Results: Great Current Affairs Inventory

The results are in on TV Tonight’s Current Affairs Inventory and you have spoken!

There are big ticks for the ABC, particularly The 7:30 Report and Kerry O’Brien which wins on popularity and credibility. The ABC stormed home as the network with the best reputation for covering current affairs.

But there were big crosses against our 6:30pm commercial shows. According to this survey, viewers are fed up with the sensationalist, tabloid pitch of Today Tonight and A Current Affair. There was clear anger, frustration and derision towards both shows, their content and presentation plus a call to raise the bar with stories that go behind the daily headlines.

Today Tonight scored a whopping 70% vote as the “worst” current affairs programme with Anna Coren also voted “not credible” by 46% of votes. A Current Affair took out 24% of the vote in “worst” and a 29% “not credible” vote for Tracy Grimshaw.

The most credible hosts voted were Kerry O’Brien, George Negus and Tony Jones. Insight’s Jenny Brockie was voted “most underrated” identity while Jana Wendt is enormously missed by viewers.

Here is a selection of the top results:

Which current affairs show do you watch regularly?
7:30 Report 27%
Today Tonight 22%
60 Minutes 20%

Which is best?
7:30 Report 44%
Four Corners 27%
60 Minutes 19%

Which is worst?
Today Tonight 70%
A Current Affair 24%
60 Minutes 3%

Which Australian made international current affairs do you watch?
Foreign Correspondent 63%
Dateline 37%

Which is best?
Foreign Correspondent 64%
Dateline 36%

Which interview / debate / forum shows do you regularly watch?
Lateline 31%
Q&A 20%
Insiders / Insight 19%

Which is best?
Lateline 38%
Insiders / Insight 19%
Q&A 16%

And worst?
Meet the Press 41%
Agenda 20%
Q&A 19%

Rate the credibility of presenters
Raw votes, ranked in order of most credible. Not everyone completed each name here

Kerry O’Brien, 7:30 Report
Very credible 198
Credible 54
Not credible 15
No opinion 23

George Negus, Dateline
Very credible 163
Credible 75
Not credible 14
No opinion 49

Tony Jones, Q&A / Lateline
Very credible 135
Credible 76
Not credible 14
No opinion 62

Barrie Cassidy, Insiders
Very credible 100
Credible 90
Not credible 14
No opinion 146

Jenny Brockie, Insight
Very credible 93
Credible 87
Not credible 14
No opinion 114

Mark Corcoran, Foreign Correspondent
Very credible 87
Credible 82
Not credible 13
No opinion 111

Virginia Trioli, Lateline
Very credible 66
Credible 109
Not credible 20
No opinion 96

Peter Harvey, 60 Minutes
Very credible 65
Credible 116
Not credible 63
No opinion 20

Paul Bongiorno, Meet The Press
Very credible 56
Credible 135
Not credible 22
No opinion 62

David Speers, Agenda
Very credible 45
Credible 78
Not credible 19
No opinion 222

Tracy Grimshaw, ACA
Very credible 24
Credible 66
Not credible 218
No opinion 13

Anna Coren, Today Tonight
Very credible 14
Credible 23
Not credible 359
No opinion 9
In the 6:30pm commercial battle what stories do you want to see less of?
Network cross promotions 17%
Diet / weight loss stories16%
Bra stories 14%

What habit should they drop?
Pitching to the lowest common denominator 14%
Sensationalism 13%
“Still to come” teasers that merely promote stories for the following night 13%

What do you want to see more of?
Investigative journalism 18%
Further analysis of daily headlines 16%
More intelligent presentation 16%

Best Reporter?
Many of you voted for Kerry O’Brien here but given the question was for actual reporters rather than presenter Amanda Patterson (ACA) just nudges out Liz Hayes, Tara Brown (both 60 Minutes) and Mark Brissenden (7:30 Report).

Best Story on any current affairs?
There was a strong response to stories on the Earthquake in China, but no clear consensus on who covered it better, 60 Minutes, The 7.30 Report or Foreign Correspondent. So the winner is Sunday’s “Butcher of Bega” story by Ross Coulthart, followed by ACA’s expose on Hayden Ledger.

Worst Story
The phrase “Anything on TT / ACA” and “Anything on TT” were the most common responses. But the ‘winner’ is Roberta Williams, with particular reference to her glamour photo shoot on ACA. Next was any story concerning Underbelly, TT’s “Free TV” story, plus dishonourable mentions to Corey Worthington and the National Bingo Night scandal.

Most underrated identity
Jenny Brockie of Insight won this ahead of Tony Jones, Barrie Cassidy and Kerry O’Brien.

Most Missed
Jana Wendt romped home with this win, clearly missed by a big number of viewers. But there was also a significant push for Ray Martin. Other mentions went to Richard Carleton, Andrew Olle, and even Derryn Hinch and Naomi Robson. Sorry, but Mike Moore doesn’t count.

Time of Day
6.30 remains the preferred time to watch current affairs programmes followed by 7.30 and 7pm.

Best reputation for current affairs
ABC 77%
SBS / Nine 8%

Best Overseas Show
Daily Show with Jon Stewart 35%
Newshour with Jim Lehrer 26%
NBC Meet the Press 16%

A selection of comments:
– There’s a whole world out there and all we see is grandmas who can’t read contracts and which suburbs have the cheapest supermarkets.
– Remove Today Tonight and ACA and Prime/Win might actually seem like they care about their audience a little more rather then treating them like idiots.
– ABC and SBS are the only credible stations … with the demise of Nine’s old guard, commercial TV has nothing to offer at all.
– TT and ACA are pure rubbish. At least in the days of Ray, Jana and Hinch they did actual current affairs and hard hitting interviews as well as some political satire and some light hearted stuff. Now it’s just drivel story after story.
– Ink pink they all stink.
– Would be nice if audiences werent treated like idiots at 6.30pm!
– Lift your game, Seven and Nine!
– Agenda is severely underrated, as is Speers but unfortunately Sky has not much interest in doing anything better with it.
– Three words describing Today Tonight and A Current Affair: Cheap, pathetic and trashy. Three words describing Meet the Press and 60 Minutes: Entertaining, factual and journalism.
– Improve and stop telling us about tabloid crap and make refocus on hard news and investigative journalism.
– 7 needs an answer to 60 Minutes. Another Witness without the drama.
– ABC and SBS are the best by far.
– I can still remember when 60 Minutes and even A Current Affair were credible current affairs shows and, quite frankly, it makes me weep.
– Always try and catch Landline as well. Does that qualify as current affairs?

519 readers filled out the survey (not bad given it was so long!). Not all questions were compulsory.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and for the compliments and site suggestions (some of which have already been in progress). 71% of you visit the site daily or more, and there was 93% satisfaction.

Many commented on how much they enjoyed doing the survey and have asked for further surveys.