Detail on ABC News channel nears

The ABC will reportedly advise staff of the details of its 24-hour news channel today.

The channel, already criticised by Pay TV rival Sky News, will feature a new glass studio on the ground floor of its Ultimo headquarters as the broadcaster seeks to draw upon its significant resources.

Lateline Business will reportedly shift across the the new channel, to air at 8.30pm under a new name. Other shows are expected to be added, whilst some will get a replay from their ABC1 premiere.

A crucial question about screening live to all states is currently yet to be answered.

There are also questions about a review of its 12 foreign bureaus which has been going on for the past year. The Moscow bureau now has a video journalist for a trial period instead of a correspondent.

The Sydney Morning Herald notes the cameraman’s position there had been scrapped and the ABC’s new man in Moscow, Norman Hermant, had to document a story on train bombings with something the size of a small digital video camera. He was expected to file for radio, TV and online.

Yet the ABC is not alone in dwindling down some of its foreign correspondents. In the last two years Nine News returned James Talia home from his European base to Melbourne. It retains US correspondents in Robert Penfold and Peter Stefanovic.

ABC’s head of policy for ABC News and Current Affairs, Steven Alward, says, there is not going to be any change to the number of journalists, leaving some questions about quantity over quality still unanswered.

The ABC has determined it will launch the News Channel without any additional funding.

Source: smh.com.au