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Copycat affairs

Media Watch compares the 'copycat' stories that appear on the same nights on A Current Affair and Today Tonight.

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Last night Media Watch spent some time comparing the ‘copycat’ stories that appear on the same nights on A Current Affair and Today Tonight.

Paul Barry was mildly incensed by the fact both shows feature lightweight topics on the same night, something we’ve all known for a very long time.

Tracy Grimshaw: Hello, I’m Tracy Grimshaw, welcome to A Current Affair. Tonight: speed camera fury, how drivers are now fighting back against unfair fines. Arthritis, we look into the pain relief spray. Does it really work? And MasterChef’s kids, what’s ahead for these kitchen stars of the future? — Channel Nine, A Current Affair, 13th September, 2010

This was matched on the same night by:

Matt White: Tonight: kids in the kitchen, is it really good clean fun? Speed camera fiascos, they’re flashing for no reason, where the most faulty cameras are located. It’s been called the dream cream by people crippled by arthritis offering instant pain relief and a long term solution. — Channel Seven, Today Tonight, 13th September, 2010.

Some months ago, TV Tonight published an extensive comparative list of topics from three shows: ACA, Today Tonight and The 7PM Project and noted that the latter carried more heavyweight content.

Rather than telling us what we know, Media Watch could have drilled down a lot more into the reasons behind this habit. It touched upon newspaper stories as inspiration and made mention of promos.

“Meanwhile, ACA had seen Seven’s promo over the weekend and come up with a miracle spray of its own, just as a spoiler,” Barry pointed out.

Promos have an awful lot to do with this problem. It’s not uncommon for one show to spy a promo from another and quickly come up with a version of their own. They both do it.

Recently comedian Corinne Grant got a rude shock when her interview on hoarding was spun into a “mystery-celebrity-hoarder’ by Today Tonight after ACA had been running promos of a Melbourne man whose extreme hoarding was getting shutdown by a local council. Grant wasn’t happy with the final result. Whether she liked it or not. she became part of a spoiler story designed to match a rival.

Use of the word ‘Exclusive’ is also getting very creative.

Often a talkback radio issue triggers a story. When they both interview the same expert, it’s downright hilarious.

The “insider” who noted the following to Media Watch, may have been correct, but it’s a claim that can also be directed to ACA:

At Today Tonight they have a two-week rotation of stories. Power bills, speed cameras, cheap meat, burkas, they get a run every two weeks. They run the same stories again and again. — Television insider statement to Media Watch.

You can read more on Media Watch‘s complaint here.

19 Responses

  1. I watched tonight’s TT promotion and it had a story on speed cameras then ACA had a speed camera story. I did see last Monday ACA had a story on a housing commission house and TT had the very same public housing house story the next day! My mum said it might be ratings at war! Which one serves the best details! Before you know it we will have a story for TT titled ACA the A Copycat Affair and for ACA Double the TT.

  4. Where are the Chaser guys when we need them? I think the, dare I say, “quality” of ACA / TT has gone from scraping the bottom of the barrell to … well, well below that over the last few years.

  5. @Catfan, yes, I believe that is correct. Companies do pay money to shill their products on shows like TT and ACA. That is why there are so many stories proclaiming the latest “miracle diet pill”, “miracle bra”, “miracle arthritis cure”, “miracle (insert product name here). The production offices of these shows receive so many approaches that they have a veritable bottomless pit to choose from.

  6. must have been a slow week for MW if the best they can do is rehash the age-old phenomenon of ACA v TT… bit of an easy target that I’m sure MW has tackled many times before now. But I suppose it’s useful to remind the public every now and then just what these shows get up to.

    Will be interesting to see what the entry of the new Ten shows will do to stir up the cosy ACA and TT battle.

  8. Last weeks MW expose on Kate Ritchies wedding photos/story in Womans Day being a fake was absolute gold. Photos were cobbled together in photoshop and story was written and wen’t to print as a first hand account 2 days before the wedding had occured. WD should be shut down for such a shameless grab for cash. Every female i spoke to who had read the story were outraged, as they well should be.

    Shame that 90% of the population dont watch MW and learn the real truth of what they are reading and watching…. I for one cannot beleive that over 2 million people watch TT and ACA every single night combined…. It is utter tripe.

  9. @john b – Here is what Paul Barry actually said (taken from link provided in above article):

    “Now they’re in the top five most weeknights and Channel Ten is so envious it’s
    planning to take Seven and Nine on with a new half hour program hosted by
    George Negus.

    “All we can say is please George, don’t copy these guys. ”

    At no point does he say that Ten’s show will be a copy of (or even similar to) TT/ACA. I don’t believe that he has cheapened Ten or Negus by mentioning them in the same sentence as Seven and Nine.

    What he is doing is pointing out that, despite how execrable these two programs are to anyone who completed Year 12, they are so popular with the hoi polloi that Ten is reacting by sticking a news/c.a. type program in the same timeslot.

  10. Actually I found this Media Watch story to be somewhat hypocritical.
    As David has pointed out, over the years – unless contributors have found something better, MW attacks ACA & TT, the undisputed ‘Shonky Refridgerator Repairmen’ of all TV shows. But it’s a bit like making fun of a cripple.
    We all know these shows are mindless crap. We all know that anyone with an intellect greater than a 10y.o. doesn’t watch them. We even know that the presenters are embarrassed to be fronting the shows and are thinking with their hip pocket. But really, why attack them for being what they are? Next MW will attack the Wiggles for repeating songs and wearing the same skivvies every day.

  12. Last week ACA ran a story on imported biscuits, but half of the story was taken from a previous ACA story obvious by the blurring of the original ACA logo.

  13. Another good episode of Mediawatch except for the part where Paul Barry claimed that Ten were so envious of TT and ACA that they were attempting to copycat with their own show hosted by George Negus. Readers of this site will know that Ten’s show is a national news program, not current affairs, and Negus certainly would not sign up to host a trashy copycat show. Barry has cheapened Ten and Negus by linking them with this story, a link that is incorrect, a misleading misrepresentation to the viewers. Ironic?

  16. I never watch these shows, but I had observed this phenomenon while channel surfing. It’s kinda weird – don’t know how such smart people can waste their lives working on such crap – don’t know why people watch.

  18. i’m with you, David, the exploration by PauL Barry and his team was hardly new! Hosts before him have looked at the 2 shows running identical stories and promos. I would have liked some comments from the producers of both shows, interested how they defend and observe the other. Still, I like Barry’s sardonic wit and eloquence.

  19. Yes, it’s just amazing how they can come up with exactly the same story for a particular night. I’d also like to see some investigation about companies paying for stories. An aquaintance in one industry who’s company has appeared on both shows in the past told me it cost them $15k each time for a story.

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