ABC Close to 24-Hour News Plan

Published: 7 February 1993

Publication: Herald Sun TV Extra

Author: Editor

Words: 234

Image of article: Shown below

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ABC Close to 24-Hour News Plan

The ABC will next week strengthen its bid for a 24-hour news service with Kate Dunstan and Doug Weller at the forefront.

Dunstan and Weller will co-host First Edition (premiering tomorrow week and running weekdays at 6.30am) and take the network a step closer to covering national and international news around the clock in a timeslot traditionally dominated by magazine-type shows.

“It will focus mainly on politics and business, and aim to break news,” Dunstan said. The show will also help set up the main news for the day to be built on.”

While the mother-of-two hopes First Edition will appeal to all viewers, she said it would be aimed at people “including politicians and businessmen who lead busy lives”.

“The program should prove popular with those who work early in the morning, and don’t want to spend their evening assessing what has happened throughout the day,” she said.

Dunstan said Australia would not be the only continent to benefit from the show. But she said the ABC was still to negotiate a telecast into Asia.

Dunstan has vast experience in the news-gathering arena, having started with The Age and later moving on to Channels Nine and Seven.

Her First Edition co-host Weller also had penty of experience in the media. His last post was as a political reporter for ABC Radio in Canberra, reporting from Parliament House for the AM and PM programs.

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