Ann Wason Moore says Channel 7 axing their bulletin has deeper meaning for the Gold Coast

Channel 7’s decision to axe the city’s local news bulletin is a slap in the face for all the city has fought to achieve. Read why

Ann Wason Moore says Channel 7 axing their bulletin has deeper meaning for the Gold Coast

Forget Mike Tyson, forget Jake Paul … the Gold Coast is the ultimate fighter.

Every success, every win, every achievement the Gold Coast has secured, has never come easy. Long regarded as simply Brisbane’s beach (or is that bi**h?), we have had to fight every step of the way to be regarded as a city in our own right.

Where other, far smaller regional centres like Mackay are given appropriate resources, such as their own Supreme Court, we’re told to just borrow Brisbane’s.

Look at the 2032 Olympics, once promised as a regional Games, it’s now the Brisbane Games with seemingly first dibs on the best events, while we fight over the scraps.

We are the second largest city in Queensland, the sixth largest city in Australia, the powerhouse of the state economy, and yet our residents are treated like second-class citizens.

Now comes the news that Channel 7 believes we don’t even deserve our own news, as it axes its Gold Coast news service. But don’t worry, we can just watch the Brisbane news instead.

Are you kidding?

For the people in the back: the Gold Coast is not Brisbane.

We might be sister cities but we’re the fun, pretty, outrageous one that everybody wants to hang out with.

Channel 7 Gold Coast.

This latest blow from Channel 7 is all the more offensive considering the network is still offering local news to multiple regional cities in Queensland, including the
Sunshine Coast. Talk about adding insult to injury.

If you’re going to scrap a news bulletin for a region that can, allegedly, be serviced by Brisbane, wouldn’t you choose the town where there is no news?

I’m pretty sure people move to the Sunshine Coast precisely because nothing ever happens. (I mean this in the kindest possible way, Sunny Coast).

But there is something even more sinister than underestimating the value of the Gold Coast, and that’s underestimating the value of local news.

Even if Channel 7 axed the Sunshine Coast news bulletin, I’d still come out swinging.

While traditional media like television, radio and newspapers are still finding their way in this brave new online world, there has never been a time when local news has been more important – and traditional media is still the best source for that.

Look, I love to trawl through the community forums on Facebook and the Gold Coast subreddit page, you never know what kind of hot gossip you might find.

This sort of social media is simply the online version of Mrs Mangel from Neighbours, twitching the curtains, jumping to conclusions and spreading the word on the street.

Do I love it? Heck yes. But is it ‘news’? Nope.

Local news is made up of the stories that most affect us, whether it’s a new park in your neighbourhood, a new high-rise next door or the closure of your favourite restaurant.

But it’s so much more than that. It’s a protector of democracy, it reduces political polarisation, and holds public officials accountable.

When you take local news away, you make room for foreign actors to step in and manipulate information to serve their own agenda – just like research shows Russia and China did during Covid-19. How?

Karina Brown, Christie Perrin and Jess Harlen at Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year Awards Presented by Harvey Norman 2024. Picture, Portia Large.

Well, in the US alone the country has lost a third of its newspapers. Local news is also the glue for the community, rallying residents together and supporting neighbours through tough times. Just look at the Gold Coast Bulletin’s own Women of the Year campaign.

As for the criticism from those who refuse to engage with the news because ‘it’s all bad’ … it may not always be happy but sometimes you need to know what’s wrong if you’re ever going to try to make it right.

Not to mention anytime we publish happy or funny stories we inevitably receive the comment, ‘gee, slow news day’. While I understand parents who don’t want their children to watch or read the news because it’s too upsetting, the fact is that kids do need to learn about the world they live in. History isn’t pretty either, but it sure is important. Besides, if kids can’t watch or read the news, I sure hope they’re not allowed online.

At least what we broadcast and publish is screened, verified and critically analysed, which is a damn site safer than what goes unchecked on social media.

The beauty of a newspaper or news bulletin is that it exposes you to something other than your algorithm. It takes you out of your echo chamber and allows you to hear a diversity of voices.

Yes it costs a lot but it’s worth it. You deserve to know what’s happening on the Gold Coast, and not just as it relates to Brisbane.

So keep fighting for your local media, because it fights for you.

Originally published as Ann Wason Moore says Channel 7 axing their bulletin has deeper meaning for the Gold Coast