| Director | Phillip Noyce |
|---|---|
| Budget | A$600,000 |
| Box office | A$1.6 million |
Newsfront is about newsreel cameramen and production staff who are committed to finding compelling footage of newsworthy events. The film begins in 1948 and ends in 1956, when television was introduced to Australia, tracking the destinies of two brothers, their adventures and misadventures placed in the context of sweeping social and political changes in their native Australia as well as natural disasters. Len Maguire is constitutionally resistant to change, while his younger brother Frank Maguire welcomes any alterations in his own life and in the world around him.
Events covered in the film include Robert Menzies' return as Prime Minister of Australia, the 1951 referendum to ban the Communist Party, Post-war immigration to Australia, the combatting of the rabbit plague, the Redex Reliability Trial, the 1955 Hunter Valley floods, the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1956 introduction of television in Australia.