The Six O’Clock News Is a Tune Out

Some of our easily offended PC types are getting their knickers in a twist over Wendy Petrie’s departure from One News, bringing up the old chestnut of sexism. This is rubbish but it brings up a number of other issues related to news including presenters, presentation, and content. All of these things need looking at in what should be a major review of the components that contribute to making the news hour worthy of a watch. This is relevant to both One News and Newshub.

The 6pm news used to be a must-watch mainly because of the content and the way it was presented. The items were a mix of major local and international news events. There were far more stories of significance than there are today. If you go onto international news sites you realise how poorly served we are by both channels when it comes to adequate coverage of world events. At the domestic level a lot of the local stories shown are only of interest to viewers in the area concerned.

The next issue is the one of presentation as in how the stories are read. It has become the norm that news is read using a more conversational style. What this does is take away an authority that befits major news. If you combine the trivia type of items in the news and the way they are read you are reducing the news hour to something akin to the Woman’s Weekly Over the Teacups column. The range of items currently chosen suggest the powers that be are either trying to please everyone aged eighteen to eighty or are unsure who their core demographic is.

Whether there is one presenter or two is irrelevant to the above issues.

With the change to one presenter should also come a revamp of the news hour as a whole. There should be more emphasis on international news at the expense of more trivial local items. One idea would be to adopt the BBC model where there is a local segment following on from the network component. Although more expensive it would better serve local viewers. While not wishing to reinvent Town and Around, which incidentally was popular, we need a concept whereby we get to see more world events and regions get to see more of their local interest stories.

Another thing which needs stamping out is political reporters who seem to think they are larger than life, giving us their personal views or feelings on the parliamentary stories of the day. The current two little darlings need to be told to control their inflated egos. Toxic Tova on Tuesday night was at her vicious best, spitting more poison than a puff adder. She criticised Judith for doing the rounds of the media at the weekend, which included her show, instead of fronting over the Falloon business. Imagine her production line of words if Judith had not come on her show. This is disgraceful and totally unprofessional behaviour. Her colleague on One News also left a lot to be desired. They need to be told they are no more important than those watching them. Forget the bias and just give the facts. In short, act professionally.

One last thing. It is important to get both sides of a story. Unfortunately today’s media only want to present the side of a story that suits their narrative. President Trump is the perfect example. As a professional journalist, if you’re working on a mainstream news platform, whether you like him or hate him is beside the point. You need to air both positive and negative items to provide balance. I would bet, in the case of Trump, 99 out of 100 items broadcast here are negative.

Viewers deserve better than what they are getting. Many on the BFD tuned out years ago and it is not hard to see why. Better content, more professionally presented, is what is required. With the many options available on the net and elsewhere, One News and Newshub need to realise they are not the only game in town anymore.

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