Dubbo Regional Council’s DRC News abandoned by audiences

A fancy social media experiment funded by a scandal-plagued council in regional NSW has been slammed for trying to pass itself off as a serious news outlet.

A regional NSW council’s fancy foray into the local news industry has been put on hiatus after it failed to keep audiences interested and sparked misrepresentation fears.

Dubbo Regional Council, which was recently handed a performance improvement orderfrom Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock after months of infighting, launched DRC News in January 2021.

Council's corporate image and communications manager Andrew Parson and DRC News presenter Annabelle Hudson. Picture: Dubbo Regional Council/Facebook

The TV news-style bulletin was shared on the council’s Facebook and YouTube pages every fortnight until the end of March when council split and a majority of councillors called on former mayor Ben Shields to resign.

When DRC News returned three weeks after the leadership chaos erupted, no mention was made of the turmoil which had become a dominant discussion point among most local residents

Two editions of the bulletin were made in May before it was put on indefinite hiatus after the number of people tuning in dropped by more than half between episodes one and nine.

Dubbo mayor Stephen Lawrence said concerns had been raised with him about DRC News. Picture: Ryan Young

Mayor Stephen Lawrence told The Dubbo News acknowledged residents raised concerns about DRC News which he said was “an operational matter … done within existing budget”.

“I have heard concerns expressed about the DRC News and people concerned that by using the label of ‘news’ and presenting it in the format that we have been, we’re perhaps misrepresenting something as being objective news when it’s not really objective news,” he said.

“The broader question about whether councils should be producing news-type bulletins is one that’s worth considering.

“There’s currently an independent investigation going on into Dubbo Regional Council, matters being looked at that pertain to media and communications expenditure and beyond that I probably wouldn’t say anything more.”

The council’s corporate image and communications manager, Andrew Parsons, said DRC News was put on hiatus “amid a difficult period” and after a staff member who helped make the bulletin quit.

He said the council’s chief executive was advised “the remaining staff needed to focus on matters at hand”.

“Also important to note, as we approach the caretaker period ahead of the local elections, when using council resources, the organisation must ensure there can be no doubt in the community that those resources are not being used for political purposes or gain,” Mr Parsons said.

Former television journalist and presenter of DRC News Annabelle Hudson. Picture: Dubbo Regional Council/Facebook

When asked how much the council spent on the nine DRC bulletins, Mr Parsons did not provide a direct answer.

“In terms of indicative staffing costs for three key staff, as part of their normal duties over a five-hour period within the fortnight, equates to around $1285, existing staff labour rate with on-costs,” he said.

“Insofar as non-labour cost, episodes one to seven required the hire of a large TV screen from a local company for $150 per episode … episodes eight and nine did not use a TV screen.

“There was a one-off payment of $94.50 for video and audio production elements. Both the labour, on-costs and additional costs for this work are well within the approved allocated operational budget for council’s corporate image and communications team.”

Mr Parsons said in addition to sharing updates about council initiatives, DRC News helped numerous local groups raise awareness of their causes which they found harder to do after news services such as WIN News, the Wellington Times and 9 News Central West withdrew from the local market.

“DRC News has never purported to be an alternative or replacement to mainstream news and its editorial role and purpose was to share and complement council media material provided or pitched to mainstream media.

“The program recorded higher viewer numbers and reach than most other videos on council’s Facebook page … it was expected viewer numbers per episode would vary.

“Overall, the numbers, compared to other videos on the page, are considered … solid.’”

Super proud of my team in #Dubbo who followed me with this idea/challenge. A bit out of the box for #localgov - helps we’re a team with 60+ yrs’ combined #TV, #radio#newspaper, #comms, #PR & #news exp. in #Aus & overseas. Looking forward to growing this with the community. https://t.co/xkV3vUjel7pic.twitter.com/2ZpolO6cgj

— Andrew Parsons (@AJAParsons) January 16, 2021

Mr Parsons said the next council voted in after the September local government elections would decide if DRC News would continue.

“There is also a real ongoing need and requirement to ensure council can support and showcase the work it does in the community and the many programs and projects it works with the community to achieve,” he said.

“A program or product like DRC News would always complement – not replace – existing and budgeted communications activities like advertising.”