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7NEWS
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Goodbye Charlie Pickering? The ABC's bold plan to drop popular formats
This week, I attended the Screen Forever conference on the Gold Coast as an invited guest. The three-day conference is hailed as 'one of the largest congregations of screen industry professionals in the Southern Hemisphere and is attended by The Who's Who in Australian screen business'. And it's full of fascinating insights. ABC'S BOLD PROGRAMMING PLAN One revelation that caught my attention on Wednesday during a panel about 'Getting to know the ABC audience' was the discussion about future acquisitions by the national broadcaster. As the industry starts focusing on a digital audience, the ABC is using data obtained through iView to see what is resonating with the online audience as opposed to the traditional broadcast audience. Sunday dramas are watched on iView by 45 per cent of the audience and 25 per cent on broadcast television. Another 25 per cent catch the shows through encores. Compare that to Wednesday night entertainment, which is watched live on the ABC by 45 per cent of viewers, 35 per cent of people watch the encores and just 10 per cent watch through iView. Director of Content Jennifer Collins told the room that as the ABC transitions its audience over to iView, future commissions will be based on what resonates with that audience rather than the traditional broadcast audience. Collins elaborated further, saying topical satire shows don't have a long shelf life on iView so, going forward, they are less likely to be commissioned. The news is not good for fans of The Weekly With Charlie Pickering, which would seemingly not get picked up today, despite its strong ratings. This does not mean that this show, or others like it, are going to be axed in the near future. What we're talking about here are shows that will likely be commissioned in the future. So, if a show like The Weekly was pitched now, it would have less chance of being picked up by the ABC, whereas a show like Hard Quiz, which does not rely on topicality, is more favourable because of its 'long tail' (ie people will watch it for years to come as it is not time specific). While this thinking makes sense, it would be a shame to see the loss of this type of format by the ABC, which has had a lot of success with these formats. I believe the ABC needs to find the balance between 'evergreen' formats and shows like The Weekly that while they might only have a short tail, have a big impact on our culture and our understanding of topical events. But that's a view not shared by managing director Hugh Marks, who I spoke with on Thursday morning at the conference. When I asked him about the change of strategy going forward, he firmly told me he does not agree with it. While he said there always needs to be a balance when it comes to commissions, he did not believe satire shows should be dumped for evergreen content. Marks is relatively new to his role as managing director and I genuinely believe he will be good for the ABC. But it looks like further discussions are needed to get everyone on the same track. TRUMP'S FILM TARIFFS As you can imagine, US President Donald Trump's proposed global film tariffs have been the talk of the Screen Forever conference. A submission by actor John Voight to the President would see a 100 per cent tariff placed on any film shot outside the United States. 'Our film industry has been decimated by other countries,' Trump told reporters at the White House this week (you can see his comments in the video player above). 'I want to help the industry, but they're given financing by other countries. They're given a lot of things, and the industry was decimated. If you look at how little is done in this country now, you think we were the ones, we used to do a hundred not long ago, a hundred percent. Now we do almost like very little.' He has a point that tax incentives overseas and the high cost of production in Hollywood has seen many films move offshore to countries like Canada, the UK and Australia. That's having a flow-on effect leading to smaller business shutting down, including the iconic Prop Warehouse. But I can't figure out how a tariff on films would work – and it seems I'm not alone. When a product like steel is imported into the country, it is a tangible item that a tax (or tariff) can be imposed. But how do you add a tax to films distributed by Hollywood but using services overseas? Even the official proposal gives no insight into how this would work. While it explains the problem and explores the need for incentives, it fails to address how a proposed tariff could be applied. Valerie Creighton from the Canada Media Fund (CMF) told the Screen Forever conference that she was not concerned about the proposal. 'I don't think it's about fear, I think it's a distraction.' Her point being that relying on just the US is not something the production sector should take for granted moving forward. It's something new managing director of the ABC, Hugh Marks, agrees with. 'I think the message for I think this room and this conference is, you know, I think we've set ourselves up where we look to US investment into Australia and it's a bit of a boom-and-bust mentality that we're exposing ourselves to.' 'I think the discussion we need to have a lot more is what is the base of our domestic industry? 'How do we invest in that base? 'How do we build that base so that we're not so subject to the boom and bust of what happens internationally or the implications of people like Donald Trump? 'We need to reflect on the fact that we are always vulnerable to external forces. 'So, if that is the case, building on our domestic industry, investment into the domestic industry, I think is really much more important.' More on what Hugh Marks had to say about the ABC below. The big takeout from everything I've read about these proposed tariffs on the movie industry is that they have very little hope of working. Considering America exports far more films and TV shows than other countries import into the US, any reciprocal tariff imposed by a country would kill Hollywood films by making them too expensive to watch. There's no doubt a problem has been identified about the lack of production in California, but the only way to fix that issue is by tax incentives rather than punishing other countries, because that will only end up punishing the industry Trump is seemingly trying to protect. But that's not a great solution either. Will it all come down to who offers the biggest tax incentive? It's a dangerous game and not a long-term solution. To be honest though, I don't know what the solution is but I'm pretty sure a tariff is not it. HUGH'S ABC As mentioned above, Hugh Marks, former chief of Nine Entertainment, was a guest at the Screen Forever conference this week. He was interviewed by journalist Virginia Trioli in one of the early morning sessions. It was a fascinating insight into how Marks views the ABC and would have calmed those in the audience who feared he would turn the institution into a commercial-type broadcaster. Marks made the case that the ABC needed to invest more into local formats and rely less on international franchises. 'IP generation and creation, like that's a multi-generational benefit. If we are just making shows for margin, if I'm in the production sector, that's great in the time and in the moment, but it doesn't necessarily build an industry. 'So, we must have an industry that's focused on the creation and generation of IP and, and the exploitation of that around the world. On the way the ABC handled the Antoinette Lattouf controversy: 'Obviously it wasn't a great period for anybody and these are things that we need to get right going forward, because things that are a poor reflection on the ABC or the industry in general. 'I think there's things that we need to get right and we need to be better in how we respond and how we manage those sorts of things than, than we, than we were in that instance'. On attacks from News Corp: 'The ABC has been under attack. 'We need to be comfortable to live in that world a bit and not feel like we need to respond to everything. 'Because, ultimately, what I'm trying to do is say to people, what are our goals? Where do we see success? What are the things we want to achieve? Just stay focused on that'. 'I will be out there defending what our people have done because I can tell you my experience is there is a great sense of purpose at the ABC. 'Everyone has a shared view of what they see as success in some ways. There is so much work goes into balance and all the right things that we have to do.' I, for one, approve of Mark's appointment to the role and will watch with interest to see how he shapes the ABC.
7NEWS
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
INSIDE MEDIA: ABC caught making false claim about Pope Francis' death
The ABC has been caught out making false claim about the Pope's death but refuses to apologise. Also in this edition of our column that takes you inside the world of media: Why is a radio station still platforming the guy who's been banned by Nine and Seven (for good reason) AND the changing world of TV production — how technology is changing the game. To see the actual clips mentioned in this article, make sure you watch the video version in the player above. NO APOLOGY FROM THE ABC OVER POPE BLUNDER Australia's newsrooms were sent into a flurry on Monday night as news of the Pope's death dropped moments before the 6pm bulletins on the east coast. With just moments to spare, prepared rundowns were thrown out as presenters broke the news and pre-prepared packages were quickly put to air. While there might have been a few little mistakes, on the whole, each network did a great job, especially when you consider it was a public holiday. Except the ABC, which made a major blunder. At 9.15pm, the ABC aired a repeat of Compass, one which focused the life and legacy of the Pope. A special introduction was added to the start of the program by former host (and host of this special) Geraldine Doogue. The introduction falsely claimed, 'Pope Francis has died due to complications with pneumonia'. In fact, Pope Francis died of a stroke followed by a coma and heart failure. The episode was later recut removing the incorrect information for iView. You can see the introduction by Doogue in the video player above. When asked how the mistake happened the ABC issued this statement to INSIDE MEDIA: 'The Compass repeat special about the life and legacy of the Pope was broadcast with an introduction on Monday night, upon news of his death. 'As more information came to light about the cause of his death, we made an edit to the introduction to update the program for accuracy on ABC iview'. It's a statement that fails to address the question on how this happened. So let me provide an educated insight. There's no doubt the introduction was recorded before the Pope's death and an assumption was made on how he would die, based on recent events. Furthermore, the piece to camera by Doogue appeared to be shot in daylight, judging by the light coming through the window in the background, the ambient light and lack of ceiling lights turned on. That means it had to be shot before the Pope died as news came through just before 6pm — when it's now dark outside. For proof, you can see a screenshot of 7NEWS Melbourne and Sydney from this week at the start of the 6pm news. Notice how dark the live shots are behind the presenters. Now, it's not unusual for obituaries to be shot and produced ahead of time. That's why the 6pm news was able to have so much content about the Pope's death when the news broke — those stories had been done in advance. All TV news services produce obits ahead of time for older celebrities or those with health conditions so that they don't have to scramble when the news comes through. What's different here is the producers of Compass took the risk of actually stating how the Pontiff died. It was a gamble that didn't pay off. But instead of owning up to it, the ABC falsely claimed: 'As more information came to light about the cause of his death, we made an edit to the introduction to update the program for accuracy on ABC iView.' No, it was never stated the Pope died 'due to complications with pneumonia'. That's not an update for accuracy, that is fixing a mistake, lie, assumption… whatever you want to call it. The ABC is never afraid to hold other organisations to account, so it should be honest when it gets something this important wrong. Instead of trying to spin it's way out trouble, simply admit the truth. 'BEAT YOUR EGGS LIKE YOU BEAT YOUR MISSUS' GUY STILL ALLOWED ON RADIO You might remember the story of Ranger Nick (real name Nicholas Small), a guest on the Step Outside with Paul Burt program, who has been banned by Channel 7 and Nine radio for his misogynistic comments. 'Beat the egg like you beat the missus… that's what I do. Tie her to a tree and beat her with fencing wire,' Small remarked to host Paul Burt during a cooking segment which aired on March 23. While the comments have been widely condemned, one radio station continues to feature Ranger Nick (real name Nicholas Small) as a guest, despite claiming to have launched an investigation into the matter. Small is a regular on the Wake Up With Dr Dan show, which airs on Saturday mornings and continues to feature his weekly cooking segments. When INSIDE MEDIA first approached station manager Bradley Clarke about the controversy, he claimed to not be across it and told me the show is externally produced with the station having little control over the content. But INSIDE MEDIA has now learned that Clarke is not only across the content of the show, as he is usually in the studio while it airs, but he is also the cameraman on the Facebook videos promoting the weekly lineup. When this question was put to Clarke he did not respond. Last week, Small was back on the radio and Dr. Dan was happily promoting him, even referencing yours truly in what can only be described as a two-fingered salute for daring to call them out for platforming the misogynistic Ranger Nick. 'If you're listening Rob' Danny Hoyland remarks, 'we say annoying, but never boring and we try to keep it full of life and pumped up and a bit different to anything else that you hear'. That's fine Danny, and I'm certainly not part of the cancel culture, but at the end of the day do you support someone who makes these kind of comments? Every week you continue to feature Ranger Nick you are saying you see no problem with him saying 'Beat the egg like you beat the missus… that's what I do'. As a respected broadcaster, is that the legacy you want to leave behind? TECHNOLOGY CHANGING HOW WE MAKE CONTENT One of the many hats I wear is directing and switching sport for a company called CDR Productions. This past week I was in Sydney switching water polo test matches taking place in Perth. As Australia took on New Zealand, the cameras were fed back to the studio for me to switch between, add graphics and replays and feed out to Kayo for broadcast. It really is amazing to think how all of this is now possible and to most viewers is hard to tell the difference between a full outside broadcast production and this model using a program called Vmix. There are obviously benefits to broadcast, but there are also a lot of costs. Being able to provide multicam coverage with commentary and all the bells and whistles is certainly changing the media landscape. It's also how I stream my weekly internet show McKnight Tonight. As broadcasters look for cheaper ways to make content, I can only assume there must be a hybrid between the two that can allow more content to be produced. The nature of television is evolving and we have to evolve with it. Note: The next edition of Inside Media will come out on Tuesday to cover the latest radio ratings.
The Guardian
16-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Election 2025 live: Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton go head-to-head in second leaders' debate
Welcome to the second leaders' debate Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Emily Wind Good evening and welcome to our live blog for the second leaders' debate as part of the federal election campaign. I'm Emily Wind and I'll be taking you through all the action tonight. The ABC will host tonight's debate between Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton from its new Parramatta site – the first to be held in an ABC studio since 1993. The debate will kick off at 8pm AEST. The ABC will choose the topics and questions, with the event moderated by the Insiders host David Speers. Following a more traditional debate style, the prime minister and opposition leader will each present opening and closing remarks, and be granted equal time to respond to questions. The debate will be broadcast free on ABC TV, iView, ABC Radio and the ABC listen app. And, of course, I'll bring you all the key takeaways right here. For more on tonight's debate – as well as previous and future debates – you can have a read below: Share
