Newsfront is a 1978 Australian drama directed by Phillip Noyce, starring Bill Hunter, Wendy Hughes, Chris Haywood, Bryan Brown, John Ewart, John Clayton, and Angela Punch McGregor. Set between the years 1948 and 1956, the plot revolves around a crew of newsreel cameramen and production staff who will do anything to get footage. Along the way, they chronicle several important events in Australian history, including the re-election of Robert Menzies as Prime Minister, the 1956 introduction of television to Australia, and the 1955 Hunter Valley floods.
This film includes examples of the following tropes:
- Been There, Shaped History: Among the events the film crew manage to document are the 1949 re-election of Robert Menzies, the 1951 referendum to ban the Communist Party of Australia, post-war immigration, the combatting of the rabbit plague, the Redex reliability trials, the Hunter Valley floods, and the introduction of television to Australia.
- The Cameo: Bruce Spence has a brief appearance as a driver in the 1953 Redex reliability trials.
- Enemy Mine: The two rival news organisations end up merging when television threatens to put them out of work so they can cover the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.
- Explosive Breeder: On several occasions, the film crew document Australia's infamous rabbit problem and the various efforts to control it.
- Job Title: The film is about a group of news cameramen and their producers, hence the title.
- Product Placement: The Redex trials are so named because their main sponsor is the Redex brand of oil additive.
- Red Scare: Prime Minister Menzies calls for a referendum on a law outlawing the Communist Party, and enabling the imprisonment of any person that two Cabinet Ministers declare a communist. The leader of the Australian Labor Party opposes the law, saying it will lead to a police state. The newsreader threatens to resign rather than quote the latter comment because he's worried about being denounced as a communist himself.
- Stock Footage: The film incorporates plenty of real-life newsreel footage, both in colour and black and white, of the events the film crew witness.
