WIN Television management have failed to guarantee the future of its Wagga newsroom in the wake of the closure of two of its bureaus late last week.
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The network closed its newsrooms in Mildura and Mackay on Friday, citing a need to cut costs as the reason for ceasing news bulletins in those areas.
The Advertiser approached WIN on Monday to ask if the network could guarantee the future of its Wagga newsroom, but was instead directed to a statement the network sent out regarding the closures in Mildura and Mackay last Friday.
The statement was noncommittal about the future of WIN’s remaining newsrooms, including Wagga.
“WIN remains committed to local news across the majority of our markets but, in a media environment that has its challenges and is faced with constantly increasing program supply and infrastructure costs as well as a lack of regulatory reform, we need to continue to review our operating model to ensure the ongoing success of WIN as a business,” WIN chief executive Andrew Lancaster said in the statement.
Griffith has already borne the brunt of WIN’s rationalisation drive, with the network electing to no longer base a journalist in the city earlier this year.
Only a decade ago, WIN was producing fully-fledged half-hour weeknightly news bulletin in Griffith.
In 2006, the network elected to merge its Griffith and Wagga bulletins, resulting in it moving the bulk of its resources to Wagga. That decision left it with just a journalist, sport reporter and cameraman at the time.
By the end of 2013, its Griffith staff was reduced to just one videojournalist – who reported and stories and shot all the vision to be used in Griffith-based stories for the bulletin.
Finally, in February, WIN relocated that last journalist position from Griffith to Wagga, in a move that drew consternation from the council and the city’s business community.
Griffith mayor John Dal Broi claimed earlier this month WIN had failed to honour an undertaking given to council to have a camera crew in the city “at least once a week” to cover stories.
“That has not happened because I try to follow the local news and in some bulletins, we don’t even get a mention, which is not good enough,” Cr Dal Broi said.
Cr Dal Broi and Griffith Business Chamber president Paul Pierotti had called on WIN to lower advertising rates following the change.