ABC News slipping in Canberra

National figures for ABC News maybe quite high lately but according to one reports, Canberra’s ABC evening bulletin has more than two-thirds of its viewers in the past three years.

Canberra Times reports it has slumped from an average of 47,000 viewers in 2009 to just over 16,000 last year.

ABC publicists have denied the drop reflects low level of local content and that the ABC in Canberra now had more staff than ever.

”There is no less local content on the Canberra 7pm news than there has ever been,” she said.

”In fact, we have over the past year boosted our evening output with an extra late shift.

”Canberra 7pm news is a capital city news service with the same mix of national, international and local news as other ABC capital city bulletins.

”It’s important to remember that the ABC carries a Canberra news service seven days a week – where the commercial stations do not.”

General manager of media buying firm Grey Canberra, Warren Apps, said, ”Based on all we know about the ACT population, an intelligent and succinct half-hour of local, national and international news should perform very well here, and indeed did for quite some time.

”There’s been no obvious change to the line-up and few other external factors driving the shift, with the exception of WIN’s timeslot change, to 6.30pm, in mid-2010.”

But John Mulhall, ABC News Editor for the ACT, said, “This is a trend we’ve seen over the last few years; a gradual decline, and it’s really come from the increase in digital broadcasting.

“People aren’t deserting the ABC, but in that time slot they’re consuming their news in different ways…for instance ABC News 24, they can [also] get news online throughout the day.”

Source: Canberra Times, ABC