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10 job cuts as Bris., Perth, Adelaide news head interstate

Updated: Major names departing 10 as news is 'centralised' from Syd. & Melb. Kerri-Anne amongst Studio 10 cuts.

Network 10 will cut jobs in its news department which will see Brisbane and Perth bulletins presented from Sydney, and Adelaide bulletin presented from Melbourne.

A national weather presenter is to be introduced across all bulletins.

Changes are also coming to the Studio 10 presenting line-up.

10 News boss Ross Dagan addressed staff in a national staff meeting today, conceding it was a sad day today.

A redundancy program is now commencing for News, Operations and Technology departments. The cuts will encompass on-air presenters, journalists and operations staff, believed to total around 25.

ViacomCBS Australia & New Zealand chief content officer and EVP, Beverley McGarvey told staff the changes to production methodology would bring about more efficient but would mean a farewell to “incredibly talented colleagues and friends who have made important contributions to our business.”

From Monday, September 14 :

  • Weekday 5.00pm to 6.30pm 10 News First bulletins will be centralised from Sydney and Melbourne.
  • Brisbane and Perth news bulletins will take place in Sydney, and Melbourne will present its local news and the Adelaide news bulletin. They will remain locally produced with local reporters, news crews and operations staff.
  • The national weekend news bulletin will remain the same.
  • Weather will also undergo changes with a new national meteorologist, all bulletins giving local and national weather forecasts. The role will be announced soon.

Sandra Sully will present a 90-minute bulletin at 5pm to viewers in Sydney and Brisbane while Jennifer Keyte will anchor a combined Melbourne and Adelaide bulletin. Matt Burke will anchor sports coverage in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth while Stephen Quartermain will present sport in Melbourne and Adelaide. Sports reporters Jonathan Williams in Brisbane and Tim Gossage in Perth will take on expanded roles.

There are confirmed changes to Studio 10, with Kerri-Anne Kennerley, and Natarsha Belling departing while Joe Hildebrand is “in talks about his future.”

Confirmed redundancies include Brisbane newsreader Georgina Lewis and weather presenter Josh Holt; Adelaide newsreader Rebecca Morse, weather presenter Kate Freebairn and sports anchor Will Goodings; Perth newsreader Monika Kos and weather presenter Michael Schultz; Sydney weather presenter Tim Bailey and Melbourne weather presenter Mike Larkan.

ViacomCBS Australia & New Zealand chief content officer and EVP, Beverley McGarvey said in a note to staff, “I want to make it clear that these changes reflect the state of the media industry and the need for all media companies to achieve new efficiencies and find new operating models. They were not made easily and involved a lot of thinking about how we need to operate to ensure we move forward in the strongest way possible.

“We remain committed to our news organisation, and deeply value this team’s work. As mentioned, 10 News First will continue to be produced locally in each market. It will continue to have local news gathering services, reporters, camera crews and production staff. It will continue to bring local news to viewers.

“Personally, I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude for the great work, commitment and enthusiasm the departing staff have shown to their jobs and our company.

“I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done and continue to do.

“Thank you everyone for your ongoing commitment to driving our organisation forward. I know change is not easy, but I am confident that we will build an even stronger media company for the future.”

Network 10’s Network Director of News Content, Ross Dagan, said: “The decision to make these changes was a very difficult one and I want to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to our friends and colleagues who will leave the network.

“It is in no way a reflection of their talent, contribution or passion. They are exceptionally gifted people. We are incredibly proud of them and their work. There is no doubt they will be missed.

“These painful changes reflect the state of the media industry in recent years and the need for all media companies to achieve new efficiencies.

“While our viewers in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth will see some on-air changes, we will continue to produce local news and employ local reporters, camera operators and production staff in those cities,” he said.

The Project is not affected.

Updated.

53 Responses

  1. Channel 7 recently cut a whole lot of jobs due to decreased revenue so.10 is just following suit. The TV industry is changing rapidly due to more and more streaming services popping up recently. In 10 years I predict commercial television as we know it will be mostly gone. It’ll be news with very little Aussie content made. Laws will get changed because networks can’t conpete with streaming So there will be more OS content, and less Aussie product.

  2. A sad day indeed. I can’t believe we won’t be getting our Daily Bailey anymore…I thought he was a 10 institution. Sadly, as others have said, ratings will fall further. Who is going to watch 10 News knowing they can’t even by bothered keeping it local to their city? Here we go again…

  3. Its very sad to see this happen, I really feel for Perth and getting a very delayed broadcast. I don’t think this is right. Even if they place in a 30min local, at leasts its live right?

  4. These seem more brutal than usual and ensure 10 remain some distance behind with news outside of Melbourne and Sydney, particularly in Perth.

    Is Studio 10 losing a panelist then or just having the same people on more often?

  5. Feel sorry for all the good talent and those behind the scenes now out of a job – stupid decisions echoing stupid decisions of the past (e.g. not the first time they decided to present Adelaide bulletins from Melbourne).

    I can just imagine one day it’ll be one small team based in Melbourne or Sydney, producing bulletins for every state in the country (green screen + cliched photo of a city landmark + a recording of the capital city’s name = “local” broadcast).

    1. Ironically, the number one news service in the country (Seven News Perth) is produced entirely using green screen – there is no physical set (apart from the news desk). I guess this proves you can do anything and yes, expect cliched bulletins to follow for each state.

  6. I think it makes more sense for 10 to switch to a single national bulletin, similar to CBC’s the National in Canada. It makes sense in the long run, you can’t keep running local bulletins for ~30k viewers in Adelaide or ~52k in Brisbane, it’s just not fiscally justifiable anymore.

    1. Well, the longstanding USA model (CBS, ABC and NBC for example) of a national bulletin (usually out of New York) seemed to be accepted by folks who lived outside of New York, with many of those network anchors becoming TV legends.
      Of course, the local markets also had their 30 minute (or more) of local city or state news before they flicked over to the national network news. When I lived there I thought it worked pretty well, and I got all my local parish pump news (I lived in the not-so-exciting state of North Carolina) out the way before the day’s big national events were covered by the national bulletin.
      That said, perhaps state parochialism is just too strong to accept that model here in Australia?

  7. What a shame but I would expect to see more and more announcements like this as Covid-19 restrictions and dropping ratings strangle Australian Television. Streaming services are taking over and soon TV will turn off, which is probably for the best.

  8. Here we go again! Short-sighted. Stupid. Totally disrespectful to viewers outside of Sydney & Melbourne.10 might as well pull out of the news business altogether. Local is powerful.
    Interesting to have a look at the news services of the parent company by comparison e.g CBSN

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