First Bite In 24-hour News Feast
The Age
Thursday October 23, 2008
ABC2's News Breakfast is an early bird in the digital era, Larry Schwartz reports.
IT IS mid-morning at ABC Southbank and Virginia Trioli is on her way home. "Bye, Ben," she farewells the lanky executive producer of a new morning news program."See you bright and early," Ben Darcy says."Early," says Trioli, Walkley Award-winning co-host of the weekday breakfast program that will soon cover national news, analysis, debate, finance, sport and weather on the ABC2 digital channel. "I don't know about bright."Production staff on the program, a first step in the ABC's move towards 24-hour news coverage on the channel, have been here since 2am for "real-time pilots".It's been a long day, too, for Trioli, a former Age journalist who has hosted ABC radio programs in Melbourne and Sydney, as well as the Friday edition of Lateline and presented features on Sunday Arts."When the opportunity came my way," she says of her role with the new ABC News Breakfast, "my EP at Lateline, John Bruce, just looked at me very frankly and said, 'Well, of course you say yes to that. You don't ever turn down an opportunity like that'."She is co-hosting the program with veteran political journalist Barrie Cassidy, and on Fridays with Joe O'Brien, who regularly fronts the national Midday Report news bulletin. Others in the team include Canberra correspondent Ben Worsley and sports presenter Paul Kennedy.Trioli says research shows the new ABC2 "brand" is attracting a strong audience, and the broadcaster's reputation for smart and intelligent programs will make it difficult for commercial stations to challenge the initiative.The presenters will cross live to ABC newsrooms around the country and correspondents overseas, with a link to radio studios in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. The morning of our visit, they cut to an interview with Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard by Radio National's Fran Kelly. ABC Breakfast News will broadcast at a time when the commercial TV channels are mostly showing children's or lifestyle programs. "I think it's the best time to be doing it at that time of the day because there's so much news created overnight and particularly overseas," Cassidy says. "That's the ABC's real strength. But we haven't exploited it so much in the past."Executive producer Darcy, 30, heads a production team mostly in their late 20s and early 30s. Several have worked with him at UK Sky News, where he was involved in the relaunch of its Sunrise breakfast program.Darcy says ABC2 has already brought in non-ABC viewers, and it seems to have a younger demographic than ABC1. "That's reflected in the way we are going to be presenting the news," he says. "It's a contemporary, slick look."An award-winning TV reporter and producer, originally from England's Lake District, he was, in his mid-20s, among the youngest journalists to produce the main evening news at ITV Central. Darcy migrated to Australia 18 months ago with his family and was working at the ABC's Adelaide studios when approached for the new program.He says unlike its local counterpart, Sky News in Britain recognises the need for distinctive programs within the 24-hour format."If you watch Sky News Australia at eight o'clock in the morning or eight o'clock at night, it's a very similar program you're watching," Darcy says. "(It) is an open secret that this is the ABC's first step into 24-hour news. What I am trying to make here is the breakfast show of the rolling news channel."He's after a different structure to traditional news programs, where you miss the top stories if you tune in late. ABC News Breakfast will revisit the main stories throughout the morning, "so people won't feel trapped in that cyclical, rolling news pattern".It will be interactive, and viewers will be able to contribute and comment on stories through text, multimedia messaging (MMS) and email. Comments will be displayed on screen."My experience of Sky News has taught me that there is always the mantra that viewers never watch more than a few minutes at a time and then they disappear," says Darcy. The program will try to hold our attention with plenty of live debate, analysis and engaging studio guests.The new program will be streamed live online. "People can go to work and they don't even have to watch; they can just listen," the executive producer says. "If there's news breaking, you'll be able to watch it at the office or at home." Darcy says the show won't seek to patronise home viewers by dumbing-down the later hours. "We're going to keep the same intelligent (approach) all the way through the program," he says.LINKabc.net.au/breakfastABC News Breakfast broadcasts 6am-10am weekdays from Monday, November3 on ABC2.
© 2008 The Age