Nine News


Nine News is the national news service of the Nine Network in Australia.
Its flagship program is the hour-long 6:00 pm state bulletin, produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. National bulletins also air on weekday mornings, weekend afternoons and most nights of the week after 10:30pm. In addition, a supplementary regional news program for the Gold Coast in Queensland and news bulletins for Darwin and Southern Cross Austereo-owned stations in regional Queensland, Victoria, Southern New South Wales and the ACT air each weeknight.
Up until the mid-2000s, Nine News was generally the highest-rating news service in Australia, but in 2005 it was overtaken by the rival Seven News before it regained the lead on a national basis in 2013. The network's Director of News and Current Affairs is Darren Wick.

National bulletins

''Nine News: Early Edition''

Nine News: Early Edition is a half-hour bulletin airing at 5:00am on weekdays, presented from the network's Sydney studios by various presenters.
The bulletin was originally pre-recorded and was presented as the "AM Edition" of the Qantas Inflight News, a daily news bulletin for passengers of Qantas airways. Early morning bulletins were introduced in the early 1990s as Daybreak and, later, National Nine Early News until 2003 when Today was extended to begin at 6am. The Early News resumed for a brief time at 6am in 2005 and was presented by Sharyn Ghidella and Chris Smith before again being cancelled. Amber Sherlock and Alicia Loxley have previously presented the bulletin. In mid-2014, Julie Snook replaced Belinda Russell to present. After two years in the role, Julie Snook was promoted to the sports department and Lara Vella replaced her.
In October 2014, a new era of the bulletin launched with its contract ending with Qantas. The bulletin was renamed Nine News: Early Edition with a dedicated 9news.com.au news feed on the right of screen, finance and weather flipper at the bottom, a look-ahead to Today and the presenter taking up less than three-quarters of the screen. There was a look at the newspaper front pages which showed the front pages of the two Sydney and Melbourne papers, The Australian, The Courier Mail and The Advertiser. There was even a live cross in which the bulletin prior to October was pre-recorded.

''Nine Morning News''

Nine Morning News airs at 11:30am on weekdays, presented from the network's Sydney studios by Mark Burrows and Davina Smith and sport is presented by Mike Lorigan. Fill-in presenters include Jayne Azzopardi, Mark Burrows and Natalia Cooper.
The morning bulletin, originally known as National Nine Morning News, has been broadcast since 1981 and was originally presented by Eric Walters. The bulletin was extended from thirty minutes to a full hour on Monday 4 May 2009. From 2004 to October 2008 the bulletin was known as the Morning Edition, and until May 2009, was branded the AM Edition.
Local editions were previously produced for the Perth and Queensland markets - in March 2014, a local Perth edition was launched, accompanying the launch of Today Perth, but it was axed later that year. Between 2014 and 2017, a local edition was provided for the Queensland market, replacing the national bulletin in full. The local edition provided up to date news for the state, especially during daylight saving time on the South East Coast. This edition was axed in October 2017.

''Nine News: First at Five''

Nine News: First at Five airs at 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays, presented from the network's Melbourne studios by Alicia Loxley and sport is presented by Clint Stanaway.
The bulletin was launched in January 2011 in response to Network Ten's decision to move its weekend evening bulletin to 6pm - the network reintroduced a 5pm news two months later. Nine News: First at Five does not air in Sydney and Brisbane on Sundays during the NRL season or when live sport is airing nationally in its timeslot. The bulletin was originally presented from Sydney by Georgie Gardner and Peter Overton and Ken Sutcliffe, but moved production to Melbourne in 2015.

''Nine News Late''

Nine News Late airs at or around 9:45 pm on Sundays and around 10:30 pm on Mondays-Thursdays, presented from the network's Sydney and Perth studios by Peter Overton and Michael Thomson. Sport is presented by Clint Stanaway and weather is presented by Scherri-Lee Biggs. The bulletin was revived in March 2020 to provide updates on the COVID-19 pandemic and on the latest news of the day. The bulletin was originally presented from Sydney by Peter Overton and Georgie Gardner, but weeknight production moved to Perth in May 2020.
Tracy Vo and Georgie Gardner are the main fill-in presenters for the bulletin.
Previously, the Nine Network had produced a late night news bulletin named Nightline, which was presented by various presenters, between 1992-2008 and again between 2009-10. The bulletin was axed for a first time in 2008 due to budget cuts, before it was revived in 2009 and then axed again in 2010 due to declining ratings and commitments with televising live rugby league in the northern states, and Wimbledon in the southern states.

''Nine News Updates''

Short localised updates are presented during the afternoons by various state-based reporters or presenters.
National evening updates are presented on weeknights from Sydney. National late updates on weekends are presented from Perth.

Online presence

Nine News' website is named 9news.com.au. According to third-party web analytics providers Alexa and SimilarWeb, it is the 76th and 158th most visited website in Australia respectively, as of August 2015. SimilarWeb rates the site as the 19th most visited news website in Australia, attracting almost 4.8 million visitors per month.

9NewsWatch

9NewsWatch is an online bulletin streamed on Facebook at 8pm on weeknights, presented by Julie Snook. The bulletin premiered in August 2019 when the Nine Network announced its partnership with Facebook. Previously this bulletin was presented by Sylvia Jeffreys.

Ninemsn newsroom

Ninemsn newsroom was an online bulletin streamed at 12:30pm on weekdays, presented from Sydney. The bulletin was also available to be downloaded as a vodcast from the Ninemsn newsroom website. The bulletin was cancelled and replaced in 2013 with Nine News Now which airs on the network from 3.00pm.

Live streaming

In June 2008, live streaming of the 6pm bulletins in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane was introduced to the Nine News website. These bulletins can be viewed nationwide, regardless of the home market of the viewer. Nine Morning News and Nine Afternoon News are also streamed live online. As of 2014, Adelaide and Perth 6pm bulletins can also be viewed online. The ability to view live press conferences, and live feeds from various Nine News helicopters from around the country during a breaking or developing story was also added to the Nine News website.

Nine Newsbreak

Nine Newsbreak is an iPhone and iPad app that was launched in 2011. The app is constantly updated with videos from Nine's newsrooms around the country and overseas along with specially produced 60-second video reports and full video packages taken from Nine News bulletins. There is also a user generated functionality, enabling consumers to take a photo or video and send it via the app, direct to Nine's newsrooms. In 2013, Nine Newsbreak was merged into the Nine Network's 9Now app.

Capital-based bulletins

Afternoon news

National bulletin

Nine's national afternoon news bulletin was launched in 2004 as Afternoon Edition in response to the launch of a 4:30 pm bulletin on Seven the year before, brought about by extended coverage of the invasion of Iraq. On 29 June 2009, the bulletin was replaced by an hour long news magazine program, This Afternoon, which was axed after 12 programs due to poor ratings. The half-hour bulletin returned on 15 July 2009 and was extended to 60 minutes in November 2010 as Nine Afternoon News.
Past presenters of the national bulletin include Georgie Gardner, Mike Munro, Kellie Sloane, Leila McKinnon, Wendy Kingston, Alicia Loxley, Mark Ferguson, Wendy Kingston, Amelia Adams and Davina Smith.
A separate edition for Western Australia was introduced on 14 March 2012 and is simulcast on WIN Television in regional WA. Regional news coverage is incorporated into the bulletin following WIN's decision to end separate WIN News bulletins for regional Western Australia. The local bulletin was axed in July 2013 but latterly reintroduced as a thirty-minute addition to the national bulletin on Monday 7 October 2013.
Thirty minute additions to the national bulletin were introduced in both Queensland and Adelaide in 2014.

Local bulletins

In 2017, following the extension of Millionaire Hot Seat to 60 minutes, the Western Australian, South Australian and Queensland bulletins were reformatted to statewide, hour-long 4:00 pm bulletins under the brand Nine Live to replace the national bulletin in full. On 1 May 2017, Victoria received its own local hour-long bulletin while the former national bulletin was reformatted to serve New South Wales. Both Victoria and New South Wales retained the Nine Afternoon News brand.
The afternoon news bulletins currently air at 4pm on weekdays in four separate local editions; Adelaide's local news block starts at 5pm.

Sydney

Nine News Sydney is presented from the studios of TCN Sydney by Peter Overton and Georgie Gardner. Sport is presented by Cameron Williams and Erin Molan. Weather is presented by Amber Sherlock and Belinda Russell.
The bulletin is also simulcast on local radio station Hope 103.2, and in Griffith on WIN Television.
The Sydney bulletin was presented by Brian Henderson for 38 years – a record that still stands today. Henderson retired in November 2002, with then Sunday and weekend presenter Jim Waley taking over as weeknight anchor. Despite winning the 2003 and 2004 ratings seasons, Waley was replaced three years later by weekend presenter Mark Ferguson, after which National Nine News started to lose its long-time ratings lead in Sydney to the rival Seven News, winning just one ratings week in 2005.
Peter Overton became Nine's Sydney anchor in January 2009, with Ferguson returning to his former weekend role for seven months until his decision to leave for the Seven Network saw him replaced by Georgie Gardner.
In 2011, Nine News overtook Seven News in Sydney in the ratings for the first time in seven years, winning 26 weeks to Seven's 14 weeks. Nine has since stayed ahead of Seven in the 6:00 pm ratings race, winning the last seven ratings seasons consecutively.
In December 2016, long-time sports presenter Ken Sutcliffe retired after 34 years of presenting the sport; he was replaced by Cameron Williams.
In December 2017, Deborah Knight was appointed as presenter of Nine News Sydney on Friday and Saturday nights replacing Georgie Gardner who replaced Lisa Wilkinson on Today.
In January 2019, Knight was appointed co-host of Today and continued to present Nine News Sydney until December.
In January 2020, Georgie Gardner returned to presenting the Nine News Sydney bulletin on the weekends, replacing Knight who went onto to hosting the radio drive show on 2GB.
Fill-in presenters for the bulletin include Mark Burrows and Ben Fordham, Rob Canning with Belinda Russell.

Melbourne

Nine News Melbourne is presented from the studios of GTV Melbourne by Peter Hitchener on weeknights and Alicia Loxley on weekends with sports presenters Tony Jones and Clint Stanaway, and weather presenter Livinia Nixon and Madeline Slattery. The bulletin is also simulcast on local radio station 89.9 Light FM, to Mildura through Mildura Digital Television and to Tasmania through Tasmanian Digital Television every night.
The late Brian Naylor presented National Nine News Melbourne for 20 years from 1978 following his resignation from HSV-7 to 1998. Following his retirement, he was succeeded by Peter Hitchener as weeknight presenter, while Jo Hall took over from Hitchener as weekend presenter. Hall scaled back her work with Nine to news updates and fill-in duties in November 2011, with Weekend Today newsreader Alicia Loxley taking over as weekend presenter. Rob Gell formerly presented the weather until 2003, when he was replaced by Nixon; Gell subsequently defected to the rival Seven News Melbourne bulletin presenting the weather on weekends.
For many decades, Nine News Melbourne was the most dominant local news service, often drawing a peak audience of more than 400,000 viewers. However, in the mid-2000s, the bulletin started to lose ground to the rival Seven News Melbourne, winning only 24 weeks in 2006 and then narrowly losing in 2007 when it won 19 weeks. Even during the years when Nine News struggled nationally, the Melbourne bulletin remained competitive, being the only metropolitan bulletin to win any weeks against Seven News in 2008 and 2009. By 2012, however, Nine News Melbourne had re-established its ratings dominance, often leading their rivals by an average margin of over 100,000 viewers.
In March 2011, the GTV studios moved their base from Bendigo Street, Richmond, to a new building in Bourke Street, Docklands.
Fill-in presenters for the bulletin include Tony Jones, Brett McLeod and Dougal Beatty, Corey Norris and Alicia Muling.

Brisbane (Queensland statewide)

Nine News Queensland is presented from the studios of QTQ Brisbane by Andrew Lofthouse and Melissa Downes on weeknights and Jonathan Uptin on weekends. Sports bulletins are presented by Wally Lewis on weeknights and Adam Hegarty on weekends with weather forecasts presented by Garry Youngberry on weeknights and Luke Bradnam on weekends.
The 6pm bulletin is simulcast in Brisbane on commercial radio station River 94.9 and throughout remote eastern and central Australia on Imparja Television.
Fill-in presenters include news presenters Ben Avery, Eva Milic, Aislin Kriukelis, Samantha Heathwood and Wendy Kingston
Bruce Paige and Heather Foord co-anchored the 6pm bulletin from 1995 until 2001, when Foord joined Mike London as a weekend anchor and Jillian Whiting replaced her on weeknights. London resigned in June 2003 after allegations emerged that he had organised a female friend to complain about the presentation of weeknight anchor Bruce Paige. Foord and Whiting swapped positions in 2004 with Melissa Downes taking over as weekend anchor in 2006.
Foord resigned as weeknight anchor on 5 December 2008 and was replaced by Melissa Downes on weeknights with Eva Milic and former ABC newsreader Andrew Lofthouse fronting weekend bulletins. A year later, Bruce Paige retired from the weeknight chair and Heather Foord returned to present weekend bulletins solo for two years.
In February 2018, in a minor network reshuffle, weekend presenters Darren Curtis and Alison Ariotti were removed from presenting the weekend news; they were replaced by then-Nine News Regional Queensland presenter Jonathan Uptin.
Despite these position changes over the past three decades, Nine News Queensland continues to retain a long-standing ratings lead ahead of 10 News First Queensland and Seven News Brisbane.
Paige returned to full-time newsreading in January 2012, fronting Nine Gold Coast News solo until he was paired with Wendy Kingston in July 2016.
As of September 2017, the Brisbane weekend bulletins are simulcast in the Darwin area on weekends.

Adelaide

Nine News Adelaide is presented from the studios of NWS Adelaide by Kate Collins and Brenton Ragless on weeknights with Will McDonald presenting on weekends. Sport is presented by Warren Tredrea on weeknights and Tom Rehn on weekends, with weather presented by Jessica Braithwaite on weeknights.
The weeknight bulletins are simulcast on local radio station 107.9 Life FM and nightly across the Riverland and South West regions of South Australia on WIN Television SDS/RDS and is shown in the Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill in New South Wales on Southern Cross Nine GDS/BDN.
Rob Kelvin and Kevin Crease presented the Adelaide edition of National Nine News from 1988 until 2007, making them one of the longest serving news presenting teams in Australia, until Crease died of cancer in 2007. Caroline Ainslie previously presented the news with Kelvin until 1987. Georgina McGuinness was the weekend presenter between 1989 and 2011, during which her bulletins consistently rated higher than the rival Seven News Adelaide in its timeslot.
In 2015, Nine News Adelaide started to achieve regular nightly victories over the rival Seven News Adelaide. However, it remains without a weekly win over Seven since 2007, and hasn't won a ratings season since 2000.
In May 2018, long-standing news director Tony Agars was removed after fifteen years in the role.
Throughout the 1990s, Deanna Williams was the main fill-in presenter and state political reporter. Following Kevin Crease's death in 2007, Kelvin was partnered with Kelly Nestor, whose contract was terminated two years later. Kelvin retired on New Year's Eve 2010, but was brought out of retirement in 2014 as the presenter of the local afternoon news bulletin.

Perth

Nine News Perth is presented from the studios of STW Perth by Michael Thomson on weeknights and Tracy Vo on weekends, with sports presenters Matthew Pavlich and Paddy Sweeney. Weather is presented by Scherri-Lee Biggs on weeknights.
The 6pm bulletin is simulcast each weekday on local radio station Sunshine 98.5FM and nightly across regional Western Australia on West Digital Television. Fill in presenters include Michael Genovese and Jerrie Demasi who are a husband and wife team.
Dixie Marshall presented the weeknight bulletin between 2002 and May 2011, alongside Sonia Vinci as Australia's first duo female news presenting team for five years until early 2008, when Vinci was replaced by Greg Pearce. Natalia Cooper was a weather presenter for Nine News Perth until her resignation in June 2008.
In December 2019, it was announced that Nine Live Perth Presenter Tracy Vo will move to Sydney to host Today as a news presenter. Louise Momber will appear on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Jerrie Demasi will appear on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday presenting Nine Live Perth.
In March 2020, Vo returned to Perth due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to present the weekend bulletins, replacing Louise Momber.
Local Weekend bulletins Nine News Perth Saturday and Nine News Perth Sunday air at 6pm. Sharlyn Sarac and Matt Tinney previously presented weekend bulletins until Sarac resigned in 2010. Tinney left a year later to present WIN News in regional Western Australia.

Gold Coast

Nine Gold Coast News is a regional news service for the Gold Coast, presented by Bruce Paige and Eva Milic, sport is presented by Dominique Loudon and weather is presented by Luke Bradnam also additionally presents boating and fishing-related news. Launched in 1996, the bulletin airs at 5:30pm on weeknights on QTQ's Gold Coast transmitters, before the 6pm Brisbane edition of Nine News. Produced from the network's studios at Surfers Paradise, the Gold Coast bulletin is also simulcast on local Gold Coast radio station Juice107.3. Darren Curtis and Dominique Loudon are the main fill-in news presenters, with Luke Bradnam the main fill-in weather presenter.
Previous presenters of the bulletin have included Karl Stefanovic, Natalie Gruzlewski, Rob Readings, Jillian Whiting, Carly Waters, Frank Warrick, Melissa Downes and Wendy Kingston. Paul Burt presented the weather until he joined Seven News Brisbane in 2013.
Until the launch of the rival Seven News Gold Coast service in July 2016, Nine was the only network to produce a local bulletin for the Gold Coast. The Nine bulletin retained its ratings lead until July 2019, when the Seven bulletin officially became the number one news bulletin in the market.

Local composite bulletins

As part of the affiliation relationship formed between Nine and Southern Cross Austereo in 2016, local news services were gradually rolled out on Southern Cross' regional Nine stations in 2017 in Queensland, Australian Capital Territory, southern New South Wales and Victoria.
In August 2016, the director of Nine's news & current affairs division, Darren Wick announced that Queensland news director Mike Dalton had been appointed to head the new "Nine News Regional" division to initiate the regional news services. Up until the launch of the bulletins, the coverage areas received short updates throughout the day, produced from Southern Cross's in-house newsroom in Canberra.
The bulletins are produced and presented from Nine's studio facilities in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, and are similar in format to NBN News in northern New South Wales as a combination of international, national and state news with opt-outs for local news, sport and weather for each individual market. On weekends, these regions receive a simulcast of their respective metropolitan-based bulletins.
Following the successful rollout of the new regional bulletins, local studio production of the Darwin bulletin ceased on 8 September 2017, with the bulletin folded into the Brisbane-based regional Queensland operations. Darwin henceforth received a simulcast of the Brisbane bulletin on weekends. Darwin anchor Jonathan Uptin joined the regional Queensland bulletins, co-presenting alongside Samantha Heathwood upon the transfer.
On 17 March 2020, production on the composite bulletins were suspended indefinitely, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with reporters deployed to the metropolitan bulletins in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. On 29 July 2020, it was announced that the bulletins would return on 10 August 2020, to be broadcast at 5:30 pm - leading into the metro-based bulletins at 6:00 pm.

Southern New South Wales and ACT

The southern New South Wales and ACT bulletins are presented from the studios of TCN Sydney and are broadcast to regional viewers on CTC. The bulletins are presented by Vanessa O'Hanlon, with sport presented by Mike Lorigan and weather presented from the studios of NBN Newcastle by Gavin Morris.
Fill-in presenters include Lorigan and Sam Squiers.
The southern New South Wales and ACT bulletins launched weekly throughout February 2017, with the Canberra and ACT bulletin launching in the first week of February 2017, before rolling out to Wollongong and the Illawarra in the second week, followed by a Central West bulletin for Orange, Bathurst and Dubbo in the third week, and finishing with Wagga Wagga and the Riverina in the fourth week.

Regional Victoria

The regional Victorian bulletins are presented from the studios of GTV Melbourne and are broadcast to regional viewers on GLV/BCV. The bulletins are presented by Jo Hall, with sport presented by Nathan Currie and weather presented by Sonia Marinelli.
Fill-in presenters for the 6pm bulletin include news presenters Andrew Lund, Carrie Anne Greenbank and Dougal Beatty, sports presenters Clint Stanaway, Alicia Muling, Dougal Beatty, Sophie Griffiths and Chris Mitchell and weather presenters Sophie Griffiths and Hannah McEwan.
The regional Victorian bulletins launched weekly throughout March 2017, with the Ballarat and western Victoria bulletin launching in the first week on 6 March, Bendigo and central Victoria in the second week, the Border North East bulletin for Albury and Shepparton in the third week, and finishing with the Gippsland bulletin in the fourth week.

Regional Queensland and Darwin

The regional Queensland and Darwin bulletins are presented from the studios of QTQ Brisbane. The Queensland bulletins are broadcast to regional viewers on TNQ, while the Darwin bulletin is broadcast to Darwin on Nine-owned NTD. The bulletins are presented by Samantha Heathwood and Paul Taylor, with sport presented by Paul Murphy and weather presented by Nicole Rowles.
The regional Queensland bulletins were launched throughout July and August 2017; they were originally presented solo by Samantha Heathwood, with sport presenter by Paul Taylor. The Cairns and Far North Queensland bulletin launched first on 10 July, followed by Townsville and North Queensland on 17 July, Mackay on 24 July, Rockhampton and Central Queensland on 31 July, Wide Bay on 7 August, Toowoomba and the Darling Downs on 14 August, and finishing with the Sunshine Coast bulletin on 21 August. The Darwin bulletin, previously produced at Nine's Darwin studios, was folded into regional Queensland operations on 11 September 2017 and Jonathan Uptin joined Heathwood as co-host of the regional Queensland and Darwin bulletins.
In February 2018, Uptin ceased co-presenting the regional Queensland and Darwin bulletins and was moved to presenting the weekend news on the metropolitan Brisbane bulletin. In addition he also became the weekday sports editor for the bulletin. Paul Taylor replaced Uptin as co-presenter alongside Heathwood while Paul Murphy was appointed to replace Taylor as sports presenter.
The bulletins for Mackay and Toowoomba/Darling Downs were axed on 15 February 2019; from 18 February, Toowoomba and the Darling Downs began receiving the metropolitan Brisbane bulletin.

Current affairs

''Today''

Today is the network's breakfast program and airs weekdays from 5:30am to 9am, live from Sydney. The program is hosted by Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon with news and sport presenter Alex Cullen, weather presenter Tim Davies and entertainment news is presented by Brooke Boney.

''Weekend Today''

Weekend Today is the network's breakfast program, consisting of talk, entertainment and human-interest stories and airs Saturdays and Sundays from 7am to 10am, live from Sydney. The program is hosted by Richard Wilkins and Rebecca Maddern with news and sport presenter Jayne Azzopardi and weather presenter Lauren Phillips.

''A Current Affair''

A Current Affair is a populist tabloid current affairs broadcast on the Nine Network at 7pm.Tracy Grimshaw presents the program on weeknights, with Deborah Knight presenting on Saturday.

''60 Minutes''

60 Minutes is a Nine Network current affairs and investigative journalism program which airs on the Nine Network on Sundays for 1 hour. The program is currently presented by Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Tom Steinfort, Sarah Abo and Liam Bartlett.

Former programs

Nine News at 7 was a short-lived bulletin that aired weeknights at 7:00 pm on Nine's high definition multi-channel GEM. The bulletin launched in August 2013 and was initially presented by Peter Overton from Monday to Thursday and Georgie Gardner on Friday, Later the bulletin was presented by Sylvia Jeffreys. It was launched both in response to the Seven Network's similar bulletin Seven News at 7.00 and to provide additional coverage of the unfolding 2013 federal election. The bulletin was axed on 28 October 2013.

''Nine News Now''

Nine News Now was a news magazine program that aired at 3:00 pm on weekdays and presented from the network's Sydney studios by Amber Sherlock and Belinda Russell.
The program mixed news coverage with entertainment news and topical discussions.
The bulletin went on hiatus in November 2019, with UK game show Tipping Point airing in its place. The bulletin did not return upon the commencement of the 2020 ratings season.