The ABC will abolish its eight state-based 7pm Sunday news bulletins and cull 120 jobs as part of sweeping changes designed to transform the public broadcaster from a linear television broadcaster to a digital-first media organisation.
A total of 41 jobs are to go in the news division including journalists, editors, camera and sound operators on 7.30, Australian Story, Four Corners and the investigations team.
A further seven jobs in the old regional and local division have been abolished as teams are moved into either the news or the new content division under a major restructure announced last month. Other cuts include the digital arts editor, the managing editor of arts and the manager of ABC Local Darwin.
The managing director, David Anderson, told staff that by 2028 the ABC will be an “integrated digital operation, and audience engagement will predominantly be through our digital products”.
“This means enhancing our digital products – ABC News, ABC iview and ABC listen. Traditional radio and television broadcasting remains important to us, but we must adapt for the current media environment and the future,” Anderson said.
The local Sunday news bulletins will be replaced with one national 7pm bulletin.
Abolishing the eight state bulletins is expected to “free up our teams to do more news gathering” and “create significant savings”, according to internal documents seen by Guardian Australia.
The ABC’s political editor, Andrew Probyn, is the first high-profile victim of the digital shift, as the ABC no longer believes that a position dedicated to filing for the 7pm news is a priority.
The ABC news director, Justin Stevens, told staff an additional 24 roles in news and current affairs will be created. They will largely be for digital shooters, producers and editors.
“This year the ABC’s digital audience reach is expected to surpass each of our broadcast TV reach and our radio reach for the first time, the largest part of that being ABC News’ digital output,” Stevens said. “And the shift to digital news consumption is accelerating.”
He explained the changes in Canberra’s political coverage as ridding the ABC of “an outdated, top-heavy structure still largely focused on linear television broadcast”.
“There is an opportunity to transform our political coverage to engage new audiences, including younger audiences, who are increasingly seeking their political news from other platforms and outlets, while also continuing to serve our broadcast audiences.”
A digital-first 10-minute version of the old Stateline program will be added to the Friday news bulletin in each state, extending it to 40 minutes.
The ABC will establish a dedicated climate, environment and energy reporting team “to focus on the issues that are consistently rated as critical for the nation’s future, particularly by younger Australians”.
There are plans to “enhance” the ABC News, ABC iview and ABC Listen platforms and to promote their use.
Anderson said the job cuts are designed to fund the transition to fully integrated digital services. “Over the last few months we have worked to identify different ways we can manage our budget to achieve this outcome and develop a reinvestment plan that will support this transition,” he said.
“I want to acknowledge how patient you have all been while this planning process has taken place. The changes we are working through are necessary for the ABC’s future, but regardless of this I understand change can be challenging, particularly for those directly affected.”
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance says the ABC’s decision to make its political editor redundant along with dozens of experienced journalists will weaken its journalism.
MEAA’S media director, Cassie Derrick, said there would be less local news if the ABC abolished the state-based bulletins.
“The ABC has been running on empty for the past decade and we are concerned about how it can continue to deliver quality public interest journalism with even fewer staff following these cuts,” Derrick said.
