BuzzFeed Australia and Twitter today announced the launch of a new live show, OzPol Live.
Greenlit for a five-episode pilot season, OzPol Live will launch on 9 May at 11am AEST exclusively on Twitter via @BuzzFeedOzPol with a Federal Budget special.
Hosted by BuzzFeed Australia’s politics editor Alice Workman (@workmanalice), OzPol Live will broadcast live from the Australian Parliament House Press Gallery on the Wednesday of each Parliamentary sitting week.
The live stream will be free and accessible globally to logged-in and logged-out users on Twitter and connected devices. You can follow the conversation via #BFOzPol.
Each 45-60 minute episode of OzPol Live will take viewers inside the Press Gallery to unpack the latest Canberra shenanigans, political manoeuvring and policy hotspots.
Alice will be joined by politicians and commentators, as well as fellow BuzzFeed News reporters including Josh Taylor, Lane Sainty, Gina Rushton and Paul Farrell.
OzPol Live will be a mix of timely and incisive interviews, big scoops, Twitter banter and entertaining segments that tease and probe the often surreal side of Australian federal politics.
OzPol Live will be a must watch for #auspol tragics and people cautiously curious about the goings-on in Canberra.
“News out of Canberra moves so quickly, and #auspol is the epicentre of it all,” said Alice Workman, BuzzFeed Australia’s political editor and host of OzPol Live.
“The Twitter conversation never fails to entertain as much as it informs, and that’s the same balance we’ll strike on OzPol Live, Australia’s first show devoted to the unique way Aussie politics plays out on Twitter and beyond.”
“I can’t wait to bring our audience into the story and have that real time feedback as we broadcast. We can trust them to keep us on our toes!”
“For years now, #auspol has been the most mentioned hashtag on Twitter in Australia, so we know that nothing gets Aussies talking like politics.”
“Twitter is where people turn to see what’s happening in world of politics everyday, and the @BuzzFeedOzPol team have long been a vital source for many of our users,” said Jonathan Harley, Twitter’s APAC director of news partnerships.
“We are excited to collaborate with Alice and BuzzFeed to bring their distinctive voice to a live show, broadcast alongside the best real time #auspol conversations from the pollies, pundits, and punters on Twitter.”
Tens of millions of people have tuned into BuzzFeed News’ live video productions around the globe, from the US Inauguration to Brexit debates in the UK, and Twitter show AM to DM broadcast daily from New York City continues to draw millions of viewers each week.
Executive Producer of BFOzPol Live is Nicola Harvey, and InBox News is the production partner.