How Can We Fix The News?…
For something a little different, below is a question posted by Michael about the current state of National Nine News, I thought I would answer it in a separate area as I had a lot to say with how I see things when it comes to watching the news. Please comment down below if you would like to add anything or if you totally disagree with me it would be nice to know what everyone’s viewing habits are. Additionally at the conclusion I have added a bit of an extreme example of what I would like to see as an alternative, but all means do the same thing below it could be interesting to see what people think.
Comment: Michael,
Seeing as which your some one who looks at each and every network fairly. What is your opinion on the News Situation at Nine. Every night as no doubt you are aware they are getting hampered by seven. Now with Wheel being axed and not helping National Nine News at all, what do you think is next for the brand.
The reason I ask is because I am of the opinion it needs a complete overhaul. In my opinion the logo needs to be completely changed. Every single set in Australia should be changed and given a huge up lift, and kept similar to each other. The News music needs to be re-written and composed. The format needs to be restructured and to top it off they need to complete the team with every team in the Country having 2 news readers every night. A sports presenter and a Weather. That would give the edge on Seven in My opinion. To bring the lot together I think one of the smartest promotions needs to be put together to inform viewers of the changes. It possibly needs to be the best promotion ever created by a network for news. Plus a lot of advertising in other forms of media.
I think the key for National Nine News is to have consistency around Australia. Therefore draw viewers back from seven.
I would really like to hear your opinion. Because being someone who loves channel Nine and will always love channel Nine I can’t really make a fair judgement.
Michael you raise some very good points and I tend to agree with all of them except for one which I’ll get to in a minute. First of all I want to say that I’m a National Nine News viewer when it comes to choosing which service to watch, however it is not because of its presentation its more out of loyalty because that is what I’ve grown up with.
There is no doubt that National Nine News needs an overhaul not just in it’s on air presentation but also with its general brand recognition, and that’s why one of the points you raised about promotion will be important.
First of all the lead-in program, no matter what people say in my honest opinion this is critical for gaining at least half of the audience share, this is because a lot of people simply don’t care what news they are watching as they see the two services being identical. People who take a keen interest in the media such as myself and others will notice every little last detail and will give an opinion on it, but this is why the lead-in program is important because what people watch at 5:30pm will usually dictate what news they will watch.
Deal or No Deal attracts roughly 900,000 viewers according to OZ-TAM, where as the competition being Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune is roughly getting only 550,000 in comparison. It has been announced that Wheel has been axed and Antiques Roadshow will return to the slot which was performing slightly better before Wheel started.
Already before the 6pm news has started Seven is already ahead in audience share and benefits from the Deal audience. The only genuine thing Nine can do at this point in time is one of two options for the 5:30pm time slot which is firstly, do what they are doing and having Antiques on for the hour as the show has a small cult following. The problem with this is my fear will be that one hour is a bit of overkill and the novelty could wear off fast, especially if they have to repeat episodes.
The second option is a far better one and is worth a try and includes airing the episodes of Temptation which have been recorded in the 5:30pm slot. The format has proven to be popular achieving over 1 million in the 7pm time slot and in regional WIN Television areas the program was already on at that time because A Current Affair airs on WIN at 7pm. Temptation will not be returning to 7pm because Two and a Half Men is performing so well beating Home and Away, and is a far more cheaper option for the network who we have to remember is being run by a private equity firm.
The real issue at hand though is the actual news service and this is where the most work has to be put in because let’s be honest it looks like a sloppy presentation with a mixture of the old and new. The network relaunched its whole on air look at the beginning of the year which looked stunning and far exceeded expectations, but they failed to carry that performance over to the news.
When I watch a news service I want it to feel “authoritive”, strong and have a sense that if I don’t watch then I will be missing out on something important. The introduction to any news bulletin is important because you want the viewer to get chills down their spine and feel like they are apart of it. A simular way to describe it would be when you hear a song and think you really want to dance to it and nothing is going to stop you from doing it (could be a bad example).
If we compare Seven and Nine’s introduction’s, from my lounge chair it feels as though Seven is really “getting into it” with the dramatic music behind the headlines followed by a fly over of the city where it is being broadcasted from. Then what really sets it apart is the wide shot of the news set, in particular the Sydney set which includes the national bulletins, it is that shot from down low looking up at the presenter with the giant “7″ above them, the shot is looking up as if to say they have “authority” and are ready to tell us everything we need to know.
The same can be said with the Melbourne bulletin, instead of the low shot looking up there is a side swoop in, but with the addition of the voice over stating “Live from Melbourne this is Seven News”, because let’s face it I’m from Melbourne and I’ll be the first to admit it Melbournians love to hear the word Melbourne because we are up ourselves and proud of it.
If we now contrast that the Nine, they have what has been nicknamed the “flying blimp” National Nine News logo which flies over still images of the city. The shots of the city look fantastic don’t get me wrong if you’re into computer generated stuff like that, but it’s a little outdated that in this day and age we are still having still shots. The when the shot moves to the presenter it is just a straight shot onto them, and it is that same shot for the whole night without any variety.
A problem Nine has with its news is that there is no national uniformity, and yes there does need to be distinctiveness from each region but if we compare Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane we can see three completely different set-up’s. Sydney and Brisbane have live shots in the background of their respective city, while Melbourne is stuck with a ghastly blue background. Each city has a different style desk, Sydney and Brisbane are simular with Melbourne having a large wooden desk, but also the problem is that those three cities in particular have a desk, a background and that is all, making for very limited use in the way the presentation can work, hence the fixated same shot for the whole bulletin.
A point Michael has raised is the music saying that it should be re-written, perhaps it is time for a new tune however I must say I quite like the “Cool Hand Luke” theme so I’m a little undecided on that one. The main point I disagree with though is to have two presenters to “complete the team”, I don’t think this is necessary especially for a 30 minute bulletin, although two presenters are used in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth I don’t see this concept working in Sydney and Melbourne. The reason for this being that especially in these two markets there is a huge sense of tradition when it comes to newsreaders, Nine Melbourne for instance has only had three weekday newsreaders in its 52 year history so there is a sense that Peter Hitchiner will be reading for at least the next 10 years. It is important when it comes to viewers that you want to attract new ones but not send the loyal ones running.
The last major point you raised was about promotion and I couldn’t agree more with this because promotion has been pretty poor. A couple of years ago Seven Melbourne ran a campaign which involved setting up “listening booths” in Westfield shopping centres where people could go and say what they wanted to see on the news and also had the opportunity to fill out surveys. This was around the same time that Seven’s news ratings were on the rise so this could of well and truly contributed to that rise, but I don’t know if other states done a simular campaign or not.
But what sort of promotion could work for Nine in getting viewers back? Everyone is of course different in their reasons for selecting one station over the other. Another reason can be story selections and order they are placed within the bulletin. Most nights both bulletins are identical but the order of the story can be seen as a way of determining what values the service holds higher. I in fact wrote previously that I would devote one week to looking at story selection and order to see if there was any great difference, which will be coming soon… “Content is Key”…
If Nine is going to do any sort of relaunch in regards to its on air presentation, I think it needs to dramatically change and give the Australian viewing public something different. I think that the content selection is fine a reason why I watch it over Seven but it is not pretty on the eye.
What I find annoying when people criticise something else is that they do not provide an alternative, and because that is what I’ve been doing I will now go through how I would like to see the bulletin change and by all means you may not agree with it.
My Idea
First of all a brand new set needs to be established and I for one am stick of the colour blue, it is everywhere Ten and Nine are both use a lot of blue in their news, even seven uses it so I would like to see a more clean slick set in a white colour. On the left of screen I would like to see a “presentation wall” where the newsreader will stand (yes come out from behind the desk). The newsreader will then stand in front of this projection screen at the start of the bulletin and read the headlines while the footage plays behind them, with of course what even the news theme is playing in the background. Once complete a wide shot of the whole set at a high location looking down with the logo on screen and a voice over saying something along the lines of “From the National Nine News room this is Peter Hitchiner”, while this is being said the newsreader will be seen walking from the projection screen to take his or her position at the news desk to the right of screen.
From this point they will say good evening and read like normal. When it comes to sport the presenter will be standing at the projection screen for something a little different, and this will be the same for the weather segment. On thing that I find disappointing with all news services is the lack of finance information about the activity on the stock exchange, however this could be because of my business background. The 4:30 editions have a longer segment devoted to it but I would like to see more time on the 6pm edition, the rate at which they flick through the numbers you don’t have enough time to read them.
That is just a rough idea of what could be done presentation wise, some may think it’s a little extreme but you cant deny it isn’t different. But the key to a good news service is always going to be with its content delivery, and soon I will have a comparison looking at what content each like to focus on.
UPDATE…
In Melbourne the opening of a new toll road East Link was a big story and Nine had a special presentation for its opening. Nothing has really changed in what resources are used but it just goes to show how something a little different can make the presentation look more superior. Jo Hall is standing up with a live shot of the tunnels behind her and I think it look’s fantastic.
I think even if it was just done for the weekend edition something like this could work, I have made a rough example below, obviously it would be made more to blend with the presentation but it could work well even if they used a different live shot every week to mix things up.
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Tris | Jun 28, 2008 | Reply
The ‘Seven Listens’ was done in WA - remember it down at the local Westfield!
I also totally agree with your points Danny - although a hell of alot of work needs to be done on STW9 Perth (owned by WIN) - its still using parts of the 2006 graphics - it won’t help as most viewers traditionally will watch TVW7 Perth due to many factors - that they always have and for the newsreaders who have been the same since 1985.
Michael | Jun 28, 2008 | Reply
Thank you for the post
I agree with every thing you said.
I did think of something though. When seven began to climb the ratings ladder it introduced a slogan “Make the Switch” And guess what people did.
So possibly Nine could follow in QTQ 9’s footsteps and make “News For You” there slogan.
Any way thanks for the post. It was very informative.
david | Jun 28, 2008 | Reply
mel walden is god nothing needs to change he is the greatest new reader eve. News+mel=godly show
Tom W | Jun 28, 2008 | Reply
I’ve never aligned myself to one networks news service until I got a big high-definition plasma with surround sound last year. Since I’ve become so obsessed with Seven News Melbourne that I’ve forced myself to watch National Nine News for the last week because I was worried I’d become too ignorant! And I had, a bit. I thought Nine News was useless - it’s not, it’s alright - but I still think Seven News is way better. Like you, I think the only reason Nine’s successfully retaining a reasonable Melbourne audience is due to the traditional Melbourne dominance thus loyalty. It’s also interesting to note how corrupted people’s opinions on news services can be when they only watch one - it gives a false impression that is all that exists and nothing else counts etc.
My thoughts are made up of lot of factors, the most determining ones being:
The Theme Music/Intro - Seven’s is much better because it builds up nicely to an inspirational climax - whereas although Nine’s pretty authoritative, but doesn’t build on itself properly. It could be remixed and be great though.
The Colors - Seven’s red and blue is great - Nine’s blue is not. I like the suggestion of white.
The Sets - down here in Melbourne, I look at the beautiful City Skyline behind the presenters head on Seven and switch over and see this ugly blue on Nine and I have no doubt about what I’ll be watching. In Sydney, however, I think the Nine’s backdrop is brilliant. Also, the Nine News desk in Melbourne looks horrible IMO; tacky different shades of wood mangled together - whereas Seven’s is sleek. The whole studio would need a revamp with, like Sydney, a nice city backdrop, an alternative to Seven’s perhaps. The desk should be changed as well. But it’s weird that although I think most would agree Nine Melbourne has the worst set – it is still Nine’s strongest bulletin – often beating Seven Melbourne, whereas Seven is dominant every other city. It’s mostly just holding up due to it’s traditional Melbourne loyalty now.
The Picture Quality - This is perhaps the main determiner for me, and would be more applicable to people with more high-end sets. All of Seven News bulletins are in beautiful, crisp High Definition Widescreen, whereas Nine’s picture quality - of both the news studio and reports - has a lot to be desired. All in Standard Definition, which on a big plasma doesn’t look that great, and a lot of narrow screen report content - which you’ll rarely see on Seven.
The Promotion – I think the promotion is factor is overrated. As with most advertising, people tend to disregard it. Promotions that label the news the best in some way usually don’t work – because people know it’s just too expected and one-sided to believe. But why Seven’s recent ‘Make the switch’ campaign worked was because it was different. Instead of focusing on the news quality, it worked a different way. The psychology of it I cannot explain, but for news promo’s to work they have to be something a bit different than the traditional ‘We’re the best’ or ‘No-one knows news like us’ etc. Both Nine and Seven’s slogans promo slogans are pretty average at the moment.
The Presenters - I do agree that for the 6pm flagships I think 1 authoritative, warm and consistent solo presenter is the way to go in Sydney and Melbourne - not 2 presenters, although some other big cities have become accustomed to that. Seven used 2 presenters in Melbourne earlier this decade and it never really helped their ratings. But I don’t like the idea of having them walk over and sit down – I saw a few YouTube clips of things similar to that in big Aussie bulletins in the late 90’s and I thought it looked tacky. This factor is a very personal one - and my preference mostly seems to be the Seven Presenters. Peter Mitchell I feel is much more authoritative and suitable than Peter Hitchener - who I think reads to quickly, not strongly enough, and isn’t as nice to look at. I don’t like Jo Hall very much - she hardly ever seems to smile and her face looks pale - Jennifer Kyte is good but not great. I much prefer looking at Samantha Armytage on Seven’s 4.30 News than Allison Langdon - and I think Samantha is a brilliant newsreader in almost every way. Seven Melbourne’s fill-in Rebecca Maddern isn’t a great newsreader in my opinion - just too bland. From what I’ve seen I don’t really like Seven Sydney’s Ian Ross - looks too old and not very attractive - Chris Bath is incredible as is Nine Sydney’s Mark Ferguson. Michael Usher has a great name but just like Rebecca Maddern – is too bland. But due to consistency I think for the flagship bulletins they need to find a presenter that works and stick with it – and sometimes this factor is undermined by other ones pulling it down, so the presenter really isn’t everything. Some people don’t even care in fact.
The Reporters - Here I think they are much the same. I’ve become used to Seven’s reporters and most are great - but after just 1 week on Nine I think they have some great ones as well. Alicia Grabowski, Mia Grieves, Margaret Dekker and Norm Beaman are the bomb at Seven Melbourne IMO, with Mark Riley, Damien Smith, Chris Reason, Adrian Brown, Rhani Sadler and Melanie Ruiz being a brilliant national and international team - but one Paul Marshall is unequivocally Seven’s most valuable asset. I would argue Nine Melbourne has an even better state team, with the likes of Carolyn Rondoe, Christine Ahern, Rachael Rollo the drop-dead-gorgeous-pair of Jacquline Freegard and Tom Steinfort. I think the Victorian state political reporters, Seven’s Brendan Donohue and Nine’s Nick Johnston are much the same - both with that signature political voice - both good. Peter Harvey is a great asset of Nine. I don’t like Laurie Oakes - just too displeasing to look at for a TV regular.
In summary I think Nine has a better state team but Seven a better national and international one - but this is the one thing they’re overall about at an equal level. But for the most part I don’t think the average person takes too much care about reporters – much less than the presenters - as long as they deliver the news.
Finally, and most importantly, the Content.
And without an in-depth analysis it’s really hard to speak about. It’s not something that the mind can retain in a clear form and decisively draw differences on. They both have stories that merit being news - both are pretty low on fluff (I think this whole ‘dumbing down of the news’ concept is mostly untrue). Seven has great stories and I think both of the networks regularly have good exclusives – such as Laurie Oak’s revelation of the departmental advice against Fuelwatch the other week. I very much agree about the inadequacies of finance coverage in 6pm bulletins – they should focus on it more.
But in the end it comes down to not just how good each of the factors are, but how well they fit together and create and end product, a brand. Seven, with Peter Meakin at the helm, has hit the spot. They just get it all right. Nine doesn’t. ABC is getting it pretty well – regularly beating Nine now, but the whole tone of their news, not the content, is much less in-your-face, as compared to the commercial networks. It’s very much an overall thing and I think Nine’s proven unsuccessful News Executives need to be replaced and something bold needs to change if they have any chance at getting back to being compelling news force. Changing the set, colors, picture quality, theme and ensuring they have the most suitable lead stories – a lead-in programming delivering big ratings – to create something that all fits together will be the key, I think. But as long as Seven has that, and Nine doesn’t, they really don’t stand a chance.
Tris | Jun 28, 2008 | Reply
Isn’t the only HD News content stuff ex Martin Place?
Tom W | Jun 28, 2008 | Reply
No, all of Seven News Melbourne is in high definition and we get many reports from all over the country in HD so I’m adamant the entire Seven News network is in HD.
Tim | Jun 28, 2008 | Reply
Last I heard they don’t have HD cameras in Melbourne, and I don’t remember hearing that anything at Seven had changed. Which isn’t to say that GTV’s facilities are exactly advanced in comparison.
I think you’re all placing far too much emphasis on presentation and graphics and sets. It’s nice for a bunch of anoraks like us to get excited over that kind of thing but for the normal viewer at the end of the day it makes not a jot of difference.
Nine used to have great success following a formula that placed far more emphasis on actual news both at home and overseas - nowadays the only correspondent who seems to cover any really meaty stories on a regular basis is James Talia in London (and they’re few and far between at times). The LA bureau is little more than a glorified base for entertainment stories, just like their colleagues at Seven.
Now they’ve alienated their old audience by shifting towards ‘lighter’ content while at the same time attempting to emulate Seven’s success by copying them (unsuccessfully, mind).
Tom W | Jun 28, 2008 | Reply
I guess that us, the media crazed, probably have a misguided view on TV News in terms of what general people have, and you’re right about that. Content and the overall package is the key. So we need to keep that in mind.
And I can say with 100% certainty that Seven has HD cameras both in its Melbourne studios for news and for reports. I have been in the studio many times, and have seen it with my own eyes;)
Nicko | Jun 28, 2008 | Reply
In Brisbane, the intro has moving shots with the NNN ‘blimp’ tracked with the video (not perfect, but pretty well done).
And also, I’m against remixes. I think John Williams wouldn’t be happy to see what Channel Seven has done.
As for two anchors - what Nine does with Bruce Paige and Heather Foord is great, they work well together.
What if they put a prime time show before the news…? I mean, it would certainly boost the lead up numbers.
As for advertising the news, how about talking up their fifty year dedication to news - and reinforcing their love for Australia. I mean that is what their whole new branding is about - the Australia locations and only Australian presenters in their ident not to mention their ‘Proudly Australian’ in the bumper. They could definitely use that in their strategy. People love locality.
Just my $0.02
Tim | Jun 29, 2008 | Reply
I thought that the ‘proudly Australian’ text was quite ironic given that the network had just been sold off to a foreign private equity firm.
And I don’t think that people ‘obsessed’ with the media have a misguided view at all, I think they just place a much heavier emphasis on things that everyday people would ignore and that it can mean they overlook the big picture
Tim number 2 | Sep 20, 2008 | Reply
Tom W I totally disagree. Michael Usher is great! He never stops smiling throughout the whole bulletin. But I agree with you about Jo Hall. She is Sooooo bland! All her smiles are fake!