ABC defends decision not to switch to rolling coverage of tsunami

The ABC has defended its news coverage of the Japanese tsunami disaster, pointing out that ABC News 24 was the most watched digital channel on Friday night –  the first time this has occurred.

ABC News 24 – which carried BBC News 24 for much of that period along with content from Japanese broadcaster NHK – rated an audience share of 3.4% in the 6pm to midnight slot. The same time the previous week saw the network with a 0.3% share.

Within that, ABC News 24’s average audience topped at 162,000 – well ahead of Sky News top audience of the night of 114,000. Previously ABC News 24’s highest prime-time share was 2.3% on February 2.  

However, ABC News 24 was criticised for filling much of its weekend schedule with archive content rather than switching to rolling coverage.

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