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Regional broadcasters launch campaign to “save” local news

Regional TV steps up campaign to coerce Canberra into media reform -but is News really under threat?

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Regional television broadcasters WIN TV, Prime, Southern Cross Austereo and Imparja have launched an audacious campaign claiming local TV services are under threat, unless the government addresses media reform.

The campaign claims local News is under threat because regional broadcasters cannot compete.

“Out of date media laws stop your local TV and radio from competing fairly with big city media and the internet,” its website SaveOurVoices claims (did they really just say ‘big city media?’).

“If these laws don’t change, we could lose our local voice,” it continues, as it encourages citizens to lobby politicians.

The campaign follows broadcasters such as WIN cutting back on local bulletins and shutting down regional sites. But Seven CEO Tim Worner has previously branded the rhetoric as a “scare campaign” as nothing more than an agenda to enable them to sell out at the highest price.

Indeed, if regional broadcasters are not prepared to produce local News -part of their only original content- should they be handing back public spectrum?

And should the same viewers be asking them to produce more, not less, local content?

7 Responses

  1. If the regional networks want our loyalty, than they should stop neglecting the areas in which they serve. In Wagga Wagga, Prime7 closed their studio years ago (instead filming their “local” bulletin at a studio in Canberra), WIN combined their bulletin with Griffith (a city over two hours away) and Southern Cross Ten thinks that a sole talking head reading out press releases for two minutes constitutes a news service.

    This campaign does not suggest any valid reason why the current media laws would result in the loss of regional media, and in fact fail to highlight the risk that any changes would pose to “local voices”.

  2. It makes no sense that regional TV stations, that are having to pay Seven, Nine or Ten more for content, will merge with local newspapers if the reach rule is removed. They will try to sell out to Seven, Nine or Ten before the NBN allows streaming services to compete against them.

  3. I don`t have much time for the WIN Network. The fact that they either merged or axed so many local news bulletins when most of the viewers in places like the Riverland region and Mount Gambier and the surrounding South East region in South Australia watched the local WIN news bulletin. WIN still chose to disregard those viewers complaints when the local news service stopped several years ago. Same with Imparja TV axing its evening TV news bulletins. The federal government can see through the spin campaign of the Save Our Voices ads. The government are the ones who are the real supporters of regional news content on regional TV at the moment…not the WIN, Southern Cross Austereo, Prime7/GWN7 or Imparja TV networks

  4. Interesting to see the comments on the campaign facebook page where regional viewers call them out on their hypocrisy and self-serving-ness.

    I’d like to see a version of this ad which details the financial windfall the current executives will get if they manage to secure a sale of their networks to the metros.

  5. regional tv is hardly a voice of regional australia and therefore the Tv ads are a bit misleading. Regional Tv has reduced their local news content for the past 25 years and even if the government was to give in to their demands, it doesn’t mean they wont reduced content even more. The ads should be “help us to be sold to a real media player”.

  6. @ Thaddeus not surprising in the TV commercial… they only have limited space and time…. but it is interesting if it is not on the website… i have lots of friends in the regional media landscape… and i have lots of friends that now work in the “big city” (not my choice of words) media that got their start in the regionals as well…. it’s such a shame the regionals are not as proactive as the old days of making local programming… but then… who would watch… FTA will only be event TV soon… meaning people will get quality drama from a streaming service

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