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.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Following 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
How could the ABC shelve Lateline, one of its few good programs, but retain those seriously awful and gutter-garbage Wednesday-night comedy shows?
Pertinax continues to delight in diverting attention from the harsh reality of the coalition government’s assault on the national broadcaster.
JoeS: there are huge budget cuts. At the moment $120 million over four years and fears of another $50m – $100m -final figure is unclear.
Pertinax, so it is more about restructuring than cuts per se? The ABC being the ABC I assume they will ride the ‘budget cuts’ angle hard though.
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…
How incredibly stupid funding cuts.
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.
Just cut the ABC. If someone wants to keep it on air then the Labor party can pay for it.
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.
this government really wants cut ABC & SBS to the bone, where there is nothing less.