Seven News Logo |
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| Division of: | Seven Network |
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| Founded: | 1958 |
| Headquarters: | Martin Place, Sydney, Australia |
| Area served: | Worldwide |
| Broadcast programs: | Sunrise Weekend Sunrise Seven Early News Seven Morning News Seven 4.30 News Today Tonight Sunday Night |
| Parent: | Seven West Media |
| Website: | Seven News website |
Seven News is the television news service of the Seven Network in Australia.
National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins are produced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. The network also produces Seven Local News bulletins for parts of regional Queensland. The news service is retransmitted via a number of regional affiliates, including Prime Television, the Golden West Network, Southern Cross Television and WIN Television in South Australia. It draws upon the resources of BBC, NBC, CNN, APTN and Reuters for select international coverage.
Peter Meakin is the current head of news and current affairs for the Seven Network, and in recent years, Seven News has overtaken Nine News as the most watched television news service in Australia.
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Seven News, previously known as Channel 7 News, Seven Eyewitness News, Seven National News and Seven Nightly News, is one of Australia's longest-running television news services, along with Nine News on the rival Nine Network.
Falling viewers numbers in the mid-1980s, particularly in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, led the network to relaunch both its programming and its news service, which was renamed Seven Nightly News, as part of the network's growing alignment (in terms of branding) with the US network NBC – taking on both the name and well-known theme music (The Mission, composed by John Williams) of NBC's flagship news program, NBC Nightly News. During the worst period of low ratings, Seven Nightly News was forced to move their main bulletin to 6.30pm because Nine News was too strong in the ratings.
Shortly after the 1991 creation of the Seven Network as a company, a national populist current affairs program Real Life was launched, presented by former ABC reporter Stan Grant. It continued until 1995, when it was replaced by state-based editions of the current program Today Tonight, which airs in most markets straight after the 6pm Seven News. Today Tonight has since discontinued separate editions for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane markets, which now receive a single east-coast edition.
The 2003 appointment of former Nine Network news and current affairs chief Peter Meakin[1] has led Seven News to take a noticeably more 'local' feel, which has proved to be a ratings success in larger markets such as Sydney and Melbourne. A greater amount of locally-focused output is now incorporated, such as the 2005 Seven Listens campaign, which involved small, one-person studios at Westfield Shopping Centres for shoppers to discuss issues, in addition to a number of online surveys. Data collected from these surveys contributed to special reports on issues deemed to have been of importance to the public.
Ratings have gradually increased since 2004. Seven News was the top rating news service nationally in both the 2005 and 2006 ratings seasons,[2][3] partly attributed to the success of television game show Deal or No Deal, which provides it with a significant lead-in audience.[4] Between 2007 and 2010, the 6pm edition of Seven News completed a clean sweep as the most watched news bulletin across the five major capital cities.
Seven Early News is a national news bulletin, broadcast live from Seven's Martin Place studios from 5.30am to 6am, presented by Sunrise news presenter Natalie Barr and Sunrise sports presenter Mark Beretta. The main fill-in presenter for the bulletin is Samantha Armytage.
The bulletin began from 14 July 2008, and draws upon overnight news stories from international sources as well as additional weather and financial news. The first bulletin was presented by Simon Reeve.[5]
Sunrise is the network's breakfast program, aired weekdays from 6am to 9am and weekends from 7am to 10am as Weekend Sunrise. The show is broadcast live from Seven's Martin Place studios, and is based on a mix of human interest, showbiz and entertainment alongside half-hourly national news & sport bulletins and weather updates.
The program is presented by Melissa Doyle and David Koch with news presenter Natalie Barr, sport presenter Mark Beretta and weather presenter Grant Denyer. Samantha Armytage and Andrew O'Keefe present Weekend Sunrise with Jessica Rowe as news presenter and Simon Reeve as the sport presenter and James Tobin as weather presenter.
Seven Morning News is a national news bulletin produced from Seven's Martin Place studios and presented by Ann Sanders, who also presents news updates for The Morning Show. The half-hour bulletin airs at 11.30am on weekdays. Prior to 2007, the bulletin aired at 10:30am. Fill in presenters include Mark Ferguson, Talitha Cummins and Rebecca Maddern. John Mangos The bulletin was first broadcast on 29 January 2001 and presented by Garry Wilkinson. Following his departure, Chris Reason took over until 2004 when Chris Bath began presenting the bulletin. Sanders presented the bulletin from 2006, when she swapped roles with Chris Bath (Sanders had originally been the Seven News Sydney weekend presenter from 2004-5, following Ross Symonds's retirement in Occasionally, if the Sydney studio is unavailable, the bulletin may be presented either out of the Melbourne or Brisbane studios by Rebecca Maddern or Sharyn Ghidella respectively. During the tennis season, the bulletin airs in Sydney and Melbourne only, at the earlier time of 10:30am.
Seven 4.30 News is a national news bulletin, broadcast live from Seven's Martin Place studios by Samantha Armytage from Monday to Wednesday, and Mark Ferguson on Thursday and Fridays and sport is presented by Jim Wilson. Weather is presented from Seven's Melbourne studios by David Brown. Fill in presenters include Ann Sanders, Talitha Cummins, Sarah Cumming and Rebecca Maddern (news), Tony Squires, Matt Carmichael, Leith Mulligan and Michael Felgate (sport) and Sarah Cumming (weather).
The bulletin was initially known as Target Iraq and presented by David Johnston. It was aimed primarily at covering news from the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. Initially presented from Sydney, the bulletin was retained following the initial invasion, but moving to Melbourne where Johnston was based at the time. Rebecca Maddern took over from Johnston as presenter following his retirement in late 2005 until production was moved to Seven's Martin Place in mid-2006, to be fronted by Seven's United States Correspondent, Mike Amor. Samantha Armytage replaced Mike Amor when he returned to the United States as Bureau Chief in October 2006.
It was announced on 3 December 2010 that Seven 4.30 News would be extended from 30 to 60 minutes [1]. Sport was also incorporated into the bulletin. Occasionally, the program is presented from Melbourne by Rebecca Maddern or from Brisbane by Sharyn Ghidella respectively if the national news studio at Sydney is unavailable. Seven 4.30 News does not air during the tennis season.
State-based updates are presented throughout the afternoon by reporters or presenters.
Until 2003, a late-night bulletin existed on the Seven Network airing around 10:30pm or 11:30pm. Presenters included Nick McArdle, Natalie Barr, Chris Bath, Garry Wilkinson, Simon Reeve and Anne Fulwood amongst others. The late bulletin was then simply known as Seven News.
A three-minute summary airs at around 10.30pm on weeknights (subject to scheduling). The late bulletin covers major national and international news stories in brief along with a sports story and a national weather summary.
Samantha Armytage presents late news updates on Monday, with Sarah Cumming presenting on Tuesday to Friday. The national late news update is presented from Seven's Martin Place studios. Fill-in presenters include Sophie Hull, Pippa Gardner, Robert Ovadia and Rebecca Maddern.
In 2007 and 2008, Seven Late News was revived in the form of a Friday night bulletin during the AFL season. The half-hour bulletin was introduced in 2007, broadcast at 10:30 p.m. into Sydney and Brisbane. In 2008 the same bulletin was also shown delayed in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth at the later time of 11:30pm (aired later on occasions). The bulletin had a similar format to the other national bulletins produced by Seven News.
As of 2011, the half-hour late bulletin is no longer produced by the network, with 10:30pm updates now presented on Friday nights.
Seven News Sydney is directed by Chris Willis and presented in high-definition from the network's national news studios at Martin Place by Chris Bath on weeknights and Mark Ferguson at weekends. Sports news is presented by Tony Squires (weekdays) and Matt Carmichael (weekends) with weather presented by Sarah Cumming on weekdays.
The flagship bulletin is also simulcast live by Prime Television stations in the Canberra (including Goulburn, Yass and Cooma), Newcastle-Hunter Region, Illawarra-NSW South Coast (Wollongong, Southern Highlands, Nowra, Ulladulla, Batemans Bay, Bega) and Gold Coast (QLD) markets. The program airs at 6:30pm in the Wagga Wagga-Orange-Dubbo, Tamworth-New England and Mid North Coast-Northern Rivers regions following local Prime News bulletins.
At the end of 2003, the dual-presenter format for Seven News Sydney was scrapped. Between 1998 and 2003, the 6pm news was co-presented by Ross Symonds and Ann Sanders (who started presenting the weeknight news in February 1995) - a combination which had long struggled against the then long-time leading 6pm bulletin, National Nine News Sydney. Symonds has since retired, whilst Sanders moved to presenting the weekend bulletin from 2004-5 before being appointed as presenter of the national Morning News in 2006.
Seven News Sydney's attempts to boost ratings began in late 2003 when Ian Ross was appointed as main weeknight presenter. Mark Beretta was the sports presenter until mid-June 2004, when he took up the same position on Sunrise and was replaced by former Network Ten sports presenter Matthew White. The bulletin relocated to new street-level studios located in Martin Place in late-2004, allowing bystanders to watch the news bulletins being broadcast live. A new standard set was built in 2005; this set was in use until February 2011 when the Seven News studio was given an overhaul. After two years of presenting the national morning news, Chris Bath returned to her former role as weekend news presenter in 2006. Ben Damon replaced Nick McArdle at the end of 2006 as weekend sports presenter, only later to be replaced by Johanna Griggs.
Ross presented his final bulletin for Seven News Sydney on Friday 27 November 2009. Bath took over as main weeknight presenter from Monday 30 November 2009 while former Nine News presenter Mark Ferguson took over as weekend presenter on Saturday 28 November 2009.[6] Johanna Griggs resigned as weekend sports presenter in November 2010. Simon Reeve briefly replaced her until Matt Carmichael got the weekend position full-time. At the same time, Sarah Cumming took over the role as weather presenter from Sara Groen who presented her last bulletin on Friday 26 November 2010. Groen still continues to present weather occasionally on the Melbourne bulletin.
Seven's 6pm Sydney bulletin retained its ratings lead until 2011 when the rival Nine News bulletin overtook Seven in the ratings for the first time in seven years, winning 21 weeks compared to Seven's 14 weeks.[7]
News updates for Sydney are presented by Chris Bath (weekdays) and Mark Ferguson (weekends) throughout the afternoon and the early evening, with national updates broadcast during the rest of the evening. Fill in presenters include Mark Ferguson, Chris Reason, Natalie Barr, Samantha Armytage whilst Mark Beretta, Jim Wilson and Simon Reeve occasionally fill in on sport. Talitha Cummins occasionally fills in on weather if Sarah Cumming is absent.
Seven News Melbourne is directed by Steve Carey and presented by Peter Mitchell on weeknights from Seven's Broadcast Centre Melbourne, located adjacent to Etihad Stadium in the Docklands precinct. Weekday sport and weather are presented by Sandy Roberts and David Brown, with Tim Watson presenting on weekends alongside news presenter Jennifer Keyte.
Seven News Melbourne is re-broadcast throughout regional Victoria and New South Wales/South Australia border areas that receive television services from Victoria, through Prime Television, and to viewers in Darwin, Northern Territory through Southern Cross Television (TND-34) nightly at 6pm.[8]
Seven News Melbourne scrapped the dual-presenting format in 2000 when David Johnston and Anne Fulwood (a partnership which only lasted from mid-1999 to late 2000) were replaced by Peter Mitchell. He had previously held the role of the weekend news presenter for over thirteen years. Jennifer Keyte was appointed as weekday news presenter in 1990, becoming Australia's first solo female primetime commercial news presenter. In a network reshuffle in 1996, Jennifer Keyte terminated her employment after the Seven Network attempted to pair her with David Johnston. She returned to Seven Melbourne in August 2003, assuming the role as the weekend news presenter, succeeding Jennifer Adams. Jim Wilson was once the sports presenter until 2004 when he was replaced by Beverley O'Connor. O'Connor in turn was replaced by Sandy Roberts in March 2005; a position he still holds today.
Production of the Melbourne bulletin moved to the Docklands precinct in March 2002. At the time, the background seen during the 6pm bulletin was the offices of the Seven's Docklands studios before an upgrade to the main studio in 2004; and now the standard set which was implemented on 20 June 2005. Beforehand, it was produced at HSV-7's headquarters, located in Dorcas Street, South Melbourne.
After decades of coming in second place to Nine News Melbourne, Seven News Melbourne dead heated in 2007, winning 20 out of 40 ratings weeks. This was subsequently followed by a series of advertisements and promos which have touted Seven News Melbourne as Melbourne's New #1. Despite a poor start to 2008, Seven News Melbourne won 25 out of 40 ratings weeks, officially becoming Melbourne's most watched television news service.
Afternoon news updates for Melbourne are presented by Rebecca Maddern or another reporter, while Peter Mitchell presents weeknight updates. Jennifer Keyte presents all weekend news updates. Rebecca Maddern is also the fill-in presenter for the nightly 6pm bulletin, with Michael Felgate or Leith Mulligan, as the fill-in sports presenters. Sara Groen is the fill in weather presenter if David Brown is away.
Seven News Brisbane is directed by Rob Raschke and presented by Kay McGrath and Rod Young on weeknights from Seven's Brisbane studios, located at Mount Coot-tha. Sport is presented by Pat Welsh and Shane Webcke and weather is presented by John Schluter.
The bulletin is also simulcast in Brisbane on local radio station 96.5 Family FM, to regional Queensland viewers in the Sunshine Coast, Wide Bay-Burnett, Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns television markets via the Seven Queensland network and across central & remote areas of eastern Australia, on Southern Cross Central.
On weekends, Sharyn Ghidella presents the news with Pat Welsh or Shane Webcke on sport and Liz Cantor on weather. Previously, Tracey Challenor presented the weekend news for many years until her resignation in February 2007. Cummins was first appointed to the weekday weather in 2005 after more than a year of the Brisbane bulletin not having a weather presenter; former kids show presenter Tony Johnston had this role in 2003. Cummins was replaced by former Nine weatherman John Schluter in early 2007, meaning she was moved to weekends. She does however, fill in on weekdays if Schluter is away. Ghidella joined Seven News Brisbane in 2007 and occasionally presents on weeknights filling in for Kay McGrath.
In October 2002, Rod Young moved from ABC News in Brisbane to co-anchor with Kay McGrath. She had presented Seven News Brisbane solo for the previous nine months following the retirement of Frank Warrick. Their dual presenter format has proved to be successful. Following a couple of lean years coming second to Nine News Brisbane, Seven News Brisbane regained its ratings lead by 2007, helped by the recruitment of ex-Nine weatherman John Schluter and director of news Rob Raschke. In 2008, Seven News Brisbane was officially the #1 bulletin in Brisbane, winning all 40 ratings weeks.
News updates for Brisbane are presented by Kay McGrath, Rod Young or Sharyn Ghidella throughout the afternoon and the early evening. Sharyn Ghidella, Patrick Condren, Bianca Stone and Jillian Whiting are fill-in news presenters, with Ben Davis, Shane Webcke or Rohan Welsh presenting sport, and Liz Cantor or Angie Asimus presenting the weather.
Seven News Adelaide is directed by Terry Plane and presented by Jane Doyle and John Riddell on weeknights, with Bruce Abernethy (Thursday to Monday) and Chris Dittmar (Tuesday and Wednesday) presenting sport and Melody Horrill as weather presenter. Weekend bulletins are presented by Graeme Goodings.
Seven News Adelaide is also broadcast to the regional areas of South Australia on Southern Cross Television GTS/BKN in the Spencer Gulf region and Broken Hill in New South Wales, and through WIN Television South Australia in the Riverland and Mount Gambier/South East regions of the state.
Previously, Goodings presented on weeknights and John Riddell on weekends, until it was revealed that Goodings had bowel cancer. Both presenters agreed to swap roles in 2004 and had been presenting Seven News Adelaide together since 1989, which had proven a success.
Prior to 27 December 1987, the presenters and crew of Seven News Adelaide produced Ten News Adelaide (then known as Ten Eyewitness News). However, as the television industry was consolidating in Australia, these news services had each become associated by ownership with inter-state news services being broadcast on opposite frequencies; therefore, to simplify network interaction, their respective networks agreed to swap channel assignments and network affiliations in Adelaide. Graeme Goodings and Mike Smithson were some of the local personalities that changed stations.
During the AFL season, Seven News Adelaide does not air at the regular time on Sundays if there is a twilight match involving Port Adelaide or Adelaide, in which case the bulletin is usually delayed until half time and shortened to 10–15 minutes. This bulletin replaces the half-time analysis of the AFL matches broadcast.
News updates for Adelaide are presented by Jane Doyle, John Riddell or Graeme Goodings throughout the afternoon and the early evening. Jessica Adamson and Mike Smithson are frequent fill-in presenters, in addition to Mark Soderstrom, Tim Noonan and Caroline Kelly (fill-in sport and weather presenters).
Seven News Perth is directed by Howard Gretton and presented on weeknights by Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr, with sports presenter Basil Zempilas and weather presenter Natalia Cooper. Emmy Kubainski, Natalia Cooper, Samantha Jolly or Sally Bowrey presents the weekend news with Adrian Barich presenting sport. Seven News Perth is also simulcast on the GWN network to regional and remote areas of Western Australia.
Long standing Seven News Perth presenter Jeff Newman announced his retirement from television on 1 July 2009, and retired from his role on Monday 10 August 2009. He has been replaced by former Nine News Perth weather presenter Natalia Cooper, who began her new role during September.
In 2005, Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr celebrated a twenty year anniversary as a news reading duo. They are one of the longest serving dual news presenter teams in the world and their dual-presenter format of Seven News Perth has been highly successful. Seven News Perth has led in the ratings for decades, well ahead of Nine News Perth by as many as 100,000 viewers.
News updates for Perth are presented by Natalia Cooper, Susannah Carr or Rick Ardon throughout the afternoon and by Susannah Carr or Rick Ardon in the early evening. Yvette Mooney was the weekend news presenter until she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and subsequently left the network in June 2008. Chris Young is the current sport fill-in.
Seven Local News bulletins are broadcast each weeknight with six separate editions for Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Wide Bay, the Sunshine Coast and Rockhampton. They are followed by Seven News Brisbane, in place of Today Tonight.
The bulletins are presented by Rob Brough, with Joanne Desmond co-anchoring the Cairns, Townsville and Rockhampton editions. Nathan Spurling presents sport with Livio Regano presenting weather for all six sub-regions.
In early 2004, Seven Local News was re-introduced in the Townsville and Cairns sub-markets as a result of regulations regarding local content on regional television introduced by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (now the Australian Communications and Media Authority).
The most successful edition of Seven Local News is broadcast on the Sunshine Coast. In early 1998, WIN Television launched a competing service publicly stating that it would beat Seven in the ratings within six months. At the end of the 1998 ratings season, after a new station head had overseen a comprehensive re-vamping of the program and its external promotions, Seven Local News had actually increased its audience share by six ratings points.
Reporters and camera crews are based at newsrooms in each of the six regions with studio presentation for the Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Wide Bay bulletins pre-recorded at studios in Maroochydore. The Sunshine Coast edition of Seven Local News is broadcast live. News editing is undertaken by the local newsrooms, and sent to the main Maroochydore studios for transmission.
On 5 March 2007, Seven Local News bulletins commenced production and broadcasts in a widescreen standard-definition digital format. Seven Local News was the first regional news service in regional Queensland to convert to widescreen.
On 22 November 2010, Seven Local News launched a sixth edition for the Rockhampton/Gladstone and Central Queensland region.
The news service, and in particular its news director Peter Meakin and reporter Adam Walters, came under heavy criticism in 2010 for the decision to air a story on Seven News in Sydney outing then-New South Wales Transport Minister David Campbell as homosexual.[9] Campbell, a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for over two decades, was forced to resign after Meakin chose to air a story by Walters showing Campbell leaving a gay bathhouse.
Seven's decision to run the story was derided by politicians, other media outlets, academics and the public as "not a good moment for the media coverage of Macquarie Street",[10] "old-fashioned"[11] and an act of "pathetic snooping".[12]
| “ | But this was an act of naked homophobia. Well, I’ve got a message for Channel Seven. In Australia, we’ve gone beyond that. Or most of us have. Your action was shameful. | ” |
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—Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby[12] |
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Seven's justification for airing the story was initially that Campbell had misused his Ministerial vehicle,[9] however this allegation was quickly shown to be untrue by other media outlets, as New South Wales Ministers have full private use of their Ministerial vehicles.[11] The justification later put forward by Seven to defend its actions was that it was in the public interest to make the allegations public because of the risk of blackmail. Allegations also emerged that Walters had undertaken the story not for its public interest, but as the result of a grudge: Walters' relationship with Campbell's ministerial colleague Reba Meagher had broken down the previous year.[13] Walters had also lost his job in a strategy unit for the Labor government under former premier Morris Iemma after Iemma was ousted by a group of Ministers, including Campbell.[13]
The Australian Communications and Media Authority instigated an investigation into Seven's conduct in this matter, under the industry's self-regulated code of conduct. It accepted the public interest justification put forward by Seven, that Campbell's actions left him "vulnerable to compromise or blackmail".[14]
In 2011, Seven News obtained footage under freedom of information laws showing Opposition Leader Tony Abbott speaking about the recent death of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan. Seven news edited the clips broadcast that evening taking the comments out of context. After the incident, many media websites labeled the story a "ratings grab" for the network.
The following morning, rival networks, obtained the same footage as Seven News and broadcast another part of the interview not seen on the original report showing military leaders agreeing with Tony saying "It certainly does", backing his claims that his words had been taken out of context. Mr Abbott maintains that he was discussing whether the unit had had sufficient firepower support during the incident. Much support was shown for the Opposition Leader on social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook.
Seven News reporter Mark Riley appeared on Sunrise and many other radio shows defending the claims and the report that aired.[15]
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