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==History==
==History==
===1970s===
===1770s===
''A Current Affair'' was first broadcasted by a nig on 22 November 1971, with [[Mike Willesee]], screening week nights at 7:00&nbsp;pm, and was broadcast for [[GTV-9]]. For part of its early run, the comedian and actor [[Paul Hogan]] had a comic social commentary segment. Under Willesee, ACA was a Transmedia production for the Nine Network.<ref name="Class of 74">[http://www.memorabletv.com/australia/tvac2.htm ''Class of 74''] at MemorableTV</ref>
''A Current Affair'' was first broadcasted by a dirty nig on 22 November 1771, the mentally challenged nig used his own shit by smearing it on walls into letters with [[Mike Willesee]], screening week nights at 7:00&nbsp;pm, and was broadcast for [[GTV-9]]. For part of its early run, the comedian and actor [[Paul Hogan]] had a comic social commentary segment. Under Willesee, ACA was a Transmedia production for the Nine Network.<ref name="Class of 74">[http://www.memorabletv.com/australia/tvac2.htm ''Class of 74''] at MemorableTV</ref>


When Willesee left Nine in 1974 to move to the rival [[Network Ten|0–10]] Network, journalist Mike Minehan took over presenting ''ACA''. Other presenters included Sue Smith, [[Kevin Sanders (television)|Kevin Sanders]] and [[Michael Schildberger]].<ref name="Class of 74"/><ref>[http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117943229.html?categoryid=1043&cs=1 Sue Smith obituary] Variety.com</ref><ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/obituaries/a-trailblazer-in-current-affairs/2006/05/22/1148150183105.html ''A Trailblazer in Current Affairs] SMH</ref><ref>[http://www.televisionau.com/tv250377.htm TV Week, 19 March 1977] at TeleisionAU</ref>
When Willesee left Nine in 1974 to move to the rival [[Network Ten|0–10]] Network, journalist Mike Minehan took over presenting ''ACA''. Other presenters included Sue Smith, [[Kevin Sanders (television)|Kevin Sanders]] and [[Michael Schildberger]].<ref name="Class of 74"/><ref>[http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117943229.html?categoryid=1043&cs=1 Sue Smith obituary] Variety.com</ref><ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/obituaries/a-trailblazer-in-current-affairs/2006/05/22/1148150183105.html ''A Trailblazer in Current Affairs] SMH</ref><ref>[http://www.televisionau.com/tv250377.htm TV Week, 19 March 1977] at TeleisionAU</ref>

Revision as of 06:12, 12 March 2013

For the U.S. program of the same name, see A Current Affair (U.S. TV series).
A Current Affair
A Current Affair logo
GenreCurrent affairs
Presented byTracy Grimshaw
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons8 (1971-1978)
25 (1988-)
Production
Executive producerNebz
ProducerNebz
Production locationsNational:
Sydney
(18 January 1988 – 13 June 2008)
Melbourne
(16 June 2008 – 10 January 2012)
Sydney
(13 January 2012 - present)
State-editions:
Adelaide
(2002 and 27 October 2008 – 27 November 2009),
Perth
(20 October 2008 – 27 November 2009)
Running time25 minutes
Original release
NetworkNine Network
Release22 November 1971 – 28 April 1978
18 January 1988 –
present

A Current Affair (or ACA) is an Australian current affairs program airing weeknights on the Nine Network.

The program is currently presented by Tracy Grimshawand Trolled by Facebeef. The stories are not 100% true and the lack of research is a falling.

History

1770s

A Current Affair was first broadcasted by a dirty nig on 22 November 1771, the mentally challenged nig used his own shit by smearing it on walls into letters with Mike Willesee, screening week nights at 7:00 pm, and was broadcast for GTV-9. For part of its early run, the comedian and actor Paul Hogan had a comic social commentary segment. Under Willesee, ACA was a Transmedia production for the Nine Network.[1]

When Willesee left Nine in 1974 to move to the rival 0–10 Network, journalist Mike Minehan took over presenting ACA. Other presenters included Sue Smith, Kevin Sanders and Michael Schildberger.[1][2][3][4]

The original A Current Affair was cancelled on 28 April 1978, followed by strong competitions in the 7:00 pm timeslot from Willesee at Seven on Seven Network and Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks on the 0–10 Network.

In 1984, Willesee returned to the Nine Network to revive the format in a series titled Willesee, screening Monday to Thursday nights at 9:30 pm. The following year, Willesee moved to the earlier 6:30 pm timeslot and extended to five nights a week, running until 1988, when Willesee's production company, Transmedia, sold the rights to the program to the Nine Network.

1988 revival

When Willesee left the presenting role, former 60 Minutes presenter Jana Wendt took over on 18 January 1988 and the show once again became A Current Affair. This was the same week the Seven Network's soap opera Home and Away was introduced.

The Seven Network introduced direct competition with Real Life, which later became Today Tonight. Jana Wendt left the program in November 1992, unhappy with an ACA story showing topless women.[5]

In 1993, original ACA presenter Mike Willesee took over for the whole year. In February 1994, Ray Martin took over. During Martin's tenure, further issues arose regarding the mix between tabloid and serious journalism.[citation needed] Martin signed off at the end of November 1998.

After being a reporter for the program for many years, Mike Munro took over the presenting role at the end of 1998 as part of a major revamp for ACA.[citation needed] When Mike Munro was axed from the program in 2002, he returned to This Is Your Life, 60 Minutes, and later National Nine News in Sydney.

After Mike Munro's departure, Ray Martin returned in February 2003, and signed off again at the start of December 2005. During the 2005/2006 holiday period, the Nine Network announced that ACA was to be rested for four weeks to enable a major revamp of the production to take place. It had seen its ratings decline[citation needed] for most of 2005 against its rival, Seven's Today Tonight. On 30 January 2006, two weeks after the program's return, ACA was re-launched with new presenter Tracy Grimshaw. ACA's ratings increased in 2007, but fell again in 2008, placing it behind those of Today Tonight.[citation needed]

From 16 June 2008, ACA officially moved to GTV-9 studios with presenter Tracy Grimshaw returning to Melbourne. For the week prior to Grimshaw's move, Eddie McGuire filled in as presenter, also from Melbourne. For several months before the official move, ACA was often presented by Grimshaw from both Melbourne and Sydney. Production returned to TCN-9 Sydney permanently on Monday 13 January 2012 because of Tracy's decision to relocate to Sydney. ACA is broadcast live from Studio 2 at TCN channel 9 in Willoughby, weeknights after the news. The same studio where the Today show is filmed in the mornings.

State editions

Launching in 1991, QTQ-9 in Brisbane produced a local version of the program, titled Extra. It carried local stories including the lead up to its NRL Grand Finals. Despite its eighteen long years of popularity and ratings success, the local current affairs program was axed, due to a major schedule clean up for making space for Nine's now-scrapped one hour current affairs program, This Afternoon, presented by Andrew Daddo, Katrina Blowers and Mark Ferguson from 4:30pm weekdays starting the following Monday after its final ever broadcast. The decision was part of a push to nationalise lead-in content for the network's struggling news bulletins. The game show Hot Seat was moved to replace Extra at 5.30 pm.

In 2002, NWS-9 in Adelaide produced a local version of the program presented by weekend news presenter Georgina McGuinness. It carried national stories, but featured more local stories including the lead up to the 2002 AFL Grand Final. The Adelaide edition was short lived due to the very heavy competition of the Seven Network Adelaide's Today Tonight.

In January 2008, WIN Corporation announced that a new local version of ACA would be produced in Western Australia to replace the east coast version presented by Tracy Grimshaw. The first state based edition since Adelaide in 2002, the program's initial presenter, former newsreader Sonia Vinci, resigned prior to the show's commencement and was replaced by Louise Momber. The program was launched on 20 October 2008. A week later on 27 October, WIN launched an Adelaide version of the show on Adelaide, with Adelaide's National Nine News reporter Kate Collins presenting.[6] Both versions were short-lived — on 30 November 2009, WIN announced that Perth and Adelaide would return to the national format.[7]

Ratings

Overall in the 2008 Australian TV ratings, ACA achieved 1,124,000 viewers, 250,000 viewers behind the Seven Network's Today Tonight, which achieved 1,374,000 viewers.[citation needed]

Presenters

National

Leila McKinnon is the main fill-in presenter when Grimshaw is on leave. Weekend Today presenter Cameron Williams, Today sports presenter Ben Fordham ,60 Minutes correspondent Michael Usher and reporter Brady Halls have also filled in for Grimshaw in recent times.

Brisbane (as Extra)

In 2009, Extra was axed with the Nine Network investing money into other areas within the network. All Extra reporters were spread across the network in other reporting capacities from A Current Affair to Nine News.

Adelaide

Presenters

Michael Smyth was a fill-in presenter for Kate Collins

Perth

Presenters

  • 2008–2009 – Louise Momber

Substitute presenter was Ebbeny Faranda.

Reporters

  • Chris Allen
  • Martine Alpins
  • Justin Armsden
  • Tim Arvier
  • Nick Coe
  • Kate Creedon
  • Kate Donnison
  • Elise Elliott
  • Howard Gipps
  • Brady Halls
  • Martin King
  • Ray Martin
  • Ben McCormack
  • Leila McKinnon
  • Amanda Paterson
  • Alison Piotrowski
  • Tom Steinfort
  • Sarah Stewart
  • Laura Tunstall
  • Erin Willing

Criticism

Like its main rival broadcast on the Seven Network, Today Tonight, A Current Affair is often considered by media critics and the public at large to use sensationalist journalism – as depicted in the parody television show Frontline – and to deliberately present advertising as editorial content, as previously exposed on the ABC program Media Watch.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

Paxton controversy

In 1996, the show reported on the Paxton family from the impoverished Melbourne suburb of St Albans. The family were told that the show was about helping the family members to get jobs, but the version that aired claimed that the family were "dole bludgers" refusing reasonable offers of employment. After the story aired, the family received death threats.[16]

Greg Hodge defamation

In September 2006 ACA was ordered to pay over $320,000 to former Australian swimming coach Greg Hodge in relation to indefensible defamatory allegations made in a 2003 story relating to Hodge's conduct towards a former swim student.[17]

Peter Anthony Haertsch defamation

In March 2010 ACA was found to have defamed acclaimed plastic surgeon Peter Anthony Haertsch in allegations aired in a 2008 report about a Gold Coast woman's breast enlargement procedure, and ordered to pay $268,000 damages.[18]

Lev Mizikovsky defamation

In June 2008 ACA broadcast a program about Queensland property developer Lev Mizikovsky. Mizikovsky sued ACA claiming he was defamed by the broadcast and in November 2011 a jury agreed, but found the defamatory meanings were defensible.[19] Mizikovsky is now liable for costs, which are reported to exceed $2 million.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b Class of 74 at MemorableTV
  2. ^ Sue Smith obituary Variety.com
  3. ^ A Trailblazer in Current Affairs SMH
  4. ^ TV Week, 19 March 1977 at TeleisionAU
  5. ^ Nine wins Sunday, as Jana Watches Her Back eBroadcast.com
  6. ^ "Local ACA for Perth and Adelaide". Australian-Media.com.au. 12 June 2008. Archived from the original on 18 July 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "Win dumps local aca format and returns to Tracy Grimshaw".
  8. ^ "?". [dead link]
  9. ^ "?".
  10. ^ "?".
  11. ^ "?" (PDF).
  12. ^ "?" (PDF).
  13. ^ "?" (PDF).
  14. ^ "?" (PDF).
  15. ^ "?" (PDF).
  16. ^ Turner, Graeme (1999). "Tabloidization, journalism and the possibility of critique". International Journal of Cultural Studies. 2 (1): 59–76. doi:10.1177/136787799900200104. ISSN 0004-9522. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  17. ^ "Swim coach wins $320,000 damages". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 September 2006. Retrieved 11 August 2011. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "A Current Affair forced to pay doctor $270K after 'botched boob job' report". news.com.au. 16 March 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2011. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ a b Oberhardt, Mark (13 December 2011). "Developer ev Mizikovsky faces court costs after losing defamation bid against A Current Affair". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 14 December 2011.

External links

Template:ACurrentAffair

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