MEDIA:

ABC TV plans to extend indefinitely its around-the-clock coverage of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s death to cover the passing of King Charles III.

A spokesperson for the national broadcaster Tess Patton said ABC chair Ita Buttrose had issued a directive to all departments with ABC TV to ensure the live coverage viewers had seen since the Queen’s death early on Friday morning Australian time would continue until the passing of the new King.

“You must remember that Ita cut her teeth as a media decision-maker as editor of The Women’s Weekly which in turn relied almost entirely on stories about the royal family to fill its cover and most of its inside pages,” Ms Patton said.

“Ita knows what ‘sells’ when it comes to Australian media consumers and the live 24/7 coverage of the Queen’s death and subsequent events have proved.

“Besides, it’s so cheap too. All we need is a male and female host dressed in black to interview a conga line of barely recognisable and sycophantic ‘royal commentators’ or average people who may have come into contact with the Queen, even it was just licking a stamp with her face on it.

“The only problem with Ita’s plan is to ensure we have enough male and female hosts to front the cameras around the clock for however many years it will take.  

“To fill the void Ita has established a special nursery in which specially selected photogenic toddlers can be trained up in TV presentation skills, which really doesn’t take all that long. (main picture)

“At this stage we’re not sure how long the new coverage arrangements will be in place because we’re not sure how long King Charles will reign – one, five, 10 years? Who knows. We all know it certainly won’t be 70 that’s for sure,” Ms Patton said.