In the 7:30 hot seat

Just two days after being told they had won the co-hosting anchor roles for the new look 7:30 (currently The 7:30 Report), Leigh Sales and Chris Uhlmann were doing the media rounds.

But both are seasoned performers, known to ABC audiences for credible work.

Sales, 37, concedes that following Kerry O’Brien after 15 years and a string of heavyweight interviews will be a big ask.

“TV audiences don’t like change. Kerry’s been doing it for 15 years and now we’ve got a different person not only in a Sydney anchor role, but a change in the way the interviews are going to be shared,” she says.

“The Political Editor role is going to be a much beefed-up presence, almost a co-anchoring role when I’m out on the field, so it’s going to be a different style of programme. A more collegiate type of programme, which I think is great.

“But there will be people in the audience who like it, and there will be people who think ‘I wish we still had Kerry.’ That’s something that will take a little bit of time to bed down.”

Sales will no longer share Lateline with Tony Jones, while Canberra-based Uhlmann will host when politics dominates or Sales is on assignment.

“If Julia Gillard is in Adelaide, Chris can say ‘I can go and do that,'” Sales explains.

“Or Chris can say ‘I’ve got a really good exclusive in Canberra so I want to stay here, can you go and do it?’ So we want it to be more flexible like that.”

Uhlmann, 50, believes 7:30 serves an important role for the national broadcaster that will be preserved.

“It’s the flagship current affairs programme so we’re well aware it has a great tradition that we want to continue and hopefully add to in our own way,” he says.

“One of the good things about the ABC is it’s a destination for people to go to when something large happens.

“When the change happened with the Prime Minister people went there on the night to see it. It should be timely, but it also should be accurate and that’s certainly something that the ABC want to maintain. Both of us come for very strong journalistic backgrounds so to get it right and get it fair are the two most important things.”

Sales hopes their combined experience, and a refreshed approach from a yet-to-be appointed Executive Producer, will give the programme a new lease of life -post Kerry O’Brien.

“I’d hope for our audience, both new and existing, that we have track records that people trust so that when there is a big yarn they think ‘OK I trust Leigh Sales, I think she’s fair. I trust Chris Uhlmann, I think he’s fair. I want to hear their take on this.'” she says.

“We want Annabel Crabbe to be involved as much as possible in our programme. People like that who obviously have a substantial following and a great knowledge about national affairs and politics, and a really unique way of bringing their analysis to bear on that. I think having people like that will be really attractive to audiences.

“Our yardstick is interesting yarns, important yarns told in an engaging manner. We’re not skewing for a youth demographic or anything like that. It’s about what are the stories we can tell, that we think are important to tell? How can we tell them well? That’s our guiding principle.”

The rebranded show will retain satirists John Clarke and Bryan Dawe, and intends to respond quickly to breaking news. There could also be more utilisation of shorter stories.

“I’m looking forward to the show having some updates graphics,” explains Sales. “We’re talking behind the scenes about how to make better use of graphics. For example I was a big admirer of the way Hungry Beast used graphics. I thought they did that incredibly effectively, in a way that frankly we don’t use in News and Current Affairs enough.

“That can help give your show much more contemporary, sharp look.”

Uhlmann says that the new era for the show is an opportunity to try new ways of telling stories.

“We do have a bit of license to experiment a bit. Not every experiment is going to be a good experiment, but we should at least test how bit of information might work. I agree with Leigh, I liked those things that worked with a series of graphics in telling a story that didn’t run more than about 2 minutes. It was a fascinating compilation of an idea,” he says.

“But it’s not starting until March so we need to sit down with an Executive Producer and what’s already a great team of producers and reporters and start talking about what we can do.”

Sales declines to nominate a wish-list for big interviews, but says the scope is much wider than a focus on politics.

“When you see a big story, we’ll want the biggest names in that story on our programme, is basically the best way I can summarise it. And not just politics either. We’re talking really broadly across the field: business, politics, sport, international affairs, whatever’s a good yarn.”

If she has any fears of being criticised by politicians or media for supposed bias, a claim often levelled at O’Brien, she isn’t showing it. Right now she is driven by both the task and legacy that is being bestowed upon her.

“You’re in the hot seat in that job. You’re in the hot seat in a heavily-profiled job and it seems to be the focal point for all critics of the ABC to coalesce around, so we’ll just have cop that on the chin,” she smiles.