Bushfire recovery becomes a breakfast TV battleground
Bushfire recovery has become the latest breakfast TV battleground but while Sunrise says it paid its own way, Today’s broadcast didn’t come cheap for Tourism South Australia.
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Bushfire affected areas across Australia became the battleground for the perennial breakfast TV battle between Sunrise and Today this week.
Sunrise weatherman Sam Mac kicked off Seven’s ‘Road to Recovery’ coverage on Monday with the host making his way to Kangaroo Island before heading off to Lakes Entrance in Victoria.
Wednesday was spent at Eden, NSW, then Mogo before wrapping the broadcast up in Batemans Bay.
Rival Today began their special bushfire coverage on Friday at Kangaroo Island where their message was that the communities are open for business.
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However Today’s outside broadcast didn’t come cheap for Tourism South Australia.
The government agency charged with the job of boosting local tourism funded the broadcast from various sites, including Kangaroo Island, in a promotional package deal with Nine understood to be worth about $1 million.
When asked about the payment yesterday, Nine refused to confirm or deny it had been accepted and instead outlined their extensive approach to rebuilding bushfire affected areas.
“TODAY and TODAY Extra highlighted the beautiful scenery of Kangaroo Island and other regions of South Australia all week, as well as co-ordinating the hundreds of donations to facilitate the construction of a new animal hospital in the Wildlife Centre worth several hundred thousand dollars to help the numerous injured animals including dozens of koalas,” a spokesman said.
Nine recently announced a $10 million donation in advertising space in print, radio, television and digital in a sustained campaign to support businesses and communities rebuild.
Sunrise Executive Producer Michael Pell yesterday said Sunrise had not accepted a cent to broadcast across Australia.
“The Sunrise Road to Recovery tour is showcasing areas impacted by bushfires with one clear message – they’re open for business,” he said.
“But it’s important we practice what we preach. We pay our own way. All coverage is 100 per cent funded by us. We have accepted zero assistance from any tourism or government body. No cash. No contra. Every cent has been covered by Sunrise.”
Weatherman Sam Mac further made it clear they were paying their own way this week when he took to air on Friday to reveal he had paid for their accommodation in full, despite being offered discounts.
“It has been one emotional week,” Mac said.
“Every single town we visited have welcomes us in with open arms. The whole point of this is to bring some enthusiasm to these regions.
“We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Eden called Snug Cove. they wanted to give us a discount … we said we can’t take a discount, the whole point is we want to put money into these regions. We have been trying to eat out at restaurants every night to get the economy going.”
Seven added that the Network’s major shareholder Seven Group Holdings Ltd and Australian Capital Equity Ltd donated a combined $10 million commitment to bushfire relief.