The Project has gone. Does its ‘serious news’ replacement deliver?

Ten officially entered its News+ era on Monday night – and when you add that symbol to the name of your news service, it invites the critical question: News plus … what?

From 6pm, we got the answer. We’d been promised evening news with a difference, and this was certainly that. In some ways, you might call it Ten News Minus: minus sport, minus weather, minus the traditional 6pm news fare of car crashes and suburban crime waves.

Journalists Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock are the hosts of Ten’s new news and current affairs show, 10 News+.Credit: Janie Barrett

In the opening, co-anchor Denham Hitchcock declared: “We’re not here to tell you what to think. We’re not here to scare or depress you.” And in the fright-fest wasteland that commercial TV news often becomes in the early evening, this sounds like a welcome change for those viewers tired of the fear-mongering.

So that’s the subtraction; what’s the plus?

Quite a lot, in that 10 News+ resembles neither its commercial news rivals on Nine and Seven, nor its predecessor The Project. There is not a comedian in sight. Instead, it’s a tightly curated mix of news and current affairs that featured only seven stories on debut – the first, a lengthy investigation helmed by Hitchcock into the case of Debbie Voulgaris, convicted in Taiwan of drug smuggling.

Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchock interview Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the first episode of 10 News+ on Monday night.

It was about 6.30pm before we moved to the second story, a wrap of July 1 cost-of-living measures, which segued into a by-the-numbers chat with Anthony Albanese, who was beamed in, beaming, from Canberra to give the new show his blessing.

We learnt the PM would not call Donald Trump “daddy”; that the NATO leader who did so is “a bit of a character”; and that Albo would not be discussing his intelligence briefings on Iran – “even on the first edition of your new show”.

It was 6.43pm before we got to the “mushroom murders” jury deliberations from a reporter in Morwell, followed by a quick look at a former Greens candidate’s claims of police brutality at a pro-Palestine protest. Then came the only story that resembled standard TV news fare – a teen surfer attacked by a shark at the weekend. The show wrapped with an interview with astronaut Chris Hadfield, in Australia on a speaking tour.

It was not quite a coherent line-up, but once you’ve made the bold choice of opening with a 20-minute investigation of one story, and then locked in a set-piece interview with the PM, there is not a lot of room to move.

On its own terms, this was a solid debut, anchored by two hosts in Hitchcock and Amelia Brace who bring serious TV news chops to the table. They are much more than autocue readers, and that’s a good thing for a credible TV news service to have up its sleeve.

Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchock bring serious news chops to the first episode of 10 News+.

The bigger question is how this venture lands in an era of never-ending flux for the news business.

The digital disruption of the last 25 years has ripped apart nearly every assumption about news consumption, and even created a new class of citizens called “news avoiders” – according to a global study released last week, 40 per cent of Australians say they avoid the news regularly. The main reason cited for the big turn-off? It’s all too grim. The same survey found many us now getting our news on social media, not from newspapers, TV or radio.

Into this world comes 10 News+, a show that deliberately shifts from the news-and-jokes model of The Project to a program distinguished by a plus sign – a mathematical symbol attached to a mathematical problem. The Project was subtracting viewers and advertising dollars. This is Ten’s bold gamble on reversing that slide.

Will it work? The mathematical answer is: maybe.

If you had a dollar for every time TV networks have promised to “reinvent the news” this century, you’d have enough for a sizeable bet on how long it will be until they promise to re-invent it again.

Ten’s last gamble did work, even if snooty critics hated its blend of serious news delivered bite-size and interspersed with a lot of wise-cracking by the rotating panel of comedians, with young viewers squarely in its sights.

The Project was the little news-comedy engine that could, chugging along against the odds for 16 years before finally biting the dust last Friday. The ABC’s Q&A, an agenda-setting news powerhouse less than a decade ago, was also just laid to rest. Nine and Seven are not upsetting the steady-as-she-goes apple cart of news/sport/weather, heavily weighted to crime and footy.

Ten is rolling the dice on a format that, on paper, sounds more suited to the ABC, even if its delivery is more commercial in tone. It asks for commitment of time. Want the weather? It’s on your phone.

This relies on the assumption we’re getting our news snacks elsewhere. Ten is hoping you’ll tune in here for a main meal.

10 News+ airs weeknights on Ten and 10Play at 6pm.

Did you watch the first episode of 10 News+? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

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