ABC glitches ruin Ian Henderson’s farewell bulletin

Technical glitches in an ABC broadcast have robbed retiring newsreader Ian Henderson of his farewell bulletin.

In a statement on Thursday night, the ABC acknowledged that “an unexpected technical fault. Picture: Paul Higgins

Technical glitches in an ABC television broadcast have robbed retiring newsreader Ian Henderson of his farewell bulletin, after an “embarrassed” news director was forced to swap out Thursday night’s Melbourne news broadcast for the Sydney edition just fifteen minutes in.

The veteran newsreader, who was retiring after 26 years of delivering the 7pm bulletin in Melbourne, was plagued with errors in his final broadcast, but will be given another chance to deliver a brief farewell message during Friday’s edition.

The glitches began with the opening story, where a backdrop of AFL rule changes was displayed during a segment on share prices.

It is understood the autocue then failed in a following story, forcing the seasoned anchor to read off his notes, before a twenty second screen freeze during a report from Andrew Probyn on tax cuts for small businesses being brought forward.

It was after this that the feed for Melbourne viewers was taken from the Sydney bureau’s broadcast without any on-screen explanation, prompting many confused viewers to tweet for “Hendo’s” farewell to return to their screens.

ABC Melbourne tweeted shortly after 7:30pm on Thursday to apologise for the technical difficulties, letting viewers know that Henderson would deliver his farewell “goodbye message” during Friday’s bulletin.

“For everyone waiting for @HendoABC’s last sign off. Sadly the Melbourne studio wasn’t playing ball tonight. Our apologies. Tune in tomorrow for his goodbye message. Hendo says: “You gotta laugh”.

Acting Director of News, Analysis & Investigations Craig McMurtrie said he was “embarrassed by what happened but Hendo is such a gentleman that the way he took it in his stride is humbling.

“There is no way we are going to let him go without a proper goodbye, so I invite everyone to watch ABC NEWS Victoria tomorrow night for the farewell he so richly deserves.”

In a statement on Thursday night, the ABC acknowledged that “an unexpected technical fault during ABC NEWS Victoria’s 7pm bulletin on Thursday night forced an unavoidable switch to a back-up transmission from ABC NSW.

“The timing of this fault during Ian Henderson’s scheduled final bulletin was unfortunate, to say the least. The good news is that Hendo will now be back on air at 7pm tomorrow to present his final, final ABC NEWS Victoria bulletin.

“We are investigating the cause of the fault and invite everyone to tune in on Friday to give Hendo the farewell he deserves. Our apologies to viewers,” an ABC Spokesman said.

It is understood this is not the first time an ABC broadcast has suffered from technical difficulties, with a content management allegedly failing and forcing reporters to go back out to locations they had filed stories from that day to and re-report as a live cross.

On another occasion, it is understood that the ABC Sydney news broadcast was similarly swapped out for the ACT’s feed after technical difficulties.

It is also understood Aunty’s technical issues in their Melbourne studios are severe and yet to be resolved, with some broadcasts moved to the ABC’s Sydney Studios.

The Australian’s Sydney-Based Media Editor Stephen Brook was last night invited to their Ultimo studios as a guest for Friday’s ABC TV News Breakfast, a program long broadcast out of the Melbourne studios.