WIN Television maintains it is committed to providing a local news service in Canberra – but not everyone is convinced.
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The Tuggeranong Community Council is the latest to add its voice to the debate, writing to WIN management and accusing it of treating Canberra like ‘‘a country town’’ over its decision to broadcast the local bulletin out of Wollongong.
WIN announced on Friday that its existing Wollongong-based presenters Kerryn Johnston and Amy Duggan will be presenting the Canberra bulletin from Monday.
Johnston will present news and Duggan (nee Taylor), a former Canberran and Matildas soccer player, will present the sport.
Friday night was the end of an era for television news in Canberra, with WIN broadcasting its final bulletin from the national capital.
Journalists and camera operators will continue to work from Canberra for WIN but from Monday the bulletin will be broadcast from Wollongong and read by the Wollongong-based presenters.
WIN has also confirmed the 30-minute bulletin will be broadcast live from Wollongong at 6.30pm.
Danielle Post, who has been the news reader and chief of staff in Canberra for almost three years, presented the final WIN bulletin out of the national capital on Friday night.
She is moving on to work as an assistant chief-of-staff in the Channel Nine Sydney newsroom – and has urged Canberrans to continue supporting the WIN news team in the national capital.
‘‘If we can look through what’s happened, the bottom line is there is still a team here who lives, breathes and loves Canberra and they’ll still be there at the press conferences, and they’ll still be there questioning and they’ll still be giving Canberrans a voice and they’ll still be walking the streets with every single Canberran.’’
Post, 29, said she had no inkling that changes were being made until staff were called to a meeting on Wednesday morning.
‘‘I was shocked, I felt sad and I was also a little bit relieved to know they are not removing the service altogether and that it is still going live.’’
WIN Network CEO Andrew Lancaster announced the new presenters in a statement, saying Johnston had been with the network since 2001 and Duggan since 2005.
Mr Lancaster said both were experienced broadcasters and would be ‘‘spending time’’ in Canberra to work with business and community groups.
He maintained the appointment of Johnston and Duggan ‘‘provided further evidence of WIN’s commitment to the people of Canberra ...
‘‘As the only commercial network producing a local news in Canberra, we are determined to continue providing a genuine half-hour live news bulletin covering the people, places and issues affecting Canberrans,” he said.
“However, in order to do so we must look for ways to innovate and improve efficiencies in order to remain viable in this ever-challenging operating environment.’’
But Tuggeranong Community Council secretary and former WIN journalist Darryl Johnston said the council was concerned the decision was the thin edge of the wedge and feared WIN might eventually close its Canberra newsroom.
He said the decision not to replace the WIN presenters with Canberra-based journalists was ‘‘a slap in the face for Canberra residents’’.