Latest news with #QandA
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Long running ABC program Q+A to be axed after 17 years following a painful decline in ratings
Q+A, one of the ABC's flagship current affairs and news programs will not return to air, after taking a break in May. It was scheduled to return in August, but those familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity say it won't return. The ABC is set to announce the decision to discontinue the show later this week. The show has come under fire over the last few years, after churning through different hosts following the departure of Tony Jones, who left in 2019. Q+A has seen several changes in its hosting lineup, first with Hamish Macdonald, David Speers, Virginia Trioli, Stan Grant and most recently Patricia Karvelas taking over as host. The number of episodes was also cut by ABC staff in 2024, going from 40 episodes a year to just 24. Q+A also was shifted from its usual slot of Monday night, to Thursday night, a move that was eventually reversed by the ABC. The show also has seen its ratings collapse in the last 5 years. From a peak 600,000 viewers in 2020, the Q+A crashed to a record low of just above 200,000 viewers across the five major capital cities in April 2021. In August 2023, during the show's 'Garma Special', Q+A received its lowest ratings ever, with fewer than 84,000 metro viewers. Daily Mail Australia's Political Editor Peter Van Onselen said the program would not be missed if it didn't return to ABC's roster in 2024. In an opinion piece for The Australian, Van Onselen said Q&A - hosted by Patricia Karvelas - had received 203,000 views nationally. 'With numbers this woeful coupled with how out of touch with mainstream Australia the program has become, it really needs to be put out of its misery,' he wrote. 'There have been enough failed reboots to justify finally axing it.' The commentator said cracks started to appear after Tony Jones stopped hosting after a decade in the role from 2008 to 2019. 'It wasn't all that long ago that the program was vibrant and interesting, with discussions well led by former host Tony Jones,' Van Onselen wrote. 'I remember appearing on it at the time. Ratings regularly hit the one million mark, which precipitated the discussion about changing its time slot.' Van Onselen lashed the show for not being informative enough and hosting discussions that were 'one-sided, uninteresting and rarely funny'. He claimed it was the ABC's 'stubbornness' that was saving the show from being axed for good but that a replacement would be welcomed.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
ABC rumoured to be ready to axe longstanding TV show Q+A after 17 seasons
Longstanding ABC series Q+A is rumoured to be getting the chop after 500 episodes and 17 seasons. Reports in Nine newspapers said the future of the ABC current affairs panel program had been decided with sources saying the ABC had decided 'to pull the plug'. Q+A went on its annual hiatus in May after the federal election and was scheduled to return to its 9.35pm Monday timeslot in August. The show first aired on ABC in May 2008, and follows a similar format to the BBC's Question Time. The show is currently hosted by Patricia Karvelas, who took over the role from Stan Grant in 2023.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
ABC expected to axe Q+A in fresh round of cuts
ABC managing director Hugh Marks is expected to unveil his first tranche of changes at the public broadcaster on Wednesday morning, including a fresh round of redundancies and the axing of Q+A after 18 years. The groundbreaking weekly flagship discussion program was launched in 2007 by executive producer Peter McEvoy and host Tony Jones and was highly influential in its early years. Q+A is expected to be cut, according to a source briefed on the changes who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorised to speak publicly. The ABC did not confirm the changes when contacted for comment. ABC staff were warned of looming cuts on Tuesday by the journalists' union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), which told ABC members of colleagues being called into meetings with managers 'regarding a restructure'. The raft of changes comes just three months after Marks took over in March from David Anderson who was the managing director for six years. Marks signalled earlier that he was reviewing whether the ABC needed to 'do everything' or could 'spend our resources more wisely on doing fewer things better'. While there will be cuts and redundancies there are expected to be new projects including a new unit dedicated to documentaries, something which has been strongly backed by ABC chair Kim Williams. In his first week Marks told staff he wanted ABC journalism, audio and video output to have 'a real and meaningful impact' and acknowledged earlier restructures when he said that 'change is exhausting'. 'We are and can continue to explore new content genres and formats,' Marks said. 'We are and will continue to find ways of connecting with audiences at times and in ways that Australians choose. We have the advantage that in exploring this changed world we can focus solely on serving the Australian audience unimpeded by commercial implications.' The last round of redundancies was announced in June 2023 by Anderson and involved 100 job losses. But the biggest round in recent history was in 2017 when then-managing director Michelle Guthrie reorganised the ABC along genre lines and made some 200 roles redundant. Q+A has been hosted by Patricia Karvelas since July 2023 when Stan Grant stood down. The ABC appointed Grant the full-time host of the weekly flagship discussion program in August 2022, a year after Hamish Macdonald quit and was replaced by rotating hosts. Williams and Marks have been busy making major changes behind the scenes, sources say. Some changes have already been made by Williams, including elevating ABC Radio to the executive team. Williams reversed Anderson's decision to put radio and TV in one content division and moved it into a stand alone division in October. The MEAA said members may be placed into 'redundancy pools or their roles may be made redundant'. 'The mismanagement of our ABC needs to end,' the MEAA said. 'ABC management are simultaneously wasting public money on limousines, and expensive lawyers while cutting staff jobs and pushing all budgetary risk onto low paid, insecure staff who work hard to hold the line on editorial standards.' Hamish Macdonald, who now hosts Mornings on ABC Radio, replaced Jones in 2020 after the original host stepped down after 12 years in the seat.
Sky News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
What if Russia attacked the UK? Submit your questions for team behind The Wargame podcast
What would happen if Russia attacked the UK? Our new podcast The Wargame pits a fictional British government against an imagined Kremlin, taking you to the heart of the crisis. To coincide with the launch we're holding a Q&A with the team behind the podcast - send us your question below.
Sky News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Do Ukrainian raids on Russia really risk WWIII? Yalda Hakim, Michael Clarke and Dominic Waghorn answer your questions
Sky's Yalda Hakim, Michael Clarke and Dominic Waghorn hold a special Q&A from 2pm and go through your pressing questions on the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
