Craig Allen to stop reading ABC Canberra weekend TV news bulletin after 20 years

But, now, Craig Allen has announced he is stepping away from the news desk, saying he will no longer be presenting the weekend television news.

Allen, who has more than 30 years of experience in the media, as a political advisor and then journalist and presenter with 10 Capital and then ABC Canberra television, made his decision public via Facebook on Tuesday. He had taken a break from newsreading since January but was making the move permanent.

"And now to the news..." he began.

"I've decided that, 20 years after reading my first news bulletin for ABC Canberra, it's time for different challenges.

"Presenting live TV in the ACT (including at 10 Capital from 1996) has been a wonderful, exhilarating (at times terrifying!) ride, and I fell in love with the industry on my first day in the job in 1988.

"But it's time to step out from behind the desk.

"I've absolutely loved the small supportive team around me, who made me look more attractive and sound more intelligent than I could on my own. Much has changed at the ABC over the last 20 years, and those teams have shrunk, making news presenting a much lonelier business these days."

"Over the years I anchored Canberra's first weekend bulletin - premiering on the night of the Canberra firestorm in 2003 - presented a few editions of Stateline/730 ACT, Anzac Day March broadcasts and numerous other bulletins on location.

"The hours weren't always family friendly. My beautiful wife Tamsin shouldered so much of the burden over those decades of my weekend and shift work and I'm grateful for her love & patience allowing me to carry on as long as I did."

Allen fans should, however, not despair.

"I'm not going anywhere!!" he wrote, on Facebook.

"I'm enjoying telling feature stories for ABC TV, radio and online and I'm looking forward to bringing our audience more community stories in coming months and years."

Allen, 52, said he had mixed emotions about leaving the news-reading role.

"Nineteen years is a long while to do that kind of job," he said.

"I think when I started reading the news in 2003, I said, 'I'll give this a couple of years and see how I like it'. I never would have dreamed I'd be still doing it 19 years later."

Allen was the first person to read the weekend TV news for the ABC in Canberra and started on the night of the devastating firestorm of Saturday, January 18, 2003.

"We were actually meant to be going to air a week later and we had all staff on deck for a full dress rehearsal on Saturday, the 18^th of January. And obviously as the news of the day overtook us, we made the decision to go live that night," he said.

"So that was my first night anchoring the weekend news."

Allen said it was a great honour to be the first weekend newsreader and to anchor the only seven-days-a-week local news bulletin for Canberra.

"I never felt it was my job for life or wanted it to be my job for life, really," he said.

"I was the accidental news-reader. If you'd told me when I was in primary school or high school that this would be my career, I would have laughed.

"I was just not that type of kid to step up in front of the assembly and speak. It's been weird the way my career has worked out and I've been so fortunate. Now it's time to be fortunate somewhere else."

Allen revealed to The Canberra Times in 2017 that, despite his presenting style, he had long suffered almost debilitating anxiety and panic attacks. Almost to the extent that he thought about walking away from the news industry, which thrives on live TV.

Allen said then he finally opened up to his local GP and was prescribed anti-depressants, those steps changed his life as he had the ability to go to work and not feel overwhelmed.

Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Allen said his anxiety had not played into his decision to step away from news-reading.

"Those sorts of issues are lifelong and I'm sure anyone who understands how anxiety works, understands it's an ongoing challenge," he said.

"But, look, I'm in a really good place now and I think that's why I have decided to take a step back.

"It's an emotionally exhausting job to do, especially for long periods of time. And newsreaders don't have the luxury of leaving the room or switching off the telly when the news becomes too bleak.

"So, that's sustainable for only so long. But that's not the only reason I wanted a change. Nineteen, 20 years in the job is a long time for anyone in any profession, so you just need to keep challenging yourself in different ways."

The father-of-two enjoys meditative hobbies, from growing orchids to woodturning, and is a frequent visitor to Nepal.

He is a director of REACH for Nepal, a Canberra charity that takes groups to Nepal where they trek through the area and build community projects. He is also a director for Menslink, which helps young men through mentoring, counselling and education.

"I absolutely love my involvement with both those charities," Allen said.

"I always thought news-reading was something of a community service but there are other ways to give back to the community that don't involve putting on make-up and sitting in front of a camera."

Allen, who has two children aged 16 and 14 with wife Tamsin, said being able to get his weekends back this year had been wonderful.

"I've realised what so many families get to experience regularly and also how much I've missed over the last 20 years," he said.

ABC Canberra editor Julie Doyle said nothing would change in the short-term.

"Craig took a break from reading at the start of this year so in the short-term nothing will change," she said.

"We'll continue to use our team of regular readers that have been backfilling the position since January."