Lateline

Tonight on LATELINE, host Emma Alberici interviews AL GORE, former US Vice President and Democrat Presidential candidate and later the star of global warming wake-up call, “An Inconvenient Truth”.

Mr Gore insists climate change remains the greatest global challenge. He gives a candid assessment of both the Gillard government’s carbon tax and the Opposition’s “direct action” approach.

The self-described “recovering politician” also lashes entrenched interests that he says stall reform in the USA. And has he ruled out a political comeback? Continue reading »

What do a prominent federal politician, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and a comedian have in common?

They are all part of the inaugural ‘Guest Tweeter’ week on Lateline, ABC TV’s award-winning late night news analysis program. 

Malcolm Turnbull, Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband, will kick off the new online conversation during next Monday night’s program from 10.30pm AEDT.

He will provide commentary on the domestic and international issues of the day – as covered by Lateline – from his Twitter account @TurnbullMalcolm. 

Nobel-winning physicist Professor Brian Schmidt (@cosmicpinot ) and The Chaser’s Chas Licciardello (@ChasLicc) will also feature next week. 

The tweets will not be seen on screen during the broadcast, but viewers and tweeters will be able to join in online or on their mobile phones by following the #lateline hashtag.

Selected tweets will be read out at the end of the program when possible. 

They can also follow @lateline on Twitter to receive first-hand updates about the program, program guests and future ‘Guest Tweeters’. 

Lateline intends to invite a ‘Guest Tweeter’ to participate each night the program airs.

Audience members can suggest future ‘Guest Tweeters’ – from any walk of life – via Twitter (@lateline), by emailing lateline@abc.net.au or the Lateline viewer number 02 8333 3822.

Emma Alberici is the new presenter of Lateline sharing the presentation role with Tony Jones.  

Replacing Ali Moore, Emma will anchor the program on Monday, Tuesday and Friday evenings in 2012.

Emma was the ABC’s Europe Correspondent based in London from August, 2008 and has just returned to Australia.

Emma Alberici said, “After four years in London reporting the news around Europe, I’m excited to be back in Australia and I feel privileged to be sharing the presenter’s chair at Lateline. I’m looking forward to being a part of a team with such an impressive commitment to quality journalism across politics, economics and foreign affairs.”

Prior to moving to London, Emma was a senior business journalist for ABC TV and Radio Current Affairs.  She worked on The 7.30 Report and Lateline Business, as well as reporting for AM, The World Today and PM. 

Emma joined the ABC in 2002, where she presented and launched Business Breakfast from June 2002 until August 2003.   Emma went on to co-host Midday News and Business.

Before joining the ABC, Emma spent close to 10 years at Channel Nine where she reported for Money, Business Sunday, A Current Affair and the Today program, as well as helping launch The Small Business Show.

Emma is the author of The Small Business Book, published by Penguin and has subsequently written a further two editions, the most recent of which was published in August 2001.

Lateline returns to ABC1 next Monday, January 30, 2012.

Lateline and Lateline Business return next Monday, January 31 on ABC1 and ABC News 24.

Lateline’s new presenter Ali Moore will be anchoring the program on Monday, Tuesday and Friday nights, with Tony Jones presenting on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

The unique nightly news analysis program will continue to bring up-to-the-minute coverage of Australian and international news and events.

For all the day’s business news, Ticky Fullerton presents Lateline Business examining the issues that are driving the world of business and finance, and shaping the day ahead on the markets.

With regular share market updates, as well as feature interviews with CEOs and other business leaders, the ABC’s seasoned business reporters bring the most comprehensive round-up of who and what is making news in the business and financial world.

Lateline is on ABC1 at 10.30pm, Monday to Friday and repeated on ABC News 24 at 12.25am (AEDT).

Lateline Business is on Monday to Thursday on ABC News 24 at 8.30pm, and straight after Lateline on ABC1 at 11pm.

Both programs are streamed live at abc.net.au/news

Ali Moore is set to take on co-hosting duties of ABC’s Lateline alongside Tony Jones.

The ABC News 24 presenter has been named the replacement for departing host Leigh Sales who moves on to take up the vacant 7.30 Report chair.

Moore has been featured heavily on ABC shows in the past; hosting The 7.30 Report, presenting the Lateline Business program as well as being the ABC’s China correspondent.

Tom Iggulden will come on board Lateline as a political reporter after serving as China correspondent for the Asia Pacific News Centre.

Source: ABC

Next week on Lateline, author and journalist Christopher Hitchens talks frankly about his battle with cancer, his treatment and its impact. 

In a Tony Jones special interview recorded in Washington, Hitchens talks about his legacy as a writer and what an early death will potentially rob him of.  He is 61.

He also talks extensively about American and international politics, reflecting on many of the themes covered in his recent memoir, Hitch22.

Christopher Hitchens says in the Lateline interview to be broadcast next Wednesday and Thursday nights:

“Looking death more closely in the eye as I have been doing doesn’t teach you much that you don’t already know, surprisingly.”

“I’m finding out how this can be managed.  Whether I can live with it.  Whether it can be treat(sic). I doubt its curable I think the word curable doesn’t really apply but it can be treatable. What kind of life and how much of it I have is my pre-occupation now.”

“As Thomas Jefferson said I don’t mind if my neighbour believes in one god or 15 gods, it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg as long as he or she leaves me alone. I don’t even want to know what they think.”

For a decade Christopher Hitchens has had an association with the Lateline program as a regular commentator.

Next week on Lateline with Tony Jones – Wednesday, November 17 and Thursday, November 18 at 10.30pm on ABC1.

Kerry O’Brien is to leave the ABC’s 7.30 Report after 15 years hosting the show. He will be moving onto a new role with the ABC that will see him able to relax a little more and decide what he would like to do with the rest of his life.

Prior to the 7.30 Report, Kerry hosted Lateline and has constantly set the agneda in Australian journalism. Some of the key moments in the recent Election Campaign were when Kerry was interviewing the two Leaders.

ABC Managing Director Mark Scott said that few journalists had played such an important role, for such a long time, with such integrity and distinction in the ABC’s nearly 80 year history. We went on to thank Kerry for his commitment to the ABC and the 7.30 Report.

Statement from Kerry O’Brien:

I have informed the ABC that I intend to leave the 7.30 Report in December after 15 very rewarding years as the program’s Editor and Presenter.

Quite simply it’s time for a new chapter. I’ve been in the pressure cooker of daily current affairs hosting and interviewing for 21 straight years including six years at Lateline, and it’s been something of a marathon.

It has been an absolute privilege to work with some of the most talented and dedicated professionals in the business, and I leave with confidence that the 7.30 Report will be at the heart of ABC News and Current Affairs coverage for years to come. This has been a great year for the program, and it’s good to leave on a high note.

I would also like to thank an extremely generous audience, including those who may have occasionally thrown a shoe at the screen.

I’ll begin a new association with the ABC in the new year, but one that will allow me time to take a breath and consider what else I might want to do with the rest of my life.

How can disadvantaged communities protect at-risk children from social exclusion and physical harm?

Today, ABC News launches Beating the Odds – a compelling multimedia feature on the plight of at-risk kids in disadvantaged communities, with particular focus on Mount Druitt in Sydney’s west. 

Video journalist Eleanor Bell and photo journalist Ed Giles, from ABC News Online’s Investigations team, attended the recent vigil for missing girl Kiesha Abrahams, and spent time with locals to examine what’s being done to stop children from falling through the cracks. The people they met showed them their community, through their eyes.

Eleanor and Ed were given exclusive access to Kiesha Abrahams’ school and the “breakfast club”, where 40 children receive breakfast every day. They spoke to the club’s support teacher about the plight of disadvantaged kids.

Beating the Odds also includes interviews with inspirational people who are making a real difference in the community, including: DOCS support worker Caroline Edwards, local residents, students, an Aboriginal youth worker and many more people who are working on the ground to support at-risk kids in struggling families.

ABC News Online encourages the public to get involved. By following the ‘share your story’ advice on the Beating the Odds website, people can contribute via email, Facebook and Twitter. They can also upload photos and their own video stories, for possible feature on the site.

Go to abc.net.au/news/events/beating-the-odds or follow the links at abc.net.au/news.

Warning: Some viewers may find some of the content and language in this report disturbing.

Lateline will air a special report on Beating the Odds tonight at 10.30pm on ABC1

UPDATE: Julia Gillard is our new PM, and our first female PM.

A Labor leadership challenge could see deputy PM Julia Gillard PM in the morning when the party goes to a vote to decide who will lead them into the next election, due later this year.

The three commercial networks, ABC and SKY News provided live coverage of Kevin Rudds press conference announcing there was a leadership challenge occurring.

ABC – already showing Lateline at the time continued discussing the matter, while Ten went back to fininsh Law and Order before their late News could provide further coverage.

Nine and Seven continued the leadership battle coverage with both returning to their programmed shows by about 10.45pm.

With Nine covering Wimbledon, Ten is the only free to air channel with late night news on this historic night leading up to the possibility of Rudd being ousted in the morning.

The vote is at 9am (Thursday June 24) – expect blanket coverage from all networks in the morning.

Meanwhile – SBS continues to show soccer – go Socceroos! See them live at 4.30am (hopefully) win over Serbia and continue their World Cup campaign.

Leigh Sales will be taking over from Virginia Trioli as the regular Friday presenter of the ABC’s award-winning Lateline program on ABC1.

Sales will move from her National Security Correspondent role to join the Lateline team permanently later this month.

Sales, a former ABC Washington correspondent, will continue to present Lateline when Tony Jones is working on the Q&A program, and will report for Lateline when not presenting.

The ABC’s Director of News, John Cameron, said Sales had filled the National Security Correspondent role with distinction. He said her move from that role was a natural progression.

“Leigh has developed as a highly effective journalist, presenter and interviewer, and Lateline will be an even stronger program for her permanent presence there,” he said.

Trioli is about to move to Melbourne, where she will co-host the new ABC News Breakfast program on ABC2. That program is due to make its debut later next month.