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Q+A dodges ABC axe

Despite a year of upheaval, long-running ABC show is confirmed for 2024.

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There has been speculation all year, after low ratings and personnel exits, that Q+A would not be renewed for 2024.

And while ABC News titles were curiously absent from yesterday’s 2024 content showcase, ABC sources have confirmed the show will return in 2024.

That’s despite the show’s timeslot shifts -from Monday to Thursday and back to Monday- host changes, executive producer departure and pointed criticisms from former host Stan Grant.

Q+A is drawing around 220,000 metro viewers, rising to about 325,000 in Total TV. It is still posing important questions to its panel, giving “town hall” access to some decision makers with a range of other voices in the mix.

But it has dispensed with its X (Twitter) feed, of which it was a pioneer in the TV landscape, frequently finding itself the target of abuse, if often by people who haven’t actually watched the show.

In the past week host Patricia Karvelas was also subjected to online abuse following an interview around her personal life and LGBT partner. ABC News Director issued a statement of support, but it isn’t yet clear if she will return to the hosting chair for 2024.

Like it or not Q+A has found itself with a perception problem. After 17 years it really is time to consider if there are other ways for the public broadcaster to engage in debate with its audience and canvas the same important topics from a clean slate.

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12 Responses

  1. Personally I think the ABC should put the show into hiatus
    It has lost its way…it used to be must see TV on Monday nights…

    Go back to a proper desk panel discussion, put a proper news journo as the host or someone more engaging than the ABC hacks they have been using

  2. “Like it or not Q+A has found itself with a perception problem”….
    I guess the biased, leftist, one-sided content, that continues to leak it’s own hardcore viewers, is all just fantasy then…

  3. I also have given up on Q+A. But it’s interesting that a few commenters here are critical because they think it’s too left-leaning, whereas I – and many others – feel that it is actually more the other way. Plenty of LNP and other right-wing politicians who add little or no value – mostly just party talking points. Or so-called “youth activists” who are clearly pushing LNP ideas eg promoting nuclear reactors. I’m not blaming the hosts (mostly) – more the ABC management and producers.

    One thing everybody seems to agree on that it was better, and more balanced, when Tony Janes was hosting.

  4. I’m surprised the ABC is sticking with Q+A, I honestly haven’t watched it much in 2023. Is Patricia Karvalas the right fit as host, after the Stan Grant experiment blew up?
    I wonder if Casey Briggs for example might be a better option? He’s easily the most talented younger person on the ABC currently, in terms of news.

  5. …. “curiously absent”? not curious at all … yesterday was “content”, Q&A is “news” can’t cross the line of demarcation at Ultimo now can you …

  6. The ABC rarely changes it’s News and Current Affairs and the last changes they backed down on after public opposition. So they will just pursue them slowly be stealth. The is no debating in politics anymore and Q+A has done it’s job. The ALP, Green and Teals are fighting for the wealthy voters in the innercity. Q+A has it’s hard core fans but it’s now irrelevant to most Australians as it’s on sided position on The Voice demonstrated. Timeslot and host changes don’t change the audience, and the Coalition stopped bothering to turn up an be ritually abused long ago.

    1. I’m flabbergasted that you could suggest that Q+A was one sided on the voice. they had many panelists on both sides of the debate. The ABC is one of the few places if they have a politician on a discussion then they generally have somebody from the opposing side of politics.

  7. The idea of Q+A is good, and when Tony Jones helmed it, it always made headlines for the right reasons. Since he departed, it’s become a bit like The Project – left leaning and a mouthpiece for activists. Let’s go back to having a desk, an impartial host and an audience/questions with a variety of views.

    1. It was already like that long before Jones departed the show; so much so that I’ve only managed to stomach a handful of episodes over the years because the show was/is so infuriatingly biased, and I wasn’t masochistic enough to bear any more of its inanities.

      In theory, the concept has merit, but the quality of the guests, at least from among the episodes I’d seen, is in drastic need of improvement.

  8. There, in half a sentence, is the issue with much of the criticism of the program.

    “. . . frequently finding itself the target of abuse, if often by people who haven’t actually watched the show.”

    Don’t get me wrong – there are some legitimate criticisms of the show, ways that it could be improved, and problems with the format that could be addressed. But too many people are criticising a show they haven’t seen since before Tony Jones left.

  9. Thanks for this post, David. I am somewhat conflicted when I tune in every week. A loyal viewer since its debut, I see the value and important ingredients it still offers, but it is not a patch on the quality of its earlier seasons. The host as ‘participant’ has really impacted for me the affection I have for the format. And it’s not just PK, or Stan or Viginia, Hamish or Speersy who I prefer as host, even under Tony Jones towards the end of his tenure, the tenor of the host’s role had shifted; making it less about the ‘A’ (both in ‘answers’ and ‘audience’) and more about the ‘Q’ and not coming from the people in the audience but the moderator.

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