Change is afoot: Under a proposed shift, ABC Goulburn-Murray will lose its Mornings show to a statewide replacement, while ABC Shepparton’s Breakfast show will gain 30 minutes.
The ABC is planning changes to radio programming in regional Victoria which will see the Goulburn-Murray Mornings show replaced with a statewide version of the program — a proposition that has been hotly criticised.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed said the loss of hours of local radio content meant important stories from the Goulburn Valley would never be told.
“When you go to a statewide scenario you lose that (local) flavour, and it’s part of a progressive denigration of regional services,” she said.
Similarly concerned, independent candidate for Nicholls Rob Priestly said regional communities had been “overlooked for too long” and called for stronger mandatory local content provisions to protect local coverage.
“With this decision, opportunities for people in our region to have their voices heard have been further eroded,” Mr Priestly said.
But ABC director of regional and local services Judith Whelan said she was confident the change would increase the amount of quality regional content across the state.
“This is about making sure that regional voices are heard on all ABC platforms,” Ms Whelan said.
Audiences are increasingly moving to digital and on-demand services, according to the ABC.
For the past four years, audiences accessing regional content have more than tripled, while the ABC’s reach on regional social media accounts has quadrupled.
Under the current schedule, regional ABC staff have little time to repurpose radio stories to be published elsewhere, including online, according to Ms Whelan.
She said the proposed changes would enable journalists to share stories widely, allowing ABC coverage to “live on throughout the day”.
The changes will also see ABC Shepparton Breakfast host Matt Dowling extend his show by 30 minutes.
In a statement, the ABC said regional breakfast shows would have more capacity to deliver local news at a time when the audience was greatest, while “a single, better resourced Mornings show will have the ability to cover the bigger regional themes and to increase our coverage of regional arts and culture”.
“We know our audiences want to be able to connect to community through the stories that we create,” Ms Whelan said.
“No jobs will be lost, and we aren’t taking any money out of ABC Goulburn-Murray.
“What we’re doing, and it’s something that all media organisations have had to think about over the past few years, is consider ‘how do we serve all our audiences?’”
Ms Sheed and Mr Priestly both drew comparisons between the proposed changes to ABC coverage and the decline of commercial news stations in Greater Shepparton in recent years.
Both said they would raise their concerns with ABC managing director David Anderson.
Mr Priestly said the ABC wasn’t subject to the same business constraints as commercial operators and “the stories and opinions heard by its Goulburn Valley listeners shouldn’t be allowed to ignore local perspectives”.
“Syndicated broadcasts for an entire state audience just doesn’t cut it,” he said.
“The issues in Gippsland are not the same as those in Shepparton or Echuca.”
But the ABC budget is not infinite — diverting more resources to maintain the same level of Goulburn-Murray-specific airtime while expanding the government-funded broadcaster’s digital offering is not on the cards.
“We can’t just increase the amount of money that we have, we work within a budget,” Ms Whelan said.
“That said, our managing director (David Anderson) has flagged that we intend to put more investment into regional Australia.”
Ms Whelan said the ABC had seen “tremendous growth” in regional Australian coverage for the past four years, following an initial $20 million injection to increase staffing and equipment available to regional stations.
“I would argue we’re telling stories from regional Australia better than we have before,” Ms Whelan said.
On air and online: ABC director of regional and local services Judith Whelan says the proposed changes will ensure Goulburn Valley voices are heard on all platforms. Image supplied.
