Reporting Australian Television News: Professional Practice in the Analogue-to-Digital Transition

Abstract

In the 50 years of Australian television, the one constant in the nightly schedule has been the news. The story of television news is usually told from the perspective of the news consumer. Even when the set of professional practices that produce news is analysed, the frame used is usually that from in front of the box rather than behind the camera and microphone. The result is that the process of reporting and the way it has changed over time has been given less attention than it deserves. Now, as the medium continues the transition from analogue to digital, Australian television news reporting is undergoing a series of shifts — in its methods of delivery and the tasks that reporters perform. These changes affect the nature of journalistic practice, which in turn bears on the product audiences receive.