SBS World News
 | |
| Division of: | Special Broadcasting Service |
|---|---|
| Founded: | 1980 |
| Headquarters: | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Area served: | Worldwide |
| Formerly called: |
Channel 0-28 News (1980–1985) The World News (1983–2005) World News Australia (2006–2014) |
| Broadcast programs: |
Dateline Insight Living Black The Observer Effect |
| Parent: | Special Broadcasting Service |
| Website: | SBS World News |
SBS World News is the news service of the Special Broadcasting Service. Its flagship nightly bulletin is broadcast at 6.30pm on SBS with additional weeknight 'late' bulletins at 10.30pm on SBS.
History
The World News began as a half-hour bulletin, first seen in 1980, soon after the launch of the then-named Channel 0/28. George Donikian was the service's first presenter; veteran newsreader Mary Kostakidis began reading the weekend news in 1986. The network's long-running investigative documentary series Dateline started in 1984.
Closed captioning for the World News was introduced in March 1997.
In 2002, a digital-only World News Channel was launched, aimed at providing a comprehensive foreign-language news channel, mainly showing additional bulletins already seen in SBS' morning WorldWatch timeslot. No English-language bulletins were shown on the channel until its demise in 2009.
World News Australia was relaunched in its current one-hour format in January 2006, in January 2007 taking over the timeslot of Toyota World Sport and signing CNN correspondent Stan Grant to co-present alongside Mary Kostakidis. The merger between the two programs took place as a result of a claimed drop-off in viewers between programs, when a solid block of advertising would be shown. As a result, the relaunch saw the introduction of commercial breaks during the bulletin.[1]
The new bulletin format has since lost viewers, with the late bulletin often out-rating the flagship 6.30 bulletin; most of this has been attributed to the perceived commercialisation of the bulletin by the SBS Board.
A dispute between longtime presenter Mary Kostakidis and the network arose in August 2007, when she walked out of the network in frustration at what she saw as increased commercialisation at the network, and a shift away from the original values of both the news service and the station in general.[2] It was widely speculated that Kostakidis' contract stipulated she would be the network's main news presenter, and maintain editorial control over bulletins, somewhat altered by World News Australia's change in format. Kostakidis took legal action[3] against SBS for breach of contract.
In 2009, World News Channel was replaced with SBS Two and the channel now simulcasts the 6:30pm edition of World News Australia along with SBS, although foreign-language news still dominates its morning and afternoon schedule.
In February 2014, World News Australia was relaunched with new graphics along with a name, SBS World News.
Since the early 1990s, the World News and World News Australia themes have been written by Australian composer Nigel Westlake.[4]
Former presenters of World News Australia include Mary Kostakidis and Stan Grant, who both departed in 2007, Amrita Cheema[5] who resigned in June 2008 and Ben Fajzullin who resigned in 2010. In October 2010, it was announced that Neena Mairata would leave SBS due to cost-cutting measures.
Bulletins
SBS World News
SBS World News, nightly at 6.30pm is Australia's only local news bulletin with its focus on world events. It is presented by Anton Enus and Janice Petersen on weekdays, with sport presented by Craig Foster (Mondays) & Mike Tomalaris (Tuesday to Friday).
Lee Lin Chin presents the bulletin on weekends with sport presented by Craig Foster.
Fill in presenters for the bulletin include: Ricardo Goncalves, Manny Tsigas, Mike Tomalaris and Sarah Abo (News) and Robert Grasso, Mariana Rudan and Lucy Zelic (Sport).
SBS World News Late
SBS World News Late was originally known as World News at Nine (reflecting its original 9:00pm position), then as World News Tonight when it moved to its current time-slot of 9:30pm. It no longer has any branding distinct from the main 6:30pm bulletin. In 2012, the bulletin moved to a later timeslot of 10:30pm. It is currently presented by Ricardo Goncalves and Kathy Novak on alternate weeks.
Fill in presenters for this bulletin include Manny Tsigas, Sarah Abo and Mike Tomalaris.
Previous presenters include Anton Enus, Ben Fajzullin, Neena Mairata and Amrita Cheema.
Former Bulletins
World News Australia Online
Until its end in August 2006, the specially produced online news bulletins were presented by Ashleigh Nghiem. The online bulletins have since been replaced by stand-alone reports.
Radio
SBS radio news bulletins are broadcast throughout the day - including the flagship national bulletins, but also feature more national and international news stories.
National bulletins
The main national bulletins are broadcast on SBS Radio on the hour, 24 hours a day, SBS World News Radio airs weekdays from 6am and 6pm on SBS Radio 1. National bulletins air on SBS Radio broadcasts the foreign-language news bulletins on SBS World News Australia Radio.
References
- ↑ Commercials and Promotions FAQ Accessed 20 May 2007
- ↑ Meade, Amanda (22 August 2007). "Kostakidis in bitter SBS sign-off". The Australian. Retrieved 2007-09-02.
- ↑ "SBS management to meet with Kostakidis". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 22 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-02.
- ↑ "Nigel Westlake's Rimshot Music: Scores for Television". Nigel Westlake. 2005-06-15. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
- ↑ "Amrita Cheema leaving World News Australia". SBS Corporation. Accessed = 2008-06-11