Roberts
Regional TV network WIN’s Victorian news bulletins will now be presented from its Wollongong base as part of a major restructure in its news division.
Ballarat newsreader Bruce Roberts will be relocated some 925kms to Wollongong where he will continue to present the five half-hour news bulletins on weekdays from February next year.
Staff in Ballarat have been informed of the decision and will be consulted during a restructuring process. It is thought that a number of positions within the Ballarat newsroom have been impacted although WIN would not confirm the precise number.
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In a statement, WIN said: “Some roles will be affected by the move and our first priority will be to ensure that anyone in those affected roles has an opportunity to be redeployed.”
The broadcaster’s CEO Andrew Lancaster added: “If WIN is to continue to provide a local voice to regional communities via our 17 daily news bulletins, then we need to find more efficient ways to deliver that news. In this case it means utilising existing facilities.”
Back in May WIN Network announced the closure of two regional newsrooms in Victoria and Queensland, with the network suggesting it was not commercially viable to continue operating them.
The changes come as the regional TV networks continue to lobby the federal government for changes to media laws around the rules on media reach and how many mediums proprietors can own.
WIN, Prime and Southern Cross Austereo want the reach rule and two out of three rule abolished in order to allow them to merge with their metropolitan rivals.
Nic Christensen