When Sharyn Ghidella was informed via a phone call that she was no longer to host 7NEWS Brisbane she shared a powerful post on Facebook in which she said:

“I’m also not one to have my evening news served up with humour and horoscopes either, so, to be honest, it is time to go.”

As you may or may not be aware, Seven News now includes horoscopes, delivered by Natasha Weber, aka Astro Tash, in its nightly bulletin. This is part of Director of News and Current Affairs and Seven West Media Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie’s exploration of “new ideas and concepts to bring in new audiences so that we can showcase them this journalism”, as he told news.com.au.

3AW‘s Tom Elliott couldn’t believe the decision, saying:

“Astrology is not science, it is not fact, it is a rather stupid set of beliefs.”

I have no issues with horoscopes per se but for me the decision by Seven is the very definition of ironic. A segment in the news about what “might” happen is not journalism nor evidenced or researched fact. I have that very uncomfortable sense that one day someone might hear Tash say something like:

“Today is the day to shake up your relationships” 

And take it literally, because it is within their news bulletin.

I also wonder who such a segment will benefit? Will people have to switch on at 6:10 to hear Capricorn for Wednesday, like my dad does with the weather? Who is financially benefitting? Is it being sponsored like the sports report on many radios stations, for example:

“Tonight’s horoscopes brought to you by Specsavers.“

This is, for my mind, the most obvious move that a television news program has made to fit more into society and culture than research and investigation. The next steps will be stories analysing what Taylor Swift wore to her concert to see if it hid clues to her next album’s release date or whether Hugh Jackman is dating.

I’m not sure whether a 4 minute radio news bulletin would have time to include horoscopes but feel that if it could be monetised in some way, some might try it:

“Before we get to sport here’s Virgo for today. You can hear the rest on our daily podcast.”

From there we might also see:

“There was an incident at the Zoo today where a child was bitten by a snake. The Zoo has two for one deals till the end of July. Go to our website for more details. The child needed antivenom in hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.”

Any such sneaky insert of an ad into a news bulletin makes me as just as uncomfortable as a horoscope.

There will be some of you that will feel a horoscope is no better or worse than a weather prediction or the lotto numbers, and perhaps you are right.

But, the more that is a prediction or a gamble that is added, the less people will expect journalism and investigation.

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo