Local federal MP Justine Elliot (Labor) has voiced concerns after NBN News announced a reduction in local TV news quality and service.
Her comments echo other elected officials – the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Gavin Morris, said, “I cannot emphasise enough the importance of local media telling our stories, from our perspective. I’m saddened to hear about the loss of the NBN weekend news bulletin and a shortened Mon to Fri bulletin”.
Mrs Elliot told her social media followers she is “appalled by the decision of the WIN Network (which has just bought NBN News from the Nine Network) to take a wrecking ball to our local NBN News service”.
“From the end of this month, we will be shown Sydney’s Nine News at 6 instead of our long-running local NBN News. NBN News will be shortened to a 30-minute bulletin at 5:30pm – and completely axed on weekends. Local jobs and our community’s access to news will be severely affected.
High ratings
“NBN News is consistently the highest-rating TV program in our region, and has held strong in the digital era. In fact, it regularly has higher ratings than capital city bulletins in Adelaide and Perth. Last year, NBN News actually posted a 14% increase in total viewership – and an increase of 33% among under-40s – as locals turn to trusted sources for real news.
“Hundreds of thousands of us tune in to NBN every night at 6pm. For decades, NBN News has been us.
“We need quality local journalism to tell our stories. Without it, we lose one of our biggest voices. Just look around your social media feed – in an era where social media is full of fake news and AI, real local news is more important than ever.
“I call on the WIN Network to reverse this decision and back our local news”, Mrs Elliot said.
The Newcastle Weekly reported “Journalist and ex-frontman John Church described the WIN Network’s decision to slash the local service as devastating and questioned the logic of reducing one of the region’s most successful TV products. Sports presenter and promotions manager Mike Rabbitt echoed those sentiments, stating NBN had always been much more than a television station”.
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