Ex-Sunrise producer reveals what’s wrong with breakfast TV today – and explains how certain guests could be alienating viewers
Adam Boland, the former Sunrise executive producer who helped Channel Seven win the breakfast TV war against Nine’s Today show in the 2000s, has broken his five-year silence to offer his thoughts on the current state of the industry.
In a wide-ranging interview with McKnight Tonight, the 42-year-old said he didn’t watch much breakfast programming these days but agreed there was one major issue with both Sunrise and Today: the questionable choice of political guests.
Host Rob McKnight, a former colleague of Boland’s, suggested to him that Australia was a nation of centrists and that having ‘extreme’ commentators such as One Nation co-founder Pauline Hanson – while beneficial for ratings in the short term – was alienating viewers in the long term.
Expert analysis: Adam Boland (pictured), the former Sunrise executive producer who helped Channel Seven win the breakfast TV war against Nine’s Today show in the 2000s, has broken his five-year silence to offer his thoughts on the current state of the industry
McKnight, the former executive producer of Studio 10 and editor of TV Blackbox, said: ‘I do feel Australians are very centrist. They’re not hard left; they’re not hard right. This is why we change governments all the time, because we go on policy.
‘But what you see now in breakfast TV are producers booking extremism. You know, it’s the Mark Lathams, it’s the Pauline Hansons, it’s the politicians with extreme views… [They not] actually trying to start a conversation.’
Elsewhere in the podcast interview, Boland said ‘it’s often the far right [that] has the loudest voice’ but this doesn’t reflect how most Australians actually think.
Criticism: In an interview on Thursday, Boland said he didn’t watch much breakfast TV these days but agreed there was one major issue with both Sunrise and Today: the questionable choice of political guests. Pictured: Sunrise hosts Sam Armytage and David Koch
He added: ‘I do think sometimes some of the conversations in mainstream media are played to a section of the audience that does not reflect the majority view, and as a result perhaps over time undermines their core brand.
‘I get the appeal when you’r playing in minute-by-minute [ratings] territory and you want to spike. You know what, controversy works… [but] I feel sometimes the conversation doesn’t reflect what the majority thinks.’
Pauline Hanson is a regular guest on the Today show, and her sparring matches with host Karl Stefanovic are heavily promoted on Nine’s social media channels.
Controversy: Boland said that Australians generally dislike ‘extreme’ politics and that having commentators such as Pauline Hanson (right, with former Today anchor Deborah Knight) on breakfast TV shows, while beneficial for ratings in the short term, was undermining their brand
Conservative: Sunrise is known for having right-wing commentators as guests, including Alan Jones (left) and Rita Panahi (right). Pictured with newsreader Edwina Bartholomew (centre)
Likewise, right wing radio host Alan Jones has a regular segment on Sunrise, offering his analysis of the day’s biggest headlines.
Adam Boland was the executive producer of Sunrise from February 2002 to November 2010, and is credited with elevating it to Australia’s No. 1 breakfast show.
Before he took the helm, Today had been the market leader for two decades.
He left the television industry in January 2014 when he resigned from Channel 10 and later released a tell-all book about his career, Brekky Central.
Industry titan: Adam Boland was the executive producer of Sunrise from February 2002 to November 2010, and is credited with elevating it to Australia’s No. 1 breakfast show. He left the television industry in January 2014 when he resigned from Channel 10