The Project: “It’s something we talk about a lot”
"I think there is a perception of the show that is not fair and balanced, " 10's Beverley McGarvey acknowledges.
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EXCLUSIVE:
Like breakfast television shows, the success of The Project has led to it become frequent fodder for media articles, and along with social media commentary, has increasingly questioned the show’s balance.
10 has variously been accused of being “more left-wing than The Guardian,” having “left-wing bias” or being “too woke.”
10 tells TV Tonight it does see the commentary around the flagship show.
Amongst the recent headlines:
- The Project hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Waleed Aly disappear from the Channel Ten show… as co-host Carrie Bickmore prepares to move to the UK with her family
- The Project’s Lisa Wilkinson apologises for offending viewers with ‘disgusting’ suggestion
- The Project’s Waleed Aly reveals the bizarre toilet habit he developed when there was a ‘toilet paper shortage’
- Waleed Aly accuses the NSW government of causing a crippling ‘shadow lockdown’ with confused policies
- Susan Carland reveals what she REALLY thinks of husband Waleed Aly’s mullet hairstyle on The Project
- Georgie Tunny ‘punches’ Waleed Aly on The Project
- Candid Lisa Wilkinson photo shows she looks very different minutes before going on-air
- Inside Lisa Wilkinson and Peter FitzSimons’ star-studded election party
- What is it about Lisa Wilkinson that fires people up?
- Lisa Wilkinson ‘takes a break’ from The Project amid low ratings
- Twitter users are shocked by Hamish Macdonald’s ‘smutty sexual innuendo’ on The Project: ‘You should be sacked!’
- The Project host Hamish Macdonald looks downcast outside his $3.8million Sydney home – days after police were called to his house after complaints about an EIGHT-hour party
- Carrie Bickmore and partner Chris Walker share posts of their dancing lesson in the UK
“It’s a very thin slice of the media,” said Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, Paramount ANZ, Beverley McGarvey,”….. it’s very clickbait-y, which we should be very flattered about. Clearly they keep writing, because people keep clicking on it.
“I think there is a perception of the show that is not fair and balanced. Sometimes if you see a particular headline about something you think was said on The Project when you actually read the story it’s completely different.”
In 2020 a satirical article on Facebook claiming Waleed Aly supposedly applauding an African gang who assaulted young girl at train station for ‘courageously standing up to white privilege’ drew plenty of comment from those who believed it, before being removed.
The Project was last investigated by the Australian Communications & Media Authority for accuracy and fairness in 2016 -and was cleared by the media watchdog. It was also cleared of an investigation in 2012.
As news and current affairs it is required to demonstrate balance in its reportage.
“It’s something we talk about a lot, so we have to keep pushing our message that we’re as balanced as we can possibly be and get support from a broader group of media for the show,” McGarvey continued.
“It’s the sort of show that needs constant work and attention. It’s on 6 nights a week for an hour so it’s really important to us and we continually work hard to improve it, keep it balanced -which is as it should be. It should be growing, evolving and changing.”
With Carrie Bickmore in the UK the show has recently enjoyed Georgie Tunny and Chrissie Swan at the desk, but 10 doesn’t indicate it is looking to overhaul its presenting team in order to change any misconceptions.
“We don’t have any plans for recasting. We have a core team of effectively 5 or 6… but people aren’t keen to work 6 nights a week,” said McGarvey.
“So The Project will always evolve.”
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39 Responses
They need to try something completely new. Bring Sarah Harris in (entirely wasted on Studio 10) and poach a younger male newsman from another network. And keep the panel the same all week! If they need to keep Lisa – move her back to mornings
Omg Sarah Harris is definitely where she belongs on morning tv where everything and everyone is great to her- please! The Project is completely fair and balanced that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t share their opinions, otherwise they are robots with no feelings. Plenty of times I’m upset at how harsh they are at questioning someone who doesn’t deserve it, but that’s the way they stay balanced.
You don’t lodge a complaint with ACMA because you don’t like Wilkinson’s views, you just don’t watch it. That’s the rule I’ve lived by, anyway.
There’s a lot suggesting show imbalance (hence why I posed the question to network), yet none seem to raise the matter with ACMA.
Did not know you could raise the matter with the ACMA. I wonder if sky news gets reported much?
A bit more often. A breach can’t be for opinion, but if it is news and inaccurate or imbalanced it can.
Lisa wilkinson is not balanced, hated scott morrison and hates the liberals. Thats fine, but dont present yourself as a balanced show. I really enjoyed it when charlie was on and i find walleed generally fair, but Lisa is the killer for me and i no longer watch for that reason.
So for all the complaints around imbalance, why are there none lodged with ACMA? Surely people have examples they would like to put to the regulator. The last was 6 years ago.
It doesnt worry me that much, just happy to switch off.
Anyone still parroting this “Project gone Too Woke Left” guff hasn’t watched the show in a while. The whole thing’s straight from Ten marketing (the same team that made Wilkinson “sympathetic” by letting her read out the book report she did on Sam Maiden’s work) and as manufactured as the latest Big Brother promo.
PR bumpf like this – aimed to reinforce key profile-points of the “Target Demo” they keep losing – is as much of a sign that the show’s on the bubble as having Rove covering shifts through the week to save on wages. The only real discourse on social media the last few months has been around their obvious LNP bias in the lead up to the election, but I can’t see McGarvey acknowledging that now (if Scomo had stayed I’d imagine it’d be spun as “Supporting Our Government”).
The biggest irony remains – that the people running froth over this are probably the ones who’d enjoy watching the current (Centre-Right, conservative-lite) show the most. Might even…
If you’re upsetting the right wing it’s usually because your telling the truth and not pandering to their lies. “Balance” should never be about giving a platform to ignorance and hatred.
I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: The Project belongs on the ABC
…and rename it The Drum.
The show was young, hip, and new back in 2009 when it started
Younger audiences stay young while the show is made more for mums now than their kids (gen x and boomer celebrities like peter helliar and lisa wilkinson skewing more to mums and dads)
It’s not the young kids that read those clickbait headlines, it’s middle aged mums
If they want to appeal to the young crowd, they’re losing it.
I still think signing Lisa was one of the worst decisions they ever made. Much preferred Gorgi Coghlan and the old Friday crew with Meshel Laurie etc was good fun.
Agree. Lisa’s agenda is so obvious it has ruined the show. She is still bagging the former government at every opportunity. Most of Australia have moved on Lisa. (Lisa that election party at your place must have been quite a celebration) She clearly chooses the news stories she wants to read and be associated with. The others at least will push a certain view in an interview but will ask one question from the opposing viewpoint. How can they justify Lisa’s cost with such low ratings. She has not been the saviour the show had wished
Yes agree. Too many roving hosts. Just have two core teams to cover the 6 days a week. And those new graphics. Yuk! It’s a shame. Used to be a real innovative show.
In business they say to go woke is to go broke… I feel The Project is very much in that same vein.
Name an example of “going woke” made something “go broke”
Just one.
Or is it something easy for knuckle dragging conservatives to remember saying because it rhymes?
Good on you Woody. Amazing because they are right wing they think they are to the left. Yet so many to the left complain it’s going to the right. That’s how you know it’s balanced because both sides complain.
It’s main problem is it’s too long so they fill a lot of time time talking crap and going off topic. Trim it to 30mins and bring in some new unbiased hosts
This is head in the sand kind of thinking. The Project won’t see a ratings boost unless it takes serious the perception by many that the show is unbalanced.
I was once a regular viewer, tuned in again recently during the federal election campaign and switched off.
I’m intrigued by the purse strings at 10. I understand Studio 10 has infomercials to help with costs, but how is a 30K audience cost-effective?!
Similarly, what ratings justify the costs of The Project? With the decline in the 10 News audience, they don’t have much of a lead-in at all.
I no longer watch The Project due to the ridiculous revolving door of the panel – I recall Michael Pell once speaking of the significance for viewers knowing who to expect when they turn on. It’s a lucky dip each night on The Project and it appears many like me prefer consistency with the panel and have switched off.
This is my beef too. It use to be good when Gorgi was the only fill in. Now they have all these different ones and I have know idea who they are and they keep on changing. I still watch but its not essential anymore.
The cold hard reality is that the presenters of the show don’t preach what they say. Lisa is the best example of this, she continued harassing a former PM of his involvement in sexual harassment of women in parliament ( which I totally condone) yet the same could not be said when it involved the other side of politics . (Mean girls ) . Another example came with the coverage of the massacre of Muslims in NZ( which again I condone ) compared to the coverage of the Christian massacre in Sri Lanka about a couple weeks apart. Both acts were Terri, but to focus on one more than the other , really reflects on where the Projects thoughts lie. They can say all they want. Actions speak louder than words. People do watch and remember, hence the ratings.
I recall there was a whole week of coverage and reporting for the NZ attack on The Project but only a brief mention about the Sri Lanka attack. Different religions were involved separately. Both were deplorable and unacceptable incidents though the reporting was imbalanced. I do remember too. That’s where the reporting becomes unstuck when similar incidents or incidents with similar gravitas or brevity occur and the reporting is incongruent. It didn’t fit into their political narrative.
It very much seems to be the Channel 10 way of woke tv. Studio 10 is another program gone too woke and that reflects in the ratings as does the Project. It seems denial is the best fix at the present for 10!
I stopped watching The Project years ago. Waleed is full of himself, Carrie is so incredibly shrill and Pete is just not the ‘funny guy’ he thinks he is. And all the guest hosts and panelists are painful to endure. The fact it comes fourth every night in its timeslot out of the five main channels (behind ABC News, Home & Away and ACA) speaks volumes about how unwatchable this show actually is. And it’s hardly a productive tentpole for shows that follow it at 7.30
They don’t look at overall ratings. Their after a target audience
Yeah I wouldn’t look at the overall ratings either if I were 10.
I thought I read an article from The Project regarding its decline in ratings and how the show was justified due to its other media exposure. Hence The Project push for such media articles.
People keep clicking on the articles, however they don’t click through to The Project. Unless they do, and simply replace the viewers who get sick of the show.
The headlines may be selective but there’s no denying The Project no longer has the audience it once did. While the news may be balanced, there’s no denying the interviews and stories swing to the left.
It really doesn’t matter to me what they do as I used to occasionally tolerate it when Charlie P was on but it just got worse after he left so I haven’t watched it in years.
It is very left wing and woke, and we get that shoved down our throat way too much without selecting to be lectured to by watching that rubbish.
I still enjoy Charlie on The Weekly, he manages to have a left leaning without telling me I’m personally responsible for 3000 years of humans being nasty to each other.
Australia’s media landscape has always been right wing – something to do with being run by egomaniacal billionaires.
When your main narrative is skewed, that becomes the “middle,” and so anything toward the centre appears, in this case, left.
It’s ironic that the media organisation that does all those click bait articles trying to push the idea that the show is biased, is itself the most biased and unbalanced media organisation in the country.
I like The Project, but can’t watch it when either Peter Van Onselen or Carrie Bickmore is presenting. At least Carrie is off for a year.
Isn’t Carrie back in in a month or so? I thought she was only going to be away for one school term (so back in July).
Yeah she’s not off for a year. Should be back anytime soon. I must admit I’ve really enjoyed it without her, but I don’t like Chrissie Swan but she’s only on Mondays. There are plenty of presenters I don’t like on there but I don’t turn off just because of that. Never missed an episode since it’s started, so to me I’m the most qualified to tell everyone on here that you are all ‘full of it’ and that it is fair and balanced, annoying, and some shows, hosts, segments and interviews better than others. But I never miss it because you never know what you are going to get.
The Project being clickbait-y isn’t anything to be flattered about. It’s a response to division and ire the show and the views of some of the panel on and off-air creates. The press and journalists love it because the outrage results in article clicks. But it’s more to do with notoriety rather than being esteemed.
Sometimes notoriety works in favour like with Abbie Chatfield, Madonna, Kardashians etc. and they might also want to be taken seriously as well, though it might not work for those like The Project that really depend on being taken seriously in journalistic terms, or Harry and Meghan who would probably not like negative attention for public perception.