Today Tonight: Difference between revisions
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*[http://seven.com.au/todaytonight/ Official ''Today Tonight'' Website] |
*[http://seven.com.au/todaytonight/ Official ''Today Tonight'' Website] |
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*[http://www.todaytonightadelaide.com.au Official ''Today Tonight'' Adelaide Website] |
*[http://www.todaytonightadelaide.com.au Official ''Today Tonight'' Adelaide Website] |
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*[http://idents.tv/blog/?p=355 The Real Story vs The Real Story] Video of ACA and TT coverage of the Wa Wa incident. |
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[[Category:Australian nonfiction television series]] |
[[Category:Australian nonfiction television series]] |
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Revision as of 01:02, 17 October 2006
Today Tonight is an Australian television current affairs and magazine style program, broadcast on the Seven Network. Hosted by Leigh McClusky in South Australia, by Naomi Robson in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland and by Monika Kos in Western Australia, Today Tonight is broadcast every weeknight at 6:30pm in direct competition with A Current Affair on the Nine Network.
Like A Current Affair, Today Tonight is notorious for its sensationalist reporting similar to Inside Edition, and is an example of tabloid television where stories rotate around sensationalised community issues i.e. diet fads, miracle cures, welfare cheats, shonky builders, negligent doctors etc. For this reason the program is constantly under criticism and ridicule, especially by satirical groups such as The Chaser.
History
Today Tonight evolved from Real Life, which was hosted nationwide by Stan Grant from 1991-1994. At the beginning of 1995 it was renamed to Today Tonight, and changed into a format of separate editions in each of the five mainland states (VIC, NSW, QLD, SA and WA), all with their own host. Currently the eastern states (TAS, VIC, NSW and QLD) all share the same edition of Today Tonight hosted by Ms. Robson.
The formation of the East Coast Edition
The first East Coast Edition was broadcast over summer from Monday, December 4 2000, until January 26 2001. In previous years, Melbourne and Sydney had run the same summer edition, but in the summer of 2000/2001, Brisbane was included for the first time. For the first three weeks - until Friday, December 22 2000 - the program came from Melbourne with Fazza, then moved to Sydney with Elise Mooney and Melissa Doyle. The three state based editions returned after summer.
Then in March 2001, Sydney's Today Tonight host, Melissa Doyle, went on maternity leave, and the Melbourne version with Robson was broadcast into Sydney for the first time during the ratings period, the first step towards the East Coast Edition. This was supposed to last only 12 weeks, but Melbourne's version rated just as well in Sydney as the local version (despite the fact that for the first few nights they left "Melbourne's Today Tonight" on the screen behind Robson for all Sydney viewers to see). Doyle returned at the end of 2001 to present the summer edition.
On December 9 2002, Brisbane's Today Tonight host, Michelle Reiken took her maternity leave, and the Melbourne/Sydney version was broadcast there also. In 2003, when the ratings period commenced, Brisbane continued with the Melbourne/Sydney edition instead of reverting to a local program, with the promise from Seven that a local edition would return when Reiken returned from maternity leave. This never happened, and in May 2003, the month Reiken was expected to return, Seven Brisbane officially axed its local version of Today Tonight, and the east-coast edition was born. This was because the Melbourne-based version performed better in the ratings than the local version of the program. To replace the Brisbane version of Today Tonight, Seven did create another show for Brisbane, Local Edition (to compete against the Nine Network's Extra) shown at 5:30 p.m.. The program was short-lived and axed after only several months.
Due to strong ratings, the local editions of the program in South Australia and Western Australia have remained, all year round.
Current status
To this day, Leigh McClusky in Adelaide remains the only presenter to host her program continually from its inception, only taking leave over summer, and to give birth to her son in 2002 (when John Riddell of Seven News filled-in) and to have a daughter in 2006 (Rosanna Mangerelli filled in).
Today Tonight is in direct competition with the Nine Network's A Current Affair with Tracy Grimshaw. Despite being produced and made in Melbourne, the program used to have lower ratings in the city than its competitor which was made in Sydney. However, recently the ratings for Today Tonight overtook those of A Current Affair,Today Tonight now constantly wins the 6.30pm timeslot, across Australia.
During the summer no-ratings period, news reporter Rosanna Mangerelli presentes the Adelaide edition of the program (John Riddell was mainfill in until being promoted to weekday newsreader), whilst Tina Altieri presents in Perth, and the East Coast edition is presented from Sydney by Anna Coren.
Controversies involving Today Tonight
Dole Army hoax
On 4 February 2002, Today Tonight and their main rival A Current Affair both broadcast stories about a so-called "Dole Army" operating from Melbourne's subterranean stormwater drains, and recruting for an organised effort to defraud the Australian government of unemployment benefits. The next day, an anarchist group claimed they had sold both programs a hoax story, and due to lack of research and a desire to vilify the unemployed, both networks had fallen for the elaborate prank.[1]
The "Serial Single Mum"
On July 18, 2004, Today Tonight screened a report by Richardson about "Australia's Serial Single Mum". The report was about a single mother named "Mary-Anne", a private citizen who lives in suburban Sydney. The programme asserted that Mary-Anne "had five children to five different men and pocketed tens of thousands in welfare" from Centrelink.
Media Watch described the exchange between Richardson and Mary-Anne as an "appalling attack", and "Another offensive beat up from Dave 'Sluggo' Richardson".
In Barcelona Tonight
ABC TV's Media Watch program revealed that Today Tonight had fabricated much of a report about disgraced Australian businessman Christopher Skase.
Today Tonight sent producer Chris Adams and reporter David "Sluggo" Richardson, along with a camera crew, to pursue Skase who was claiming that his health prevented him from being tried. Richardson alleged that because the Today Tonight crew's videos showed that Skase was in good health, Skase used his connections to the Mallorcan authorities in order to establish police roadblocks to seize the Today Tonight crew's videotapes. The only support for these claims was a video of Dave Richardson driving past police, exclaiming "Roadblocks! Let's get out of here". Media Watch proved, through examining the broadcast report, that this footage was in fact shot in Barcelona, not on the island of Mallorca. The "police" that Richardson was passing were in fact Spanish urban guards, who use roadblocks to control traffic flow in the centre of the city.[2]
Contempt of court allegations
In 2004, Today Tonight picked up on a story published in Melbourne's Sunday Herald Sun about a boy allegedly "divorcing" his mother. Today Tonight's story was subsequently discussed on Seven's Sunrise program. In 2005, journalists, editors and producers from all three media outlets were taken to the Melbourne Magistrates' Court for breaching the Children and Young Persons Act 1989 for allegedly naming the child in question. Host Naomi Robson was found not guilty of contempt of court, as the magistrate found she did not have editorial control over the story, but producers of the show were fined.[3][4]
Deportation from Indonesia
On 13 September 2006, Naomi Robson and a Today Tonight crew were detained by Indonesian authorities in Papua for working as journalists despite entering the country on tourist visas.[5]
The Seven Network claimed that its team was sent to the region to do a story on Wa-Wa, a young boy who was apparently in danger of being ritually killed by his tribe, the Korowai (according to a 60 Minutes story on the Nine Network some months earlier). Seven also claimed that their rivals at Nine had sabotaged their story and their mission to "rescue" Wa-Wa from his tribe (who are believed to practice cannibalism), by informing the Indonesian authorities of their visa arrangements. Nine refuted Seven's claims and threatened legal action. Seven alleges that a Nine reporter offered about $100,000 to a guide not to help Seven with their story. Seven's director of news and current affairs, Peter Meakin said "There is evidence to support the claims that, in particular, this man Cornelius was offered $100,000 not to rescue the boy." "I think the phrase was 'name your own price'," he said.[6]
References
- ^ Lateline: Group owns up to media hoax, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 5 February 2002.
- ^ Media Watch: Sluggo in Baghdad Tonight, ABC TV, 31 March 2003.
- ^ Burrow, Vanessa: Court fines journalists, The Age, 17 May 2006.
- ^ Media Watch: Journos divorced from the courts, ABC TV, 3 October 2005.
- ^
Hawthorne, Maria (2006-09-13). "Robson detained in Indonesia". News.com.au. Retrieved 2006-09-15.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^
"Robson may return to Papua". The Age. 2006-09-15. Retrieved 2006-09-15.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
External links
- Official Today Tonight Website
- Official Today Tonight Adelaide Website
- The Real Story vs The Real Story Video of ACA and TT coverage of the Wa Wa incident.