So, for a couple of days last week I got a new version of the ABC News homepage. Then, much to my liking, it disappeared.

Seems it is now back. I suspect permanently.

Very disappointing. Looks like a tabloid and claims that "We've made it easier to find the stories that matter to you with a new homepage, personalised sections and more"

Now, maybe I'm special but I don't want affirmative lifestyle features tailored for me, interspersed with links to things that are adverts but not actually adverts because it is the ABC, so they are pretend adverts.

I want the news. The good, the bad, the ugly news. I want the facts. The cold hard facts of the truth of what is happening and what has happened.

I don't care if it matters to me or not. I don't care if it might offend my feelings or affirm my beliefs.

Deliver me the news. Once I have read the news and digested it, then I'll be the decider of what I regard as "matters to me", not some radical editor or some half-arsed error prone AI.

For sure, throw in a bit of analysis from some experts to explain the complexity to us everyday folks. I'll even take opinion from experts and everyday folk, when it is marked Opinion (as the ABC does so well).

But if the ABC wants to publish stories, lifestyle features and curated human interest pieces, then do it somewhere other than ABC news

I agree, and I let them know in their feedback request.

Has it changed? I just opened it and it looked much the same as usual. Now that you've drawn my attention to it, I notice the lifestyle and entertainment tabs, but I can continue to ignore them

You'll definitely notice if it has changed. Last week I saw some discussion about staged roll of the updated look, on the various news blog links. Maybe depends on what platform / browser you use for when the update happens ?

It is the ABC News home page. It looks tabloid, low level news corp style crap to me with lots of things going on that are not the actual "news". If it was the ABC home page I wouldn't have a problem with it. Just not on ABC News.

To be fair, if you click the "just in" tab, it does look more ABC, with just news articles (plus the usually high quality opinion and analysis of the news) listed without the extra bumpf.

Select to expand quote

Carantoc said..
You'll definitely notice if it has changed. Last week I saw some discussion about staged roll of the updated look, on the various news blog links. Maybe depends on what platform / browser you use for when the update happens ?

It is the ABC News home page. It looks tabloid, low level news corp style crap to me with lots of things going on that are not the actual "news". If it was the ABC home page I wouldn't have a problem with it. Just not on ABC News.

To be fair, if you click the "just in" tab, it does look more ABC, with just news articles (plus the usually high quality opinion and analysis of the news) listed without the extra bumpf.

No pay wall.

.....and back to the previous version today.

And it definitely looks more... more factual, more news, less tabloid, less cheap lifestyle magazine. More, if I may say, "scientific".

Looks just the same to me. Perhaps you were part of a trial of a new look.

Mmm, seems even the ABC Chairman agrees with C-Toc.

'I think people have, in moments of public torment, crisis, division, challenges to leadership, a right to be able to access it from us reliably and immediately, and not to suddenly see a lifestyle story being number one, number two or number three,' Williams said of the website's homepage

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13707085/ABC-website-Kim-Williams.html


Apologies for the link to the Daily Mail. Other sources of the same report are pay-walled, so I figured not much point linking to. Also the Mail does also have a very insightful article on Heidi Klum going topless at the beach which may be of relevance to some watersports and beach forum readers.

I didn't know what you were on about. ABC News website is farked today. Weird how they rolled out this new look to only some people. I don't like all these prompts to log in and personalize the service. I don't need to see mood booster stories, I want the old website back, wtf!

Yep, went live to everybody today, 19th.

I actually think it is better than the earlier version. At least at the moment there are eght or so news "stories" before you get to the personalised mood boosters.

Before, the personalise feel-good women's weekly style coffee time read was right up the top, not in the banner but like the second article behind the headline of some light-hearted news quip, that might be the last story on ABC tv news.

If you hit the "Just In" link it does seem to delete the rubbish and filter to just "news", although it still then only gets three articles on my 27" screen with about 6 lines of text total.

Like I said before, if this was ABC's lifestyle magazine publication then no complaints, but as the main ABC news - broadcasting Australia to the world, it seems way too fuzzy and dumbed down, designed for offended morons to consume.

Maybe ABC readership can't handle the truth any more. Maybe they might all chose to be offended about something.

All explained here :

www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-19/abc-news-website-redesign/104234114

i don't like how the abc news headlines started to follow along the lines of news.com
here's what you need to know about something something
or
we've looked at such and such and heres what you need to know
or
everybody's saying this, but we looked at it and they really should be saying this

plus removing the comments from news stories

Apparently it's not been a fav, even the Betoota is taking the piss now:

www.betootaadvocate.com/advocate-in-focus/david-anderson-departs-the-abc-over-the-hideous-new-website-layout/