouldn’t be staying back, just working different hours
Ashleigh Raper was such a great get for 10. She’s been really consistent and quite refreshing. I hope things are better for 10 now in Canberra and that she’s enjoying the role.
