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State-based 7:30 could be next

Friday night editions of 7:30 -formerly known as Stateline- are also in doubt amid looming cuts at the ABC.

2014-09-22_1607Following speculation that Lateline‘s future is in doubt under ABC funding cuts, now it has emerged that Friday night editions of 7:30 -formerly known as Stateline– could also go.

Guardian Australia reports all eight of the ABC’s state-based 7.30 current affairs shows, plus 10 specialist Radio National programs, radio news bulletins, radio current affairs and Lateline are to be targeted.

Lateline -which could move to ABC News 24- has an independent reporting staff of about 25. State-based 7:30 editions include reporters who also file for local news bulletins, but also produce dedicated local stories ranging across politics, current affairs, crime, business, arts and more.

Tomorrow the ABC board will consider cuts to news and current affairs programs on top of back-end functions outlined by the Lewis review.

ABC managing director, Mark Scott, will ask the ABC board to push ahead with cuts to programming ahead of a final figure of funding losses.

10 Responses

  1. It’s not just about possible future budget cuts. It’s also about Scott’s plan for the future of the ABC in a digital age which he announced last month.

    “..,the view within senior management that the ABC’s programming and structures need to be overhauled to cater for modern media habits.”

    smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abc-budget-cuts-put-news-current-affairs-programs-in-the-firing-line-20140922-10k91v.html

    The ABC has separate state news, state 7:30, national 7:30, Lateline, RN news and current affairs, local radio news and current affairs, online news and current affairs, The Drum, investigative and fact checking units *and* a dedicated ABC News 24 channel. All of which are becoming part of the digital long tail i.e. hardly anybody is paying attention to them because they can’t find the bits they are interested in.

    The News and Current…

  2. Gee, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of “high-cultured”, good quality news and current affairs programs in Australia anymore, if ‘Lateline’ and state-based ‘7:30’ are cut.

  3. I really hope this isn’t true, I love the Dempster. I even record other states 7:30’s to keep up with whats happening interstate. It would be a great loss for local stories.

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