Presented by veteran news reader Jo Hall, the Western Victoria bulletin is the fifth in a series of 15 Nine News regional bulletins to be rolled out in the coming months as part of one of the biggest expansions of news operations in Australia.

The Ballarat-based bulletin of Nine News is set to go head-to-head in the 6pm timeslot with longstanding WIN News.

During a visit to Ballarat on Monday as part of a regional tour, Ms Hall said the roll-out was a big win for regional journalism.

“At a time when a lot of media organisations are shutting down and everything is diminishing, I think it is fantastic Nine are doing this because they’re actually hiring and re-building newsrooms to ensure high quality news content is still being created for regional communities rather than the other way around,” she said.  

Ms Hall said the bulletin will be a mix of local stories including dedicated local sport and weather reports, blended with national and international coverage.

“It’s going to bring viewers the news of the day – their news of the day,” Ms Hall said.

“Everyone loves to hear what is happening overseas, but they also want to know is happening in Canberra in federal politics nationally, what’s happening in Melbourne and what is happening in their own city.”

A team of three journalists and two cameramen will be working on the ground in Ballarat and the surrounding region to gather news as it breaks. 

“The benefit of it being done remotely is that part of Nine’s commitment when they took over these stations was a top-quality news service would be produced out of Nine’s stations which included news bureaus based all around regional Victoria,” Ms Hall said.

The team will work alongside production and editorial staff based in Melbourne.

Produced by Nine as part of its $500 million affiliation agreement with Southern Cross Austereo, the hour-long regional bulletins will air Monday to Friday.

The new bulletin will broadcast from Warrnambool and Portland in the south, as far west as the South Australia border and north as far as Warracknabeal.