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Today Tonight
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Today Tonight is an Australian tabloid current affairs program, produced by the Seven Network and shown weeknightly at in direct competition with rival Nine Network program A Current Affair.
There are three different editions of the program: an 'East Coast' edition presented by Matthew White seen in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania, a South Australian edition presented by Rosanna Mangiarelli, and a Western Australian edition presented by Monika Kos.
oday Tonight was a program first aired in Brisbane in the late 1970s on the Nine Network,.
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Encyclopedia
Today Tonight is an Australian tabloid current affairs program, produced by the Seven Network and shown weeknightly at in direct competition with rival Nine Network program A Current Affair.
There are three different editions of the program: an 'East Coast' edition presented by Matthew White seen in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania, a South Australian edition presented by Rosanna Mangiarelli, and a Western Australian edition presented by Monika Kos.
History
Today Tonight was a program first aired in Brisbane in the late 1970s on the Nine Network,. The current series initially began as Real Life, hosted by Stan Grant. This program was replaced by local editions of a new program, Today Tonight at the beginning of 1995 in each of the main metropolitan markets (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth).
East Coast
Today Tonight started broadcasting to the east coast with three separate bulletins: a Melbourne edition hosted by journalist/columnist Jill Singer, a Sydney edition hosted by Neil Mercer, and a Brisbane edition hosted by Carolyn Tucker. Over summer it was usual for Today Tonight to present a summer edition, which consisted of a single edition broadcast across the entire east coast.
In 1996, Singer collapsed on-air and was rushed to hospital. Singer subsequently took leave for a number of months and was replaced on-air by Naomi Robson. Singer returned in late 1996 but was replaced once again by Robson in January 1997..
The Sydney program was presented by a myriad of presenters from 1995 until 2001. Neil Mercer initially fronted the Sydney edition, later succeeded by Helen Wellings (1996) and Peter Luck (1997-1998) Stan Grant, ex-host of Today Tonight-predecessor Real Life, returned in 1999 following the departure of Peter Luck. Grant was sacked by the Seven Network in 2000 after it was exposed he was having an affair with another then Seven Network personality, Tracey Holmes, and was subsequently replaced by Melissa Doyle. When Doyle went on maternity leave in 2001, the Melbourne edition of Today Tonight hosted by Robson was broadcast into Sydney. This was intended to last only 12 weeks, but the Melbourne-presented version rated higher in Sydney than the local version. This led to Seven Network executives axing the Sydney edition in favour of an East Coast Edition. Doyle returned at the end of 2002 to present the summer edition.
The Brisbane edition of Today Tonight was fronted by three different presenters in the course of its 7-8 year run, with Lexy Hamilton Smith and Michelle Reiken presenting after Tucker. On December 9 2002, Michelle Reiken went on maternity leave over the summer non-ratings period. During this time, the Melbourne/Sydney edition was broadcast into Brisbane. When the 2003 ratings period commenced, Seven Brisbane continued to air the Melbourne/Sydney edition instead of returning to a local version with an alternate presenter. Although the Seven Network announced that a local edition would return when Reiken returned from maternity leave, this never happened. In May 2003, Seven Brisbane officially axed its local version.
Until late 2006, the east coast edition of Today Tonight continued to be hosted by Naomi Robson. In November 2006, Robson announced she would be leaving Today Tonight to pursue other projects. She presented her last show on December 1. 2006. According to news reports on January 27 and 28, 2007, Anna Coren was appointed Robson's permanent replacement after six weeks of filling in as the show's summer host as part of the program's major revamp following the production shifted from Melbourne to the Seven Network's Martin Place studios. Earlier reports suggested the network had been seeking A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw for the role.
On 28 September 2008, Anna Coren resigned as presenter of Today Tonight to pursue a career at CNN in Hong Kong. Her replacement was announced on 30 September 2008 to be Matthew White. Anna Coren signed off from the Seven Network on 10 October, 2008. Coren was initially to remain host of Today Tonight until December 2008, but was sacked from the role in October with Matthew White taking the seat on a permanent basis from October 13, 2008.
Currently, Samantha Armytage is the substitute anchor and summer presenter for the program. The East Coast edition is broadcast from Seven's Martin Place studios in Sydney.
Today Tonight East Coast does not air in Wagga Wagga, Orange, Coffs Harbour, Lismore, Tamworth or Taree. Seven Queensland get a delayed telecast of the East Coast edition from the night before in order to fit in Seven Local News and Seven News Brisbane in the time slot.
South Australia
Since the program's inception in South Australia in 1995, Leigh McClusky fronted the South Australian edition of the program, only taking leave over summer and to give birth to her son in 2002 (John Riddell filled-in) and to have a daughter in 2006 (Rosanna Mangiarelli filled in), until 2007. When the program first started it rated 100,000 behind its competitor, A Current Affair, although ratings steadily increased under McClusky. In 2001, Today Tonight began outrating A Current Affair in what would become a 4 year winning streak.
Leigh announced on 6 February 2007 that she would be leaving Today Tonight Adelaide to have twins, but unlike previous occasions, she will not return. She presented her last show on 17 August 2007. Rosanna Mangiarelli began as anchor on Monday 20 August 2007 after several years as substitute anchor.
On 1 October 2007, the Adelaide edition of the program began airing in regional South Australia after WIN Television changed their affiliation in the state from the Nine Network to the Seven Network.
Western Australia
The Western Australian edition of Today Tonight was originally hosted by Yvette Mooney. In 1997, Mooney resigned from her presenting role, and was replaced by Monika Kos.
Achievement
Today Tonight nationally was the last program to win the Logie for Most Popular Public Affairs Program before that award was discontinued.
The Adelaide edition has also won the ratings in Adelaide for now over 250 consecutive weeks. This achievement was announced to coincide with the departure of host Leigh McClusky
Criticism
Like A Current Affair, Today Tonight is notorious for its sensationalist reporting, and is an example of tabloid television where stories rotate around sensationalised community issues i.e. diet fads, miracle cures, welfare cheats, shonky builders, negligent doctors etc. For this reason the program is constantly under criticism and ridicule, especially by satirical groups such as The Chaser. The show has also been known to have complaints from the public to the Australian Communications and Media Authority regarding misrepresentation of facts leading to investigations of such claims. The show is sometimes sarcastically referred to by Media Watch and The Chaser as Barcelona Tonight, a reference to the Christopher Skase Controversy.
Christopher Skase controversy
ABC TV's Media Watch program revealed that Today Tonight, on their 12 November 1996 broadcast, had fabricated much of a report about disgraced Australian businessman Christopher Skase. Today Tonight sent producer Chris Adams and reporter David "Sluggo" Richardson, along with a camera crew, to pursue Skase who was claiming that his health prevented him from being tried. Richardson alleged that because the Today Tonight crew's videos showed that Skase was in good health, Skase used his connections to the Majorcan authorities in order to establish police roadblocks to seize the Today Tonight crew's videotapes. The only support for these claims was a video of Dave Richardson driving past police, exclaiming "Roadblocks! Let's get out of here". Media Watch proved, through examining the broadcast report, that this footage was in fact shot in Barcelona, not on the island of Majorca. The "police" that Richardson was passing were in fact Spanish urban guards, who use roadblocks to control traffic flow in the centre of the city.
Vietnamese flag controversy
On 8 May 2007, Today Tonight reported about a Vietnamese Australian welfare cheat Dat Van Vu; though using the generalised title "Vietnamese Sting" and using the flag of Vietnam. Both resulted in anger amongst the Australian Vietnamese community, the first because of the association of ethnicity to criminality, and the second of using the communist flag. Most Vietnamese Australians fled the anti-communist South Vietnam after the fall of Saigon and strongly disapprove of the policies of ruling Vietnamese Communist Party, choosing to identify with the flag of the Republic of Vietnam.
Dole Army hoax
On 4 February 2002, Today Tonight and their main rival A Current Affair both broadcast stories about a so-called "Dole Army" operating from Melbourne's subterranean stormwater drains, and recruiting for an organised effort to defraud the Australian government of unemployment benefits. The next day, an anarchist group claimed they had sold both programs a hoax story, and due to lack of research and a desire to vilify the unemployed, both networks had fallen for the elaborate prank.
The "Serial Single Mum" controversy
On 18 July 2005, Today Tonight screened a report by David Richardson about "Australia's Serial Single Mum". The report was about a single mother named "Mary-Anne", a private citizen who lives in suburban Sydney. The program asserted that Mary-Anne "had five children to five different men and pocketed tens of thousands in welfare" from Centrelink. It was later revealed by Media Watch that Mary-Anne was working full-time and had the children to four fathers not five.
Media Watch described the exchange between Richardson and Mary-Anne as an "appalling attack", and "Another offensive beat up from Dave 'Sluggo' Richardson".
Neopets controversy
In October 2004, just as a McDonald's Happy Meal promotion related to virtual pet site Neopets, the show ran a story about a boy that explained that Neopets ordered players to play games of chance in order to avoid sending the titular pets to the Pound. A factual error is that, chance games are optional and pets can be only send to the pound if users want to leave them. However this sparked a massive controversy about Neopets and McDonald's themselves blocked Australian users access to games of chance.
Contempt of court allegations
In 2004, Today Tonight picked up on a story published in Melbourne's Sunday Herald Sun about a boy allegedly "divorcing" his mother. Today Tonights story was subsequently discussed on Seven's breakfast television program Sunrise program. In 2005, journalists, editors and producers from all three media outlets were taken to the Sydney Magistrates' Court for breaching the Children and Young Persons Act 1989 for allegedly naming the child in question. Host Naomi Robson was found not guilty of contempt of court, as the magistrate found she did not have editorial control over the story, but producers of the show were fined.
The "Wa-Wa" controversy
On 13 September 2006, Naomi Robson and a Today Tonight crew were detained by Indonesian authorities in Papua for working as journalists despite entering the country on tourist visas.
The Seven Network claimed that its team was sent to the region to do a story on Wa-Wa, a young boy who was apparently in danger of being ritually killed by his tribe, the Korowai (according to a 60 Minutes story on the Nine Network some months earlier). Seven also claimed that their rivals at Nine had sabotaged their story and their mission to "rescue" Wa-Wa from his tribe (who are believed to practise cannibalism), by informing the Indonesian authorities of their visa arrangements. Nine refuted Seven's claims and threatened legal action. Seven alleges that a Nine reporter offered about $100,000 to a guide not to help Seven with their story. Seven's director of news and current affairs, Peter Meakin said "There is evidence to support the claims that, in particular, this man Cornelius was offered $100,000 not to rescue the boy." "I think the phrase was 'name your own price'", he said.
Defamation of Mark McGaw
On 2 November 2006 the Supreme Court of New South Wales awarded former Gladiator and rugby league star Mark McGaw $385,000 for a defamatory story Today Tonight broadcast in June 2003. The Supreme Court jury found that the story made two defamatory imputations: that McGaw was "a man of dangerous domestic violence", and that he "bashed his lover so severely that she was hospitalised with horrific injuries".
Chain stunt
On 20 February 2007, Today Tonight led with a story about an 84-year-old nursing home resident who was fighting attempts to evict her. The story featured footage of her chained up in her room, and the reporter, Nicolas Boot, said she was "refusing to budge, chaining herself to her room".
In response to the airing of that story, the following day Federal Government officials visited the nursing home. According to a spokesman for the Minister for Ageing, they were told by the resident that the chains had been brought along by the crew, and the process of chaining her up had been instigated by the program.
In response to this incident, host Anna Coren was forced to read an apology to viewers on 21 February, and announced that Nicolas Boot had been stood down pending an internal investigation. The following day, Seven released a statement indicating Boot had left his employment with the Seven Network.
However, no announcement was made as to any actions taken against off-camera staff, such as producers, over this incident, which Seven Head of News and Current Affairs Peter Meakin described as "one of the more embarrassing" incidents which he has had to deal with.
Mercedes Corby deception
On 14 March 2007, Today Tonight host Anna Coren admitted hiring a private investigator who had lied about being an official to set up Mercedes Corby, sister of convicted drug trafficker Schapelle Corby.
The Chasers War on Everything
ABC show The Chasers War on Everything frequently ridiculed Today Tonight and its former hosts Naomi Robson and Anna Coren in a segment called What Have We Learned From Current Affairs This Week?. They ridiculed Anna Coren in a mini-segment known as Anna Coren's Segue of the Week and Anna Coren's Meaningless Gibberish of the Week. In late 2007, Today Tonight went straight to the supreme court to stop the Chaser's footage from airing on their show. Today Tonight alleged that the Chaser boys illegally entered the Channel 7 studios without permission.
Jelena and Damir Dokic reunion scandal
It was reported on 27 January 2009 by News Limited that a Today Tonight crew tried to fly Damir Dokic, estranged father of tennis player Jelena Dokic to Australia to engineer a reunion with his daughter as she continued her dramatic comeback at the Australian Open.
External links
- Official network websites
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