So how many people has the ABC sent to the UK to cover the death and funeral of Elizabeth II? It’s 27, according to the ABC — plus two extra journalists or former journalists who were coincidentally in Europe at the time, who have been roped in to help, including veteran correspondent Phil Williams, who though he retired from the ABC last year can’t seem to stay away from the joint.
ABC News has a team of “around” 12 journalists and nine production staff in the UK, it says.
But ABC Radio has also sent six people — three presenters (we’re told Virginia Trioli and Raf Epstein from ABC Melbourne and Richard Glover, ABC Sydney Drive host) and three production people. Crikey has been told Trioli, Epstein and Glover travelled business class, but the ABC declined to confirm this.
Why ABC Local Radio has its own special representation isn’t clear given the score of journalists and producers who’ve been separately sent. The ABC says the presenters are “filing stories and providing live updates for the entire network, including the 44 local daily breakfast shows”. Why it takes three to do this also isn’t clear — Trioli, who has huge television experience as well, or Epstein, who is a veteran journalist, could surely have managed it themselves.
The ABC was always going to cop criticism for its coverage of the queen’s death — do too little, and conservatives would have belted the national broadcaster yet again, while progressives and people who couldn’t care less about the monarchy would always have been upset with anything more than minimal coverage. The actual number of people who could ever possibly be happy with the level of ABC coverage is likely to be rather small. But 27 people, including three radio presenters?
Maybe Trioli could host a Q+A in London while she’s there. It would be likely to be much better than what we’re being served up back here.
