Seven News

Seven News

Division of:	Seven Network
Opening Theme:	The Mission by John Williams (Late 1980s-present)
Founded:	1958
Headquarters:	National Administration (Head Office): Pyrmont, New South Wales, Australia National Operations (Broadcast Centre Melbourne): Docklands, Victoria, Australia
Area served:	Worldwide
Broadcast programs:	Sunrise Weekend Sunrise Seven Early News Seven Morning News Seven Afternoon News Today Tonight Sunday Night
Parent:	Seven West Media, Osborne Park, Western Australia, Australia
Website:	Seven News website

Seven News is the television news service of the Seven Network in Australia.

National bulletins are presented from Seven's high definition national studios in Martin Place, Sydney - ATN or in Docklands, Melbourne - HSV (when required). While flagship 6 pm bulletins are produced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth city based studios. The network's head office is located at Jones Bay in the Sydney suburb of Pyrmont and its national play-out (transmission) facilities are located in the Melbourne inner-city suburb of Docklands at Broadcast Centre Melbourne.

The network also produces Seven Local News bulletins for regional Queensland.

The news service is retransmitted via a number of regional affiliates, including Prime Television, the Golden West Network, Southern Cross Television and WIN Television in South Australia. It draws upon the resources of ITN, NBC, MediaWorks New Zealand, CBC, CNN, APTN and Reuters for select international coverage. The network's Director of News and Current Affairs is Craig McPherson.

History

File:Sevenmartinplace.jpg

Since late 2004, most national bulletins and Seven News Sydney have been presented from studios in Martin Place

Seven News broadcast vehicle

Seven News, previously known as Channel 7 News, Seven Eyewitness News, Seven National News and Seven Nightly News from January 1988 to February 2000, is one of Australia's longest-running television news services, along with Nine News on the rival Nine Network.

In 2003, former Nine Network news and current affairs chief Peter Meakin was appointed to Seven News.

Seven News was the top rating news service nationally in both the 2005 and 2006 ratings seasons, partly attributed to the success of television game show Deal or No Deal, which provided the flagship 6pm bulletin with a significant lead-in audience.

In 2007, Seven News beat National Nine News in ratings for the first time in the Melbourne market. During the year, they ranked highest nineteen weeks in a row compared to Nine's thirteen weeks. Previously, in 2006, Seven had ranked on top 16 weeks in while Nine had 24 weeks on top in Melbourne.

During 2008, from weeknight to weeknight, Seven and Nine had similar ratings, often changing the most popular show from night to night. As of 2013, Nine News retains a national lead, although Seven still has a tight grip on the Adelaide and Perth bulletins. In November 2012, Peter Meakin resigned as director of news and current affairs of the Seven Network after nine years in the role, with Rob Raschke named as his successor.

In October 2013, it was announced that the Saturday 6pm bulletins would be extended to one hour, likely as a reaction to Nine News regaining its national lead as of 2013.

On Monday 20 January 2014, the news theme was overhauled with the traditional The Mission piece removed after two decades, however, due to viewer backlash, The Mission was reinstated on Friday 24 January 2014.

In February 2014, it was announced that the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane bulletins would extend to one hour, resulting in Today Tonight being axed in those markets. The Adelaide and Perth bulletins will remain at 30 minutes with Today Tonight being retained in those two markets only.

Bulletins

National Bulletins

Seven Early News

Seven Early News airs at 5:30 am on weekdays and is presented by Natalie Barr, and includes news, business, finance and weather with sport presented by Mark Beretta. It airs from Seven's Martin Place studios and is followed by Sunrise.

The bulletin first aired on 14 July 2008, presented by Simon Reeve, and draws upon overnight news stories from the network's international news resources as well as additional weather forecasts and financial news reports.

Fill in presenters for the bulletin include Rebecca Maddern and Hermione Kitson.

Sunrise & Weekend Sunrise

Main article: Sunrise (TV program)

Sunrise is the network's breakfast program, aired weekdays from 6 am to 9:15am and weekends from 7 am to 10 am as Weekend Sunrise. The show is broadcast live from Seven's Martin Place studios, and is based on a mix of human interest, showbiz and entertainment alongside half-hourly national news & sport bulletins and weather updates.

The program is hosted by David Koch and Samantha Armytage with news presenter Natalie Barr, sport presenter Mark Beretta and weather presenter Edwina Bartholomew. Andrew O'Keefe and Monique Wright host Weekend Sunrise with Talitha Cummins as news presenter, Simon Reeve as sport presenter and James Tobin as weather presenter.

Seven Morning News

Seven Morning News airs at 11.30 am on weekdays and is presented by Ann Sanders from Seven's Martin Place studios with weather presented by David Brown from Seven's national broadcast centre in Melbourne (Monday - Wednesday) and Tony Auden from Seven's Brisbane studios (Thursday & Friday).

Chris Bath previously presented the bulletin from 2004 until 2006. In 2006, Bath and Sanders swapped roles with Bath appointed weekend presenter on Seven News Sydney and Sanders appointed presenter of Seven Morning News. Often the Morning News airs at an earlier time at 10:30 am during the Australian Open Tennis Season. If the Martin Place studios are not available for the bulletin, it would be aired from the Melbourne studios.

Fill in presenters for the bulletin include Hermione Kitson, Robert Ovadia, Sally Bowrey and Sarah Cumming.

Seven Afternoon News

Seven Afternoon News airs at 4:00 pm on weekdays in four separate editions: a national bulletin from Seven's Martin Place studios, two full localised editions from the Melbourne and Brisbane studios, and a partially localised edition for Western Australia.

• The main National bulletin is broadcast from the network's Martin Place studios and is presented by a series of rotating presenters. Sport is presented by Jim Wilson and Weather is presented by Sarah Cumming. This edition can be seen in Sydney, Adelaide, and regional Seven affiliates in New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia.
• The Melbourne edition is broadcast from the network's Docklands studios in Melbourne and is presented by Jacqueline Felgate, with weather presented by meteorologists David Brown (Monday - Wednesday) and Jane Bunn (Thursday & Friday). The local edition simulcasts across Victoria over Prime7 Victoria (including Albury in New South Wales) and Prime7 Mildura. It is considered as the highest rating market for the bulletin.
• The Queensland edition is broadcast from the network's Mount Coot-tha studios in Brisbane and is presented by Kendall Gilding. Giaan Rooney presents sport on Thursday and Fridays, with Tony Auden presenting the weather. Initially launched as a separate 90-minute bulletin in the South East Queensland region (Brisbane and surrounding areas received by BTQ transmitters), it is now simulcast across the state via Seven Queensland but was shortened to 60 minutes due to the premiere of The Chase Australia.
• The Western Australia edition, aired as "Seven's 4.30 News", is presented from Perth by Angela Tsun and began on 2 April 2012. It airs as a cutaway half-hour bulletin at 4:30 pm, following the first half-hour of the national bulletin.

As of late 2014, Traffic Reports (from The Australian Traffic Network) air around 4:45pm, with:

• Sydney: Amelia De Vita (also Sunrise)
• Melbourne: Taryn Elder, Elysia Kelly (casual) or Sarah Duffy (also Sunrise)
• Brisbane: Dave Andrews (also Sunrise).

Melbourne traffic reporter Taryn Elder, reduced to part-time at ATN in November 2015.

The national bulletin was introduced in 2003 as Target Iraq, during extensive coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and presented from Sydney by David Johnston. The program was retained after the initial invasion and moved production to Melbourne and was subsequently renamed the Seven 4.30 News. Johnston retired in September 2005 and succeeded by Rebecca Maddern until production returned to Sydney in July 2006. Former US correspondent Mike Amor took over as anchor and the bulletin was relocated to the Martin Place Sydney studio. Amor was replaced three months later by Samantha Armytage. On 3 December 2010, the bulletin was extended to 60 minutes and began to feature a sports bulletin. However, on 7 May 2012, the bulletin was truncated back to 30 minutes as The Price is Right returned to the 5:00 pm timeslot.

In December 2012 the bulletin was renamed as Seven Afternoon News.

In January 2013, the bulletin returned to an hour due to the axing of The Price Is Right and returned to the Melbourne studio with Rebecca Maddern replacing Samantha Armytage.

However, in August 2013 Maddern was replaced by Melissa Doyle and Matt White and the bulletin expanded to start at 4 pm. The bulletin is still referred to as Seven Afternoon News on air despite all listings being titled Seven News at 4.

In April 2014, Matt White resigned from the Seven Network to join Network Ten. Since then the bulletin has been presented solo by Melissa Doyle.

Fill in presenters for the national bulletin include Hermione Kitson, Angie Asimus, Sally Bowrey & Sarah Cumming (News), Matt Carmichael & Ryan Phelan (Sport) and Angie Asimus & Sally Bowrey (Weather).

In June 2015, the Network announced senior presenter Chris Bath's resignation and that from July Melissa Doyle would take over as Seven News Sydney weekend presenter.

In August 2015 it was announced that separate editions would be produced for the Melbourne and Brisbane markets, with the Sydney, Tasmania and Adelaide markets to retain the national edition.

Seven News Updates

Short localised updates are presented during the afternoons by various state-based reporters and eventually presenters & evenings by the state-based presenters.

Late night updates (from around 10 pm) are presented on weeknights from Sydney's Martin Place ATN-7 (usually weekdays) with Hermione Kitson or Melbourne's Docklands HSV-7 studios (usually weekends) by Rebecca Maddern. The national late night news updates air with the latest national and international headlines, including a national weather forecast for the following day. The updates have a slightly longer duration of around 3 minutes compared to the other normal Seven News updates. They are also broadcast on the Network's multi-channel 7Two at a different time.

When Breaking News occurs, updates known as a 'News Flash' are presented by Mark Ferguson (weekday afternoons) or Hermione Kitson (weekday nights) from Seven's Martin Place studio, or at all other times including weekends by Rebecca Maddern via Seven Melbourne's national broadcast centre.

• If there is an ongoing breaking, major or anticipated news event overnight, Seven News Perth presenters Rick Ardon or Susannah Carr can stay back later (10pm-3am WST), so 12am-5am AEST equivalent viewers in Australia can view these events live. Time differences would otherwise make it near impossible for Sydney or Melbourne presenters, needing to remain in the studios for too long, physically 12 am onwards.

Seven News at 5

Seven News at 5 airs at 5:00 pm every Sunday and is presented by Sally Bowrey, which includes news, sport, finance and weather. It airs from Seven's Martin Place studios.

The bulletin first aired on 1 March 2015 as a 'Special Presentation' until it became permanent on 29 March 2015, presented by Hermione Kitson up until Sunday 17 May 2015. Sally took over from her as she had returned from maternity leave. Fill-in presenters include Angie Asimus, Hermione Kitson or Robert Ovadia.

Seven's affiliate Southern Cross Television in Tasmania airs the bulletin at 5:30 pm right before SCTV's main bulletin at 6pm.

Local Bulletins

Sydney

Seven News Sydney is presented by Mark Ferguson from Sunday to Thursday and Melissa Doyle on Friday & Saturday from the Martin Place studios. Weeknight sport and weather are presented by Jim Wilson and Sarah Cumming, with Ryan Phelan and Sally Bowrey presenting on weekends.

Seven News Sydney's attempts to boost ratings began in late 2003 when Ian Ross was appointed as main weeknight anchor and the news service relocated to new street-level studios in Martin Place in late 2004, allowing bystanders to watch bulletins being broadcast live. After two years of presenting the national morning news, Chris Bath returned to her former role as weekend news presenter in 2006. Ross presented his final bulletin for Seven News Sydney on Friday 27 November 2009. Bath took over as main weeknight presenter from Monday 30 November 2009 while former Nine News presenter Mark Ferguson took over as weekend presenter on Saturday 28 November 2009.

The bulletin retained its ratings lead until 2011 when the rival Nine News bulletin overtook Seven in the ratings for the first time in seven years, winning 21 weeks compared to Seven's 14 weeks.

In January 2014, Mark Ferguson was appointed weeknight presenter, replacing Chris Bath due to poor ratings. Bath became weekend presenter and continued to host Sunday Night until her resignation in July 2015, after which Melissa Doyle took over.

Fill-in presenters include Chris Reason, Robert Ovadia & Natalie Barr (News), Matt Carmichael (Sport) and Angie Asimus & Talitha Cummins (Weather)

Melbourne

A tram in Seven News Melbourne wrap livery outside Melbourne Town Hall.

Seven News Melbourne is directed by Simon Pristel and presented by Peter Mitchell on weeknights and Jennifer Keyte on weekends from Broadcast Centre Melbourne. Sport is presented by Tim Watson on weeknights and Sean Sowerby on weekends. Weather is presented by Jane Bunn on weeknights and David Brown on weekends.

Current weeknight presenter Peter Mitchell held the role of weekend presenter for Seven Nightly News between 1987 and 2000 when he replaced the short-lived presenting duo of David Johnston and Anne Fulwood. Jennifer Keyte was appointed as main weeknight presenter in 1990, becoming Australia's first solo female primetime commercial news presenter. In a network reshuffle in 1996, Keyte terminated her employment after the Seven Network attempted to pair her with David Johnston, who went to present solo for three years. She returned in 2003, assuming the role as weekend presenter, succeeding Jennifer Adams.

Following decades of coming second in television ratings to Nine News Melbourne and Ten News Melbourne, Seven News Melbourne went into a tight contest to win the ratings battle in 2005. Seven News overtook the rival Nine bulletin in the ratings in 2007. This was subsequently followed by a series of advertisements and promos which have touted Seven News Melbourne as Melbourne's New #1 and Nine altering their promotions to simply say Melbourne's Best News - a throwback to the 1980s when National Nine News Melbourne was being beaten in the ratings by ATV-10's Ten Eyewitness News. As of 2012, Seven has lost its ratings lead at 6 pm to 9 pm.

The bulletin is simulcast throughout regional Victoria and New South Wales/South Australia border areas that receive television services from Victoria through Prime7, and to viewers in Darwin, Northern Territory through Southern Cross Television (TND-34).

Fill-in presenters include Rebecca Maddern, Nick Etchells & Jacqueline Felgate (news), Nathan Templeton (Sport).

Brisbane

Seven News Brisbane is directed by Ross Dagan and presented by Sharyn Ghidella and Bill McDonald on weeknights and Kay McGrath and Rod Young on weekends from Seven's Brisbane studios, located at Mount Coot-tha. Sport is presented by Shane Webcke on weeknights and Pat Welsh on weekends. Weather is presented by Tony Auden on weeknights and Paul Burt on weekends.

The bulletin is also simulcast in Brisbane on local radio station 96.5 Family FM, to regional Queensland viewers in the Sunshine Coast, Wide Bay-Burnett, Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns television markets via Seven Queensland and across central & remote areas of eastern Australia, on Southern Cross Central.

Previously, Tracey Challenor presented the weekend news for many years until her resignation in February 2007. Cummins was first appointed to the weekday weather in 2005 after more than a year of the Brisbane bulletin not having a weather presenter; former kids show presenter Tony Johnston had this role in 2003. Cummins was replaced by former Nine weatherman John Schluter in early 2007 and she was moved to weekends. Ghidella joined Seven News in 2007 and replaced Challenor.

In October 2002, Rod Young moved from ABC News in Brisbane to co-anchor with Kay McGrath. She had presented Seven News Brisbane solo for the previous nine months following the retirement of Frank Warrick. Their dual presenter format has proved to be successful. Following a couple of lean years coming second to Nine News Brisbane, Seven News Brisbane regained its ratings lead by 2007, helped by the recruitment of ex-Nine weatherman John Schluter and director of news Rob Raschke. In 2008, Seven News Brisbane was officially the #1 bulletin in Brisbane, winning all 40 ratings weeks.

In January 2013, Sharyn Ghidella and Bill McDonald were appointed Sunday to Thursday presenters with Kay McGrath and Rod Young moving to present on Friday & Saturday. It was also announced that Ghidella will present a local edition of Today Tonight, which was axed in January 2014 in favour of the bulletin's one hour extension.

News updates for Brisbane are presented by Sharyn Ghidella or Bill McDonald throughout the afternoon and the early evening. Patrick Condren, Kay McGrath, Rod Young, Bianca Stone, Katrina Blowers and Jillian Whiting are fill-in news presenters for the bulletin. Rohan Welsh is the fill-in sports presenter and Liz Cantor and Kendall Gilding are the fill-in weather presenters.

Adelaide

Seven News Adelaide is directed by Terry Plane and presented by Jane Doyle and John Riddell on weeknights and Jessica Adamson on weekends with sport presenters Bruce Abernethy (weekdays) & Mark Soderstrom (weekends) and weather presenter Amelia Mulcahy (weeknights). The bulletin is presented from studios located at Hindmarsh.

The Adelaide bulletin is simulcast to the regional areas of South Australia on Southern Cross Television GTS/BKN in the Spencer Gulf region and Broken Hill in New South Wales, and through WIN South Australia in the Riverland and Mount Gambier/South East regions of the state.

From 1989 to 2004 Graeme Goodings presented Seven News Adelaide on weeknights with Doyle until he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Goodings and Riddell, the then weekend news presenter, agreed to swap roles, allowing for Goodings' rehabilitation. Goodings left Seven News Adelaide in December 2014, after 34 years reading Adelaide's news.

Prior to 27 December 1987, the presenters and production crew of Seven News Adelaide produced Ten News Adelaide (then known as Ten Eyewitness News). However, as the television industry was consolidating in Australia, these news services had each become associated by ownership with inter-state news services being broadcast on opposite frequencies; therefore, to simplify network interaction, their respective networks agreed to swap channel assignments and network affiliations in Adelaide.

In December 2007, production of Seven News moved from studios located at Gilberton to a new purpose-built space at Hindmarsh.

During the AFL season, Seven News Adelaide does not air at the regular time on Saturdays or Sundays if there is a twilight match involving Port Adelaide or Adelaide, in which case, a shortened edition is broadcast at half time, replacing analysis of the AFL matches broadcast.

Fill-in presenters include Mike Smithson, Andrea Nicolas and Mark Mooney (news), Wayne Phillips (sport) and Tim Noonan (weather). News updates are regularly presented by reporters or fill-in presenters.

Perth

Seven News Perth is directed by Howard Gretton and presented on weeknights by Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr, with sports presenter Basil Zempilas and weather presenter Angela Tsun. Since the move to the Osborne Park Studios, Blake Johnson and Samantha Jolly present the Saturday news bulletin, while Angela Tsun presents Sunday's bulletin. Adrian Barich presents sport on both Saturday and Sunday. Broadcasting takes place from Seven and West Australian Newspaper studios located at Osborne Park. Seven News Perth is also simulcast on the GWN network to regional and remote areas of Western Australia and Curtin FM 100.1 in the Perth CBD area.

Long standing Seven News Perth presenter Jeff Newman announced his retirement from television on 1 July 2009, and retired from his role on Monday 10 August 2009. He was replaced by former Nine News Perth weather presenter Natalia Cooper, who began her new role during September 2009. Cooper resigned from Seven Perth at the end of 2012 with ex-Nine weather presenter Angela Tsun taking over as her replacement for the 4:30 pm news and 6 pm weather forecasts.

In 2015, Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr celebrated a thirty-year anniversary as a news reading duo. They are one of the longest serving dual news presenter teams in the world and their dual-presenter format of Seven News Perth has been highly successful. Seven News Perth has led in the ratings for decades, well ahead of Nine News Perth by as many as 100,000 viewers.

News updates for Perth are presented by Angela Tsun, Susannah Carr or Rick Ardon throughout the afternoon and by Susannah Carr or Rick Ardon in the early evening. Yvette Mooney was the weekend news presenter until she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and subsequently left the network in June 2008. Before the move to the Osborne Park Studios in Feb 2015, Blake Johnson and Samantha Jolly alternated fortnightly presenting for both Weekend bulletins. Fill-in presenters include Paula Voce, Samantha Jolly (news), Chris Young (sport) and Blake Johnson (weather and 4:30 pm news bulletins).

Regional Queensland

Seven Local News bulletins are broadcast each weeknight at 6pm, in all seven regional areas of Queensland: Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Wide Bay, Toowoomba, the Sunshine Coast, and Rockhampton. They are followed by a shortened 30 minute version of Seven News Brisbane. The bulletins are repeated on a half hour delay on 7Two at 6.30pm.

The bulletins are presented by Rob Brough, with Joanne Desmond co-anchoring the Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton and Toowoomba editions. Nathan Spurling presents sport with Livio Regano presenting weather for all seven sub-regions. During the absence of Rob, Joanne or other available presenter (when she's also not available) will act as the fill-in presenter across all bulletins. Rosanna Natoli is the bulletin's fill-in weather presenter.

In early 2004, Seven Local News was re-introduced in the Townsville and Cairns sub-markets as a result of regulations regarding local content on regional television introduced by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (now the Australian Communications and Media Authority).

The most successful edition of Seven Local News is broadcast on the Sunshine Coast. In early 1998, WIN Television launched a competing service publicly stating that it would beat Seven in the ratings within six months. At the end of the 1998 ratings season, after a new station head (Laurie Patton) had overseen a comprehensive re-vamping of the program and its external promotions, Seven Local News had actually increased its audience share by six ratings points.

Reporters and camera crews are based at newsrooms in each of the six regions with studio presentation for the Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Darling Downs, Rockhampton and Wide Bay bulletins pre-recorded at studios in Maroochydore. The Sunshine Coast edition of Seven Local News is broadcast live. News editing is undertaken by the local newsrooms, and sent to the main Maroochydore studios for transmission.

On 5 March 2007, Seven Local News bulletins commenced production and broadcasts in a widescreen standard-definition digital format. Seven Local News was the first regional news service in regional Queensland to convert to widescreen.

On 22 November 2010, Seven Local News launched a sixth edition for the Rockhampton/Gladstone and Central Queensland region.

On 2 November 2015, Seven Local News lanched a seventh edition for the Toowoomba and the Darling Downs region. With the said launch, Seven News becomes the only news service to cover all regional centres of Queensland since the axing of WIN News in the Mackay region in May 2015.

Former Bulletins

Seven Late News

Seven Late News was a late night bulletin broadcast from Seven's Martin Place studios in Sydney and a separate bulletin broadcast and taped at TVW Perth for Perth and Regional Western Australia.

Seven Late News was presented by Chris Bath or Anne Fulwood from December 1995 up to its cancellation in 2003, with Natalie Barr filling in. The bulletin was cancelled in December 2003 due to declining ratings, Chris Bath was moved to Seven Morning News (later Seven News Sydney) and Natalie Barr was moved to Sunrise (and later Seven Early News in addition to Sunrise.

Seven News at 7

Seven News at 7 aired at 7:00 pm on weeknights and was presented by Melissa Doyle from Seven's Martin Place studios, with weather presented by David Brown from the Melbourne studio. The bulletin aired on the Seven Network's secondary channel, 7Two across Australia and it first aired on 5 August 2013 and was first presented by Mark Ferguson, with Doyle taking over a week later.

Western Australia had its own local live version of Seven News at 7, also presented from the Martin Place studio in Sydney by Sally Bowrey with weather presented by Angela from the Perth studio.

On 28 April 2014, the bulletin was removed from the schedule.

Controversy

Outing of David Campbell

The news service, and in particular its news director Peter Meakin and reporter Adam Walters, came under heavy criticism in 2010 for the decision to air a story on then-New South Wales Transport Minister David Campbell as homosexual. Campbell, a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for over two decades, was forced to resign after Meakin chose to air a story by Walters showing Campbell leaving a gay bathhouse. Amidst criticism of the story former NSW Labor Premier Barrie Unsworth condemned Campbell's actions.

"Campbell has been the police minister and he's been on the state crime commission, and he's frequented places where he's easily recognised," Mr Unsworth told The Australian newspaper.

"The threat is not from Channel 7 lurking outside but by the people inside. We've got a criminal milieu in this city and he laid himself open to all sorts of threats and blackmail."

Seven's decision to run the story was derided by other politicians and several rival media outlets as "not a good moment for the media coverage of Macquarie Street", "old-fashioned" and an act of "pathetic snooping".

But this was an act of naked homophobia. Well, I’ve got a message for Channel Seven. In Australia, we’ve gone beyond that. Or most of us have. Your action was shameful.

— Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby

Seven's justification for airing the story was initially that Campbell had misused his Ministerial vehicle, however this allegation was quickly shown to be untrue by other media outlets, as New South Wales Ministers have full private use of their Ministerial vehicles. The justification later put forward by Seven to defend its actions was that it was in the public interest to make the allegations public because of the risk of blackmail. The Australian Communications and Media Authority instigated an investigation into Seven's conduct in this matter, under the industry's self-regulated code of conduct. It accepted the public interest justification put forward by Seven, that Campbell's actions left him "vulnerable to compromise or blackmail".

Tony Abbott "Shit happens"

In 2011, under the freedom of information laws, Seven News obtained footage showing Opposition leader Tony Abbott speaking about the recent death of an Australian soldier in Afghanistan. Seven News edited the clips, then broadcast them that evening. After the incident, many media websites labeled the story a "ratings grab" for the network.

The following morning, rival networks, obtained the same footage as Seven News and broadcast another part of the interview not seen on the original report showing military leaders agreeing with Tony saying "It certainly does", backing his claims that his words had been taken out of context. Mr Abbott maintains that he was discussing whether the unit had had sufficient firepower support during the incident. Seven News reporter Mark Riley appeared on Sunrise and many other radio shows defending the claims and the report that aired.

See also

• Journalism in Australia

External links

• Seven News website