Despite Channel Nine’s highly-publicised push into regional news, Griffith has once again been left out.
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Media identities and city leaders have voiced their concerns about the lack of TV news coverage for the area, despite an estimated reach of 70,000 people.
After pushing hard for more coverage, Griffith mayor John Dal Broi said WIN had improved a little, but there was still room for more.
“We’re kicking some real goals out here economically, things are really buzzing, but TV coverage is not good enough,” Councillor Dal Broi said.
“News crews come over here from Wagga, I understand it takes two hours to travel each way, but then they want to do a heap of stories in one day – some are a week old and others they try to presuppose what will happen. It’s not only Griffith, we’re a centre for western areas too and they’re entitled to know what’s happening as some of those smaller councils get no recognition at all.”
After last year’s landmark agreement with Southern Cross Austereo, which saw WIN and Nine programming switch stations, Nine announced it would broadcast hour-long regional bulletins into 15 markets, competing directly with Prime and WIN.
For Wagga, it means three nightly news bulletins with local content, in addition to radio and print media. However, Griffith only gets occasional mentions in WIN’s ‘local’ bulletin, which is produced in Wollongong.
Industry veterans, including Jacalyn Cremasco, speculated independent journalists who produce their own video content might help solve the lack of coverage. Others, like Riverina personality Tony Pritchard, have speculated about a move to online news. WaggaWagga.TV is a digital-only news outlet that is slowly growing its market reach.
Professional cameraman Vince Bucello has spent years capturing the sights and sounds of the region, working for the major TV networks as well as regional news stations and advertisers.
“There’s a lot happening here, but people are feeling neglected (by TV news),” Mr Bucello said.
“I think it’s amazing Wagga will have three nightly bulletins, it’d be good to get another one here.”