Hot Take: 10News+ Isn't What Channel 10 Needs

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Hot Take: 10News+ Isn't What Channel 10 Needs

Ugh, I just need to rant because I've become SUPER cynical since they cancelled The Project and replaced it with 10News+ because it just isn't right.

Now before I get into my rant I just wanna take the time to say I'm not someone who LOVES the news, I used to hate it when mum put the news on when I was little because it was so depressing, but then I went to university and I had to watch/read the news to know what was going on. Anyway, then I moved to Australia and I actually really enjoyed The Project - mostly because it was a combination of the news, pop culture, and a bit of humour thrown in. I know it wasn't perfect, but it was refreshing. Like I actually enjoyed watching it and yes, it had it's flaws - like Steve Price and when Georgie Tunny made a remark about Sam Kerr, but overall, it was a refreshing show to watch at 6:30 pm. It also felt relatable because it had both journalists and comedians host the show. It did lean a lot to the left, and people complained that it was "too woke," but for me, that's what I like, and obviously, a lot of people in Australia liked that too. Anyway, The Project was cancelled in June, and now their social media accounts have gone rogue, so it would be good to see The Project turn into something like a digital web series. I'm sure Rove will have something up his sleeve.

When The Project was cancelled, Channel 10 announced that they would replace it with a show called 10News+, and the new timeline of TV shows would be 10News at 5 pm, 10News+ at 6 pm, then Deal Or No Deal at 7 pm. So that meant 2 hours of news. The hosts of 10News+ are Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock. They also have Hugh Riminton and Ursula Heger on Fridays, so we get to watch the same people every single day, ugh. It was advertised as investigative journalism, diving deep into stories to, reveal the "truth". And honestly, I've watched about 4-5 episodes and I HATE it and I'm not the only one. The ratings are bad, viewers have dipped, and there's just such a lack of chemistry between Amelia and Denham, whom I've nicknamed Denim Jacket (not in a nasty way, just his name reminds me of a denim jacket).

So far, 10News+ has been described as a rip-off of 60 Minutes or a Temu A Current Affair. But before we get into my rant about this damn news show, I just read that news.com.au claimed that Channel 10 originally wanted to have The Project replaced by a show that was like The Cheap Seats in style for weeknights, but they went with a news show instead. I don't know if I buy it tbh. Especially with Channel 10 being owned by CBS, which is American. BUT a variety show at that time slot would be good. So why do I have such a problem with it? I think I'm going to put it in bullet points so it sounds less mean

• Firstly, 2 hours of back-to-back news is annoying and kinda depressing. We have access to news 24/7 so having something a bit different in that time slot would be wonderful.

• The stories are repetitive - they seem to be doing similar stuff to all the other news outlets and compared to The Project, it's not any different. At least The Project could follow through with their tagline, "News Delivered Differently."

• They seem to be very anti-government, which can be good and bad, but it feels like it's getting into conspiracy theory territory when they're reporting on the Prime Minister Albo literally just doing his job. If he is hiding something, go find out what it is, don't just "guess".

• They claim to be an "investigative" journalist show, but their investigating isn't very much. Like, yes, there's some, but Luke said to me it feels more like "gotcha" journalism than actual investigation. I was watching a story about the army and how lots of people were overusing business and first class flights - but all they did was ask if they were doing that, and there was no comment. To me, if it were "investigative", wouldn't they go infiltrate and find out for us?

• Amelia Brace stutters a lot, which happens, but it's every single episode, and I didn't notice as much when hosts stuffed up on The Project. And yes, I would probably stuff up too, but hasn't she been a journalist for a very long time?

• There was a piece on crocodiles, and it felt like they were siding with Bob Katter, who is fighting with the Irwins about ,conservation. The piece promoted how scary crocodiles were and yes, they are scary, but they reported on a person who was attacked by a crocodile who realised how stupid he was being then Denham was in the enclosure with the crocodiles. It just felt very strange how they're saying how scary these creatures are and then they put Denham in with the crocodile. Did they want Denham to get attacked? Like we're in their home, they're not in our home.

• They have been reporting on the p*dophile story which yes, is absolutely disgusting, but they bring it up every single day. Then when someone said the children affected would need to be tested, they asked, "oh what kind of tests?" LIKE UM IDK HOW ABOUT STI TESTING FOR ONE?? And every time I've watched this show, this story has come up.

• When they interview someone, they ask the same questions just worded differently over and over, and we're getting the same result. It's not very interesting.

• It gives the vibe of budget cuts, which may be further supported by JLP getting axed from Survivor. WTF Channel 10?

• There was a story about ill mental health, and it was heart-warming, but they discussed s*icide and didn't add in a lifeline number or anything like that after the story, just cut to the next story. I think having a "If this story raised any concerns, you can call X number" is just something that implies empathy for the viewers.

• When Amelia and Denham interviewed Albo, they interrupted him A LOT and I get that journalists do that, but let the man speak, dam.

• They reached out to Robert Irwin (Steve Irwin's Dad, not son) for comment on the crocodile story, who declined, but they kinda shaded him for doing so in the process. Also, it wasn't clear they were talking about Steve Irwin's Dad so many people may have taken this as young Robert Irwin.

• When they reported on the passing of Peter Russell-Clarke (Australian Chef), they spoke to like 3 different people about him who all just had the same conversation as when they spoke to his son. I understand that the passing of him is absolutely awful, but I also don't think they needed to have the same conversation 3 times.

• They were talking about how China wants to invade Taiwan, which isn't anything new, and the military were doing their mandatory 2-year training for if something like that happened with the American military, and Amelia asked, "Is this enough only doing it every 2 years?" And while I get where she is coming from, does she know anything about what those people go through? The strict stuff that they have to follow? They're literally doing trials ALL the time. It felt ignorant.

• They were reporting on the India flight that crashed with that one survivor, which was absolutely awful, and they were talking to some expert, and they just kept asking him, "DO YOU THINK IT WAS DONE ON PURPOSE?" Every time he would answer, he would say, "There's no evidence to suggest that," but they just kept pushing the same agenda. Like, mate, he's saying there's no evidence and that they need to do more inquiry into it so just wait. It feels icky when they do things like that.

• There's nothing different about the show; it's literally just news and not even anything super interesting.

If it's going to claim to be investigative journalism, it needs to make sure it's doing that.

I'd love to see some funny or feel-good stories about something that didn't feel so boring and lacking something. I can't find the right word here, but the show is just lacking. I've honestly been trying to give it a chance, but I just can't. And I'm not the only one; people on Twitter were disappointed from day 1.

Rant over.

Thank you for reading,

Ash x

PS: They did an interview with Pedro Pascal tonight and Luke said to me that maybe the network is realising people don't want 2 full hours of depressing news stories at that time slot so maybe they're still feeling the show out, but I just miss knowing that I could watch The Project if I wanted too. And sorry for making you watch The Project, Luke, I know you hated it haha.

Okie bye for reals now!