Friday Flashback: The National
Back in 1985 ABC attempted a national news bulletin hosted by Geraldine Doogue and Richard Morecroft. It lasted less than a year.
- Published by David Knox
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It’s not uncommon in News for broadcasters to reinvent news bulletins by adding, then subtracting, the amount of presenters, then adding back again.
Or to go from local news, to national, only to realise viewers prefer local relevance (especially in a country that has an AFL / NRL divide right down the middle of the Murray River).
This week ABC announced it would move to a national Sunday bulletin, which echoes its national bulletin attempted back in 1985.
The National was hosted by Geraldine Doogue and Richard Morecroft screening 6:30pm with only a token 10-minute ‘window’ at the end of the program to allow Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Darwin to cover their own local news. Queensland (below), South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia presented their own editions but still derived much of their content from the Sydney-based program.
Despite the cost of $25m it only lasted 9 months, amid criticism the bulletin was more focused on lighter content than serious news.
This week ABC announced a new Sunday national bulletin is on the way with Stateline to return as part of an extended 40 min. Friday night bulletin.
The more things change….
Source: TelevisionAU
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- Tagged with ABC News, The National
4 Responses
Nothing to say about the show, but Geraldine Doogue is still the best in the business as far as journalism and interviewing goes.
And now we have a dedicated ABC News channel 24/7. Whoda thought?
A Canadian CBC news broadcast of the same name on SBS in the mornings.
It really does only need one competent person to read the news…
“national” = Sydney.
Epic fail.