Tuesday, April 14, 2015

No News Is (NOT) Good News

The news is back in the news, as Mediaworks dumps its TV3 hour-long news format on Sunday nights, hacking it back to just half an hour from next month.
Shortening it will allow current affairs show 3rd Degree to move from Wednesday (with the new name 3D Investigates), and screen at 6:30pm.
It's part of a review that's also cast a well-publicised cloud over the future of Campbell Live.
Embattled broadcaster John Campbell has now engaged lawyer/former journo Linda Clark to fight his corner, as MediaWorks confirms it's looking for a home-grown soap to replace his current affairs show. A soap??!!! To replace News??!! OMG!!!
This daily froth will be produced by Eyeworks, a company built by Julie Christie...now executive director of MediaWorks! Do I smell a conflict-of-interest here? Well, not quite, given Christie sold out of that side of the biz in 2006, staying on a director until 2013 when she joined MediaWorks. She obviously still has leanings in that regard though…
MediaWorks Chairman Rod McGeoch: "We're going to make our own soap. We've just got to find, through that whole period - 6pm till 8pm - a mix of things that'll improve our performance." Geoch says his commitment to news and current affairs extends only as far as its audience: "We put news on, but only because it rates. And we sell advertising around news. This is what it's all about." The public thinks otherwise, with social media running hot with petitions to save Campbell Live.
Do Christie and McGeoch think we don't WANT news? We surely do NOT want yet more local soaps or reality crap! What have we done to deserve this??
Well, as always, the simple solution is: change the channel. Permanently.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Un-friggin'-believable!!!