''SBS World News'' is the news service of the
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels (SBS (Australian TV chann ...
in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. Its flagship nightly bulletin is broadcast at on
SBS with additional weeknight late bulletins from on SBS. ''SBS News'' is the name of the news
app and website run by SBS.
History
''The World News'' began as a half-hour bulletin, first seen in 1980, soon after the launch of the then-named Channel 0/28.
George Donikian
George Jack Donikian (born 15 December 1951) is an Australian former radio and television news presenter/personality. He has worked at the SBS as well as the Nine Network and Ten Network.
Early life
Donikian was born and raised in Kingsfor ...
was the service's first presenter; veteran newsreader
Mary Kostakidis began reading the weekend news in 1986. The network's long-running investigative documentary series ''
Dateline'' started in 1984.
Closed captioning for the ''World News'' was introduced in March 1997.
In 2002, a digital-only
World News Channel was launched, aimed at providing a comprehensive foreign-language news channel, mainly showing additional bulletins already seen in SBS' morning WorldWatch timeslot. No English-language bulletins were shown on the channel until its demise in 2009.
''World News Australia'' was relaunched in its current one-hour format in January 2007 taking over the timeslot of ''
Toyota World Sport'' and signing
CNN correspondent
Stan Grant to co-present alongside
Mary Kostakidis. The merger between the two programs took place as a result of a claimed drop-off in viewers between programs, when a solid block of advertising would be shown. As a result, the relaunch saw the introduction of commercial breaks during the bulletin.
The new bulletin format has since lost viewers, with the late bulletin often out-rating the flagship 6.30 bulletin; most of this has been attributed to the perceived commercialisation of the bulletin by the SBS Board.
A dispute between longtime presenter
Mary Kostakidis and the network arose in August 2007, when she walked out of the network in frustration at what she saw as increased commercialisation at the network, and a shift away from the original values of both the news service and the station in general.
It was widely speculated that Kostakidis' contract stipulated she would be the network's main news presenter, and maintain editorial control over bulletins, somewhat altered by World News Australia's change in format. Kostakidis took legal action
against SBS for breach of contract.
In 2009, World News Channel was replaced with
SBS Two which became
SBS Viceland in 2016.
In February 2014, ''World News Australia'' was relaunched with new graphics along with a name, ''SBS World News''.
In 2017 SBS World News was upgraded with a new set and improved website. The program can now be streamed on th
SBS News websiteas well as the SBS News app.
Theme music
From 1980 to 1991, ''Processional Fanfare'' by the
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble
The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, founded in 1951 by trumpeter Philip Jones (musician), Philip Jones, was one of the first modern classical brass ensembles to be formed. The group played either as a quintet or as a ten-piece, for larger halls. It ...
was used as the main
theme. Since 1991, the ''World News'' and ''World News Australia'' themes have been written by
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and def ...
Nigel Westlake.
Bulletins
SBS World News
''SBS World News'', nightly at 6.30pm is Australia's only locally-produced news bulletin that focuses on world events. It is presented by
Janice Petersen from Sunday to Thursday, and
Anton Enus on Friday and Saturday. Finance is presented by
Ricardo Gonçalves on weeknights.
Fill in presenters for the bulletin include:
Ricardo Gonçalves and Darren Mara (News);
Robert Grasso, Mariana Rudan and Lucy Zelić (Sport); and Catalina Flórez, Virginia Langeberg or Darren Mara (Finance).
SBS World News Late
''SBS World News Late'' was originally known as ''World News at Nine'' (reflecting its original 9:00pm position), then as ''World News Tonight'' when it moved to 9:30pm. It no longer has any branding distinct from the main 6:30pm bulletin. In 2012, the bulletin moved to a later timeslot of 10:30pm.
Regular presenters for this bulletin include
Ricardo Gonçalves, Darren Mara and Catalina Flórez. Occasional presenters for the bulletin include Virginia Langeberg and Lin Evlin.
Previous presenters include
Anton Enus,
Ben Fajzullin, Neena Mairata,
Amrita Cheema,
Indira Naidoo and PJ Madam.
Former bulletins
World News Australia Online
Until its end in August 2006, the specially produced online news bulletins were presented by Ashleigh Nghiem. The online bulletins have since been replaced by stand-alone reports.
Radio
SBS radio news bulletins are broadcast throughout the day - including the flagship national bulletins, but also feature more national and international news stories.
National bulletins
The main national bulletins are broadcast on
SBS Radio on the hour, 24 hours a day, SBS World News Radio airs weekdays from 6am and 6pm on SBS Radio 1. National bulletins air on SBS Radio broadcasts the foreign-language news bulletins on SBS World News Australia Radio.
Presenters
;SBS World News
*
Anton Enus
*
Janice Petersen
*
Ricardo Gonçalves
*
Rena Sarumpaet
*
Darren Mara
*
Catalina Flórez
;Programs
*
Jenny Brockie
*
Lucy Zelić
Former presenters
Former presenters of World News Australia include Mary Kostakidis and
Stan Grant, who both departed in 2007,
Amrita Cheema who resigned in June 2008 and
Ben Fajzullin who resigned in 2010. In October 2010, it was announced that Neena Mairata would leave SBS due to cost-cutting measures. In 1999, Susanne Annabellem Robinson and Micahel both filled in on the World Tonight.
Lee Lin Chin had worked for almost 40 years with SBS. In 2018, she announced her resignation.
*
Les Murray
*
Lee Lin Chin
*
Andrew Orsatti
*
George Donikian
George Jack Donikian (born 15 December 1951) is an Australian former radio and television news presenter/personality. He has worked at the SBS as well as the Nine Network and Ten Network.
Early life
Donikian was born and raised in Kingsfor ...
*
Indira Naidoo
*
Craig Foster
*
George Negus
*
Kathy Novak
*
Mary Kostakidis
*
Ellen Fanning
*
Sarah Abo
*
Stan Grant
*
Amrita Cheema
*
Ben Fajzullin
*
Paul Dempsey
*
Basia Bonkowski
*
Neena Mairata
*
Peta-Jane Madam
*
Yalda Hakim
*
Anjali Rao
*
Karla Grant
*
Mike Tomalaris
Website and app
The website i
sbs.com.au/news There is also an app called ''SBS News''.
Logo history
File:SBS World News Australia.png, 2007 – 2009
File:SBS World News Australia logo.png, 2009 – 2014
File:SBS World News 2014.png, 2014 – 2015
File:SBS World News 2015.svg, 2015 – 2017
File:SBS WorldNews2018.svg, 2017 – 2022
File:SBS World News 2022.svg, 2022 – present
References
External links
*
{{World news channels
Australian television news shows
Special Broadcasting Service