Insiders (TV program)

Insiders
Insiders title card
Genre	Politics, analysis
Presented by	Barrie Cassidy
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	11
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC1 ABC News 24 (2010–)
Picture format	576i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original run	15 July 2001 – present
External links
Website

Insiders analyses and discusses Australian politics with the use of a panel of political journalists and columnists and interviews with prominent politicians and commentators. Broadcast on ABC1 on Sunday mornings at 9 am, the show also features many regular commentators from various Australian media outlets and think tanks.

The program is presented by veteran political journalist Barrie Cassidy as part of the ABC's Sunday morning line-up, commencing with Insiders, followed by Inside Business (hosted by Alan Kohler) and then Offsiders, a sports program also hosted by Cassidy.

Format

The format of the program usually starts with Cassidy discussing the political issues of the week, followed by an interview with a current Australian political figure, usually an Australian politician. Each week in the studio, Cassidy discusses current political issues with a panel of three commentators/journalists of varying political perspectives.

The 2007 series included small changes to the format of the show: re-ordering the segments, commencing the program with the political interview, followed by "Your Shout". Paul Kelly's discussion (this segment was discontinued in 2010) was then used as a starting point for the panel discussion. "Talking Pictures" continues to provide a break point within the panel discussions, and the show concludes with its customary sign-off where Cassidy asks the panel members for their "final observation and predictions".

In 2011 the usual program format began with a brief monologue from Cassidy followed by a brief video summary of the major events of the preceding week. Then Cassidy reviews the Sunday papers with the studio panel before moving on to the studio guest. If the guest is present in the studio the interview is introduced by a short video clip relating to the first interview question. The interview usually lasts until mid way through the hour and is followed by a video clip which concentrates on events surrounding a major news topic of the week. This is followed by a studio discussion between Cassidy and his studio guests. Cassidy introduces "Talking Pictures" towards the end of the hour, which is followed by more studio discussion. The show usually winds up with Cassidy introducing amusing or otherwise interesting media clips followed by an observation or prediction from each panel member before Cassidy ends the show with a final media clip or two.

In 2012 the early episodes continued with the 2011 format.

Regular segments

"Your Shout"

The "Your Shout" segment (which was dropped in 2010) gave a member or group of members of the public a chance to air a grievance or present opinions about topical political issues that concerned them, in a short, pre-recorded segment shown during the program. It appears that the program attempted to ensure that the members of the public selected from week to week represented a broad range of political opinion and were spread across different parts in Australia.

"Talking Pictures"

Presented by Mike Bowers, the "Talking Pictures" segment analyses political cartoons and photographs featured in the nation's newspapers from the previous week. Regularly appearing cartoonists include Warren Brown, Bill Leak, Geoff Pryor, Bruce Petty, Alan Moir, Peter Nicholson, Mark Knight, Jon Kudelka, Matt Golding, Paul Batey, Sean Leahy and Fiona Katauskas.

"Poll of Polls"

Presented by Andrew Catsaras, the "Poll of Polls" segment aggregates and reviews political polling from the previous month. This segment commenced in February 2012, appearing during the last week of each month in 2012, moving to the first week of each month in 2013.

Regular commentators and panelists

Former commentators and panelists

External links

• Insiders at the Internet Movie Database