Lexicon News 2: Night 4

Welcome to night four, of Lexicon News 2.

The 10th of Feburary, 2022 is a milestone not just for the second edition of Lexicon News. On this day, in 1992, the first episode of Brisbane Extra premiered.

(Extra press ad, Feburary 10, 1992: from SLQ microfiche)

Our tribute, to the eighteen year run of Extra (a program that many critics in the nineties thought it wouldn't last the distance) that began on this day thirty years ago, is not just in this post. After Lexicon News Night 4, is posted: we will be releasing a commemorative coffee mug and travel mug over at Redbubble, to highlight the milestone that the 10th of Feburary will mark.

Let's reiterate the ground rules.

The Ground Rules:

The ground rules, for the Lexicon News event, are taken from a promo, in 1987: that compared Seven's second attempt at 1hr news in Brisbane, with Nine's 1/2hr product that became dominant at the exact same time.

As it described:

"If you are watching a half-hour news, take out the weather, sport, opening music, hello's and goodbyes and the commercials, and you could only get about 12 minutes of real news each night."

Thus the ground rules for the Lexicon News challenge are for four nights:

-Time the length of the bulletin, from the moment the first story intro begins at 6, to the time the throw to sport begins, on both bulletins.

-Write down every story on the 1hr version, and compare with the half hour version to see how much content is removed.

-Subtract the BNE timing from the regional timing to get the amount of time lost to regional QLD viewers each night by simply trimming the BTQ news bulletin.

-Ultimately: add up all the figures, and come up with a final set of numbers at the end of the week.

In addition, we will be tracking how many coverups of live cross timings (usually seen as giant "LIVE" graphics superimposed) are made by Seven on the 10 minute edit during this period.

And, one more thing. Enjoying Lexicon News 2? Come on over and buy the merchandise for this event over at our Redbubble store.

And now, let us begin night four of Lexicon News.

Wait... let's get a image befitting of this significant anniversary.

Another day, another chance for the ratings to tell the story. Nine's Brisbane news took out last night between 6-7pm in Brisbane with 164,000 viewers to Seven's 150,000 viewers, a likely symptom of Seven running a condensed Chase episode at 5:30pm. The Winter Olympics actually beat Married at First Sight in the SEQ market last night.

Today, Thursday Feburary 10 2022: is one of sleeping in federal pollies (after a marathon session that only ended at 5am AEDT this morning) and shrinking numbers of COVID cases, while politicians in multiple states are thinking of extending the definition of "fully vaccinated".

Now it's time for Lexicon News 2: Night 4.

Now, we have a chronological overview of the BTQ bulletin as it aired in Brisbane tonight, between the opener and sport. Stories shared with the regional cut, are marked in bold and red.

Opener, suspicious fire Coomera, live cross from RBWH (6:01, covered up in regional QLD), QLD Omicron peak hopes, Desk live cross about school COVID cases, rumors about fully vaccinated description changes, arrests concerning Sunnybank accident/robbery Monday night, religious discrimination bill in federal parliament, conviction over murder of Harrison Geppert, more coverage of Ben Roberts Smith court case, extradition of Omega Ruston accused, undisclosed election hacking finding from ASIO, Integrity issues QLD parliament, live cross to China (4.15pm) (end of segment one)

(Start of segment two) fines for new cameras tracking mobile phone use by drivers, Suttons Beach Pavilion update, Ukraine update, Geomagnetic storm effecting satellites freshly launched, Russian security guard vandalizes painting first day on the job and gets sacked. (end of segment two)

(Start of segment three) Rental crisis, live cross to court at 6:30pm (Whiskey au Go Go inquiry), with none other than Tony Bellino (if you are too young to remember him: ask your parents or your grandparents) being called to the stand, a RTI investigation on digital teams by politicians, dating scams, Powerball draw.  (end of segment 3)

(Start of segment four) Fuelwatch/finance, house boat broken up thanks to the "War on Wrecks", Digital loans for parents, North Carolina near miss by a Tesla on autopilot, new Samsung phones.  (intro to sport)

The timing in Brisbane added up to  30 minutes,  45 seconds.

The regional cut added up to  10 minutes,  30 seconds.

The amount of content Seven lexiconed out, of their Brisbane newshour in regional QLD tonight:  20 minutes,  15 seconds.

The amount of lexiconed content this week so far by Seven:  60 minutes,  00 seconds.
We've hit the hour, and slightly less than what was experienced in August 2021.

You know what's worse than one QLD political story not being shown to viewers outside Brisbane... try four: including your big RTI exclusive. That adds up to a total of six QLD political stories excised out of the regional cut this week by Seven. About as bad as pasta sauce without the pasta, right Neil Warren? 

The finale, of Lexicon News 2 is tomorrow.
And, to borrow from Glenn Taylor...
Thanks for having us at your place, good night.

But before we go, to end "Extra Night" off right, let's look back at one time it really didn't go right on the night for Rick Burnett on Extra, back in late 1994.

(From Dan Martin, on Youtube)