Bolt’s Report: worst current affairs show ever?
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The reviews are in for The Bolt Report, Andrew Bolt’s new Sunday morning TV pulpit at Channel Ten — and they’re not pretty. As Sydney Morning Herald media editor Tim Dick writes: “Not having seen every attempt at television current affairs in Australia, it is impossible to judge The Bolt Report the worst. But surely it comes close.” Bolt is not dull, Dick acknowledges. But his TV show — more Bolt, less Report — was: “It is named for Bolt, hosted by Bolt, and dominated by the Boltian worldview.” David Knox at TV Tonight agrees: “Insiders showed he is more effective as a commentator than host, a role which requires more moderating and less editorialising. Can Bolt possibly have it both ways?” Or, as Dan Barrett argues on Crikey TV blog White Noise, if you’re planning a Fox News-style rant-fest at least do it loudly: “The Bolt Report feels like a low-rent cable news opinion-driven panel show that doesn’t have a strong voice. For the show to work, The Bolt Report and its host need to be bolder.” But there’s only two metrics that really matter. For Bolt, that’s the reaction of his many (mostly Victorian-based) fans. After admitting he was “nervous for the first minute”, Bolt took to his blog to seek feedback — and the vast majority of some 655 comments are positive. “A breath of fresh air from all the other far left wing nonsense we see on tv,” said “John”. And for Ten, it’s the ratings. They’re tiny, but about double the number of viewers who tuned into Video Hits the week before. As Glenn Dyer reports for Crikey (more detail in TV ratings), the show debuted with 163,000 at 10am with another 123,000 watching a 4.30pm encore edition. And there was a big boost for Meet The Press in its new post-Bolt time slot, with 98,000 viewers its best result in years. |
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12 Comments
There are as yet undiscovered tribes in the Peruvian jungle knew Crikey would be biting hard with criticism of Bolt’s new show. If there is one thing i have discovered since i abandoned the lunacy that is the left so many years ago is, if you have an opinion that differs form the looney left be prepared to be ostracised for having any opinion at all.
The madness that is our Governments policy on refugees was well discussed and informative in the first 5 minutes of this program. If you want Bolt to be bolder, be careful of what you wish for lefty’s.
I think Dan Barret is right, watching the show on line you feel he’s trying to be Australia’s Glen Beck but — hard to believe, I know — is a little too subdued.
Absolutely no pretence at balance though. The graph that illustrated the fall and rise of ‘boat people’ started at 4000 during Howard’s era, went down to near zero then shot up to who-knows-how-far during the Labor era — it literally went of the screen. (Psst, Andrew, falling numbers this year didn’t fit the narrative?)
But if he gets more strident and even more biased and has much more of Latham, it should end up being quite entertaining. I suspect that unless he does that, his kind of audience will not bother watching on a Sunday morning when they can hear that sort of thing from the convenience of their commute.
John, nobody is saying Bolt doesn’t have the right to an opinion. Crikey have the right to their opinion. Bolt regularly attacks people for having a different opinion to him so your criticism is fantasy, although I’m sure you’ll see my criticism of you as an attack on your God-given right to free speech.
Given that the ABC Insiders program recorded only 172,000 viewers, Bolts first debut rocked in 163,000 viewers - which is a remarkable effort for a supposedly teen audience - wouldn’t you say?
Even his own producers were looking at only 40,000 viewers in that Sunday time slot. They couldn’t believe their luck. He even pulled viewers to the aged Meet the Press and swelled their numbers. How lucky is TEN? Their gamble had paid off. But for how long?
Many viewers complained that they didn’t get to watch Bolt because of Southern Cross Television in the country regions had Video Hits playing still in the old time slot.
People were angry because they couldn’t tune in to see his show.
Now imagine the numbers if he truly went National in a real time slot - against whoever you care to trot out.
Bolt is a sensation.
The real reason for his success is that people are not served well by the Media in this country.
Learn to accept this fact and redress the balance if you want his popularity to wane.
He has a growing constituency that is all his own. So all in all, I would wager Bolt is enjoying some fine champagne right now, rubbing his hands with glee and planning his next program rant against Julia Gillard. Her Government after all needs to be held accountable and the mainstream media were caught napping.
There is no stopping him now.
Thanks for that Frank Bolt. I am pretty sure your brothers ratings will drop once people get over seeing the same car crashed every week.
‘a breath of fresh air’
I’ve seen that exact comment on all the talkboards about the show - clearly a campaign by his modest army of trolls
the interesting questions is - what is he going to talk about next week. If he’s already done climate change denialism and asylum seekers he’s really rather shot his bolt, what else does he have to talk about? Within three weeks he’ll have invoked Godwin’s Law and be out of material. Like all shock jocks he’ll have to rely on contributors like Johnfromplanetjanet for content, and will just become an echo chamber for disenfranchised undereducated old white men.
Ah I remember Bob Santamaria interrupting my footy viewing when I was a kid. Granted Bolt’s no ultramontane catholic but he also won’t wield anything like Bartholomew Augustin power.
John from Planet Earth: the right is looney - Bolt’s own views, where he will countenance the most bizarre conspiracies, are in line with the leadership of the Federal Liberal party. Given the Left has pretty much purged its looney left (even teh Greens fringes are dead, though not the Greens), your argument makes about as much sense as Bolt defending single mothers.
“…which is a remarkable effort for a supposedly teen audience - wouldn’t you say?”
Is there a demographic breakdown for the show, I can’t find one?
“Even his own producers were looking at only 40,000 viewers in that Sunday time slot.”
This 40,000 figure is being bandied about by the likes of Ian Hall and now Frank, but it has only come from Bolt and as far as I can see nowhere have the producers publicly stated what figure they were expecting. So I would like to know where I can find a quote of the producers saying what figures and demographics they were expecting.
As his numbers decline, advertisers leave or get free time and he’s only kept on air because of Gina I guess there is no stopping him, but it’s not for any of the reasons Frank offers.
Also lets put some perspective on these supposed great ratings.
The Bolt Report did not make it into the top 50 shows for Sunday May 8.
Number 50 with 184,000 viewers was Timmy Time on ABC in the morning.
Both Weekend Today and Weekend Sunrise Sunday average more than 300,000 to 400,000 over 3 hours, respectively. So far more people are getting political news from Andrew O’Keefe and Cameron Williams than from Andrew Bolt.
Frankly I have seen a lot of lefties doing very good turns at playing the Fox by insisting that the grapes are actually very sour when they see that Andrew’s show has actually rated rather well.
Love him or hate him people tune into watch and my guess is that they will continue to do so for far longer than the Latte sippers want to admit.
My prediction for next weeks show is that it will naturally look at the budget and that its presenter will be more comfortable in his role…
Oh it it looks like Dr Jason Wilson will owe me a latte
What is with the surprise that he gets some ratings, see gorgeous George, Ali, shock-jock etc. People love to be riled up and give a heated comment or response. What is a little alarming is that some people actually believe what he says, do not see the thinning veiled (very thin) attempt at unbiased ‘reporting’ (for want of a better word). Weather (pun intended) you believe in climate change, support Labour or Liberal, to gain any sense of the real facts you must stay well clear of any mainstream media and do some research for yourself. If you take an objective look, you will see that Bolt, and many others, are so far from the truth that the only reason for his show is propaganda.