Competition to closure : an analysis of commercial news services in the Central Queensland Rockhampton region

In the context of the Australian Broadcasting Authority’s inquiry of 2001- 02 into the adequacy of commercial television services in regional Australia and growing regulatory pressures during 2003, the authors have undertaken a survey of local news and information coverage in the Rockhampton region of Central Queensland during November 2003 in order to ‘test run’ and assess the ABA’s newly recommended local content guidelines for commercial news. In addition to measuring the current performance of the incumbent operator WIN Television, the dominant commercial operator in the Rockhampton district of Central Queensland,the authors provide background on the role of WIN and its predecessor, RTQ7 prior to aggregation in establishing a television audience and identity at regional level. The content analysis of its contemporary news service seeks to identify the major categories of available local news disseminated for the period in question and their relative weighting under the ABA's proposed code.