Insiders (Australian TV program)

Insiders
File:Insiders title screen.JPG Insiders title card
Genre	Politics, analysis
Presented by	Barrie Cassidy
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	14
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC ABC News 24 (2010–)
Release	15 July 2001 – present

Insiders is a news and talk show produced by ABC News. Similarly to the Sunday morning talk shows in the United States, it analyses and discusses Australian politics with the use of a panel of political journalists and columnists and interviews with prominent politicians and commentators. Broadcast on ABC on Sunday mornings at 9 am, the show also features many regular commentators from various Australian media outlets and think tanks.

The program is presented by veteran political journalist Barrie Cassidy as part of the ABC's Sunday morning line-up, commencing with Insiders, followed by Offsiders, a sports program hosted by Gerard Whateley.

Fran Kelly presented the show while Barrie Cassidy was on long service leave, and Chris Uhlmann also presents the show in Cassidy's absence.

Format

The format of the program usually starts with Cassidy discussing the political issues of the week, followed by an interview with a current Australian political figure, usually an Australian politician. Each week in the studio, Cassidy discusses current political issues with a panel of three commentators/journalists of varying political perspectives.

The 2007 series included small changes to the format of the show: re-ordering the segments, commencing the program with the political interview, followed by "Your Shout". Paul Kelly's discussion (this segment was discontinued in 2010) was then used as a starting point for the panel discussion. "Talking Pictures" continues to provide a break point within the panel discussions, and the show concludes with its customary sign-off where Cassidy asks the panel members for their "final observation and predictions".

In 2011 the usual program format began with a brief monologue from Cassidy followed by a brief video summary of the major events of the preceding week. Then Cassidy reviews the Sunday papers with the studio panel before moving on to the studio guest. If the guest is present in the studio the interview is introduced by a short video clip relating to the first interview question. The interview usually lasts until mid way through the hour and is followed by a video clip which concentrates on events surrounding a major news topic of the week. This is followed by a studio discussion between Cassidy and his studio guests. Cassidy introduces "Talking Pictures" towards the end of the hour, which is followed by more studio discussion. The show usually winds up with Cassidy introducing amusing or otherwise interesting media clips followed by an observation or prediction from each panel member before Cassidy ends the show with a final media clip or two.

In 2012 the early episodes continued with the 2011 format.

Regular segments

"Your Shout"

The "Your Shout" segment (which was dropped in 2010) gave a member or group of members of the public a chance to air a grievance or present opinions about topical political issues that concerned them, in a short, pre-recorded segment shown during the program. It appears that the program attempted to ensure that the members of the public selected from week to week represented a broad range of political opinion and were spread across different parts in Australia.

"Talking Pictures"

Presented by Mike Bowers, the "Talking Pictures" segment analyses political cartoons and photographs featured in the nation's newspapers from the previous week. Regularly appearing cartoonists include Warren Brown, Bill Leak, Geoff Pryor, Bruce Petty, Alan Moir, Peter Nicholson, Mark Knight, Jon Kudelka, Matt Golding, Paul Batey, Sean Leahy and Fiona Katauskas.

"Poll of Polls"

Presented by Andrew Catsaras, the "Poll of Polls" segment aggregates and reviews political polling from the previous month. This segment commenced in February 2012, appearing during the last week of each month in 2012, moving to the first week of each month in 2013.

Regular commentators and panelists

Commentator	Background
Denis Atkins	The Courier-Mail national affairs editor, former Labor staffer
Mike Bowers	Host of Talking Pictures on Insiders
Annabel Crabb	Political journalist, ABC Online
Phil Coorey	Chief Political Correspondent with Adelaide's The Advertiser.
Malcolm Farr	Chief Political Reporter, News.com.au
Gerard Henderson	Executive Director, Sydney Institute
Fran Kelly	Presenter, ABC Radio National Breakfast program
Mark Kenny	Chief Political Correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald
David Marr	Journalist, The Guardian Australia
George Megalogenis	Author/columnist
Karen Middleton	Chief Political Correspondent, SBS
Katherine Murphy	Deputy political editor, The Guardian Australia
Andrew Probyn	Federal political editor and Canberra bureau chief for The West Australian
Mark Riley	Seven Network Political Editor
Niki Savva	Collumnist, and former Liberal Staffer
Tory Shepherd	Political Editor, The Advertiser
Michael Stutchbury	Editor-in-Chief, The Australian Financial Review
Lenore Taylor	Political editor for The Guardian Australia
Laura Tingle	correspondent, Australian Financial Review
Brian Toohey	Columnist with the Australian Financial Review
Source:

Former commentators and panelists

Commentator	Background
Piers Akerman	Columnist, Sydney's Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
Tim Blair	Opinion Editor, Sydney's Daily Telegraph
Matt Price	Sketch writer, The Australian (deceased)
Virginia Trioli	Co Host of ABC News Breakfast and former 774 ABC Melbourne and 702 ABC Sydney presenter
Glenn Milne	Political journalist, The Australian and News Ltd Sunday publications (sacked as a panelist)
Andrew Bolt	Host of The Bolt Report on Sky News Live, Herald Sun columnist and blogger

External links

• Insiders at IMDb