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TEN to centralise News, but keep local bulletins.

Jobs are expected to go from TEN newsrooms as the network creates a central newsdesk for state-based bulletins.

A number of staff at TEN stations around the country have been asked to consider voluntary redundancies today, and rumours are afoot that the majority of them are in TEN Newsrooms including journalists, producers, resources staff, camera and studio operators.

TEN is expected to adopt a centralised news desk to oversee reportage, but has affirmed that local bulletins will remain in each state.

What remains unclear is how many positions will go following the Strategic, Operating and News Review, which commenced in 2011. ABC speculates it involves 40 redundancies in Sydney, 23 in Brisbane, 22 in Melbourne and 13 in Adelaide.

“The review within news is not just about reducing costs,” CEO James Warburton has said. “It’s actually about centralising a news desk, moving journalists to remove the duplication that exists across various markets with things like desk-top editing and graphics, and identifying some savings in the way in which we continue to produce our news service while at the same time ensuring there is the commitment to produce and also read all the news locally.”

TEN is also tipped to appoint a new role of national news editor, reporting to news and current affairs director Anthony Flannery.

Such changes would contrast a big investment in hiring journalists two years ago when TEN announced new local bulletins in each state.

8 Responses

  1. Don’t quite see the logic of paying someone in Los Angeles to comment over some item from the UN in New York that was sent from NY to Sydney by one of the news agencies, with a script that was sent from Sydney to LA.

  2. Why would you centralise The Project in Sydney?No point. Everyone lives in Melbourne, so you’d either have to pay to move them all, or start again with a new panel. And why would you do that?

    We get a lot of so-called national Newsbreaks on the weekend, always from Sydney as it’s generally and obviously Sydney news, even though they rarely say so. It’s like ‘current affair’ show stories where they don’t identify where the story is set – although if it’s dodgy it’s usually Qld.

  3. TEN lost $12M. How much did they blow on that appaling “dancing” thing for Mrs Murdoch?
    NBN3 has shown how a “centralised” news bulletin can have local news windows for different regions – same presenters -seamlessly.
    If the national news model can work at 5am, 10am, 11am, 4:30pm, 10:30pm, why not at 5pm?
    Perhaps it may mean the end of the helicopter traffic reports…..please. And cut way down on those irrelevant “live” crosses to someone on a street somewhere where something apparently happened 18 hours ago.

  4. jonasboi – It’s an interesting idea, though I’m not sure there’s an example of that kind of format being utilised successfully in another major market (say the US, or UK). If it was anything approaching a rolling news / magazine format you’d have to think that ABC News 24 and Sky News (and talkback radio, too) kind of have that covered already.
    As for having a full local (i.e. state-based) news bulletin at 6.30pm – again, I personally like the idea (6pm is a bit early for many city-based commuters and families with young kids) but i believe TEN tried precisely that within the last year or so… it didn’t work, although I still wonder if they should’ve given it longer to really try and carve-out an audience.

  5. It surprises me that none of the networks haven’t tried to adapt the sunrise/today/breakfast style program into the late afternoon evening timeslot. It makes a lot of sense to have one major news program, 4 pm to 6:30 pm.

    Considering the news begins at 4 pm and finishes at 7 pm across the 3 major networks.

    during this show they could have live crosses to each state with a wrap up of the days stories and a full local news program at 6:30pm

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