The ABC has abandoned its plans to bring in a national Sunday 7pm news bulletin at the expense of state-by-state coverage.
In a note to staff, ABC managing director David Anderson said, “After listening to audience feedback, it is clear that there are some members of the Australian public who continue to rely on the local Sunday night state bulletin.
“As a result, we will not be proceeding with this current proposal. The ABC intends to proceed with all other proposals and initiatives announced in June.”
This may not be the last update to the original June announcements, that aimed to cut costs and turn the ABC into a digital-first media organisation.
“This will require us to identify more savings for further reinvestment over the course of the Five-Year Plan,” Anderson said.
As well as the now-overturned plan to remove state based 7pm Sunday bulletins, the ABC’s five-year plan included the ousting of up to 120 employees, including journalists, editors, camera operators, and sound operators.
40 positions were announced to be made redundant in the ABC News division – including political editor, Andrew Probyn.
See Also: “Flabbergasted”: ABC political editor Andrew Probyn comments on redundancy amid restructure
The whole standalone Arts team, including the digital arts editor, was cut, as well as the announcement that there would be a reduced number of executives involved in the commissioning and production process with the independent sector.
On the flip side, the announcement saw the introduction of a digital-first 10-minute reintroduction of Stateline, a dedicated Climate, Environment, and Energy reporting team, enhancements to iview, ABC News, and ABC Listen, and new roles established in the digital teams.
At the time, Anderson said “Along with media organisations here and overseas, the ABC is operating in an environment that is subject to inflationary pressures. We also need to increase investment in digital transformation to improve our efficiency and meet the needs of audiences.
“The continued migration of audiences from broadcast services to digital provides an opportunity to ensure the ABC is a trusted, central part of daily media consumption for more Australians.”