A well-placed source within Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has moved to reassure Mediaweek that recently announced changes to the way the broadcaster delivers news have gone through rigorous checks and balances required under the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) new local content rules.
It comes after SCA brought the razor gang into the news department, just over a week after announcing a merger with Seven West Media (SWM).
Confirming the latest changes, an SCA spokesperson said the company is “evolving the way we gather and prepare news bulletins to better serve audiences across Australia, now and into the future.”
They added that bulletins will continue to be delivered from “provincial and metro hubs” to “strengthen and expand our regional news coverage,” but acknowledged “some roles have been impacted.”
Upon hearing the news, a radio insider reached out to Mediaweek with concerns that with newsroom staff being made redundant, many stations may have to rely on “hubbed” state bulletins with only a few local-sounding stories from Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide.
“If an audit was done, they wouldn’t be genuine local bulletins,” they told Mediaweek. “No way could they be meeting 62.5 minutes like that.”
However, sources inside SCA say that’s “absolutely not the case” and that its obligations and that the changes to the way the broadcaster delivers news have gone through rigorous checks and balances.
Under the Broadcasting Services (Regional Commercial Radio – Material of Local Significance) Licence Condition 2024, every regional licence area must produce at least 62.5 minutes of original local content each week, roughly the output of one full-time journalist.
When the quote was posed to a source privy to the decision making process they were strident in their response, telling Mediaweek the suggestion was “actually factually incorrect” adding that “the amount of bulletins in regional areas will actually increase under the changes”.
No further information regarding the changes have been provided.
Impacted roles
Among those departing is head of broadcast news James Royce, who Mediaweek understands remains “supportive of the company, especially the people.”
Sydney newsroom lead Amy Goggins is expected to step into a new national broadcast role.
The redundancies come as SCA prepares to merge with Seven West Media in a $2 billion deal combining radio, TV and digital assets.
While the merger promises scale and efficiency, SCA’s ability to maintain authentic regional coverage, and comply with ACMA’s strict local content standards, could soon face its biggest test.