Dr Graham Phillips is one of Catalyst's more experienced presenters. Credit:ABC The ABC has revealed "up to" nine staff positions associated with the program "may" be affected by the restructure. The ABC has not put a timeline or a final number on redundancies, but it is expected that at least some staff will be redeployed on the new format or elsewhere within the organisation. Future of Demasi unclear The future of presenter Maryanne Demasi, who was at the centre of two reports that came under intense criticism and who was suspended pending the outcome of an internal review earlier this year, has not been revealed. The chances of her surviving the restructure must, however, be extremely slim. In a statement issued this morning, the ABC said it was "committed to increasing its investment in science".

It claimed the new hour-long format would "enable Catalyst to explore a range of science ideas in depth, using leading expert subject presenters, rather than a fixed ensemble of science reporters". That appears to amount to a vote of no-confidence in its previous approach, in which producers and presenters researched and reported across a range of fields. The future of controversial Catalyst presenter Maryanne Demasi remains unclear. Credit:ABC TV Scientists condemn proposal But scientists have condemned the move to the new format, suggesting it will lead to a far less nimble program. "I am concerned that the long-form documentary style will make it much harder to respond to topical issues that the public cares about," said Dr Susannah Eliott, CEO of the Australian Science Media Centre. She cited the example of Fukushima, saying "normally people want to have context and depth on an issue once it has made a big splash".

Professor Joan Leach, director of the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU, warned that moving from a journalist-fronted format to one in which scientists did the storytelling posed serious risks. "While scientists can sometimes be excellent communicators, they are going to need a lot of support," she said, echoing observations by others that the scientific community wasn't exactly brimming with Dr Karls or Brian Coxes. She added that "they won't necessarily bring a critical and unbiased lens to science". Dr Paul Willis, a former Catalyst reporter and now director of online resource Australia's Science Channel, said the decision to axe the Catalyst team was "extremely short-sighted". He conceded Catalyst had been "crying out for a review of the editorial control over its content", but said the proposed changes "will not achieve that end". The end of Australian science on TV

Meanwhile, independent documentary producer Simon Nasht has condemned the lack of scientific expertise informing the decision, which he predicts will lead to a serious diminution of coverage of Australian science on the ABC. "This decision has been taken by a board where no one has a science degree, by ABC senior executives where no one has a science degree, and by editorial managers who have no experience in science broadcasting, and that's disappointing," he said. Mr Nasht said the culling of expertise within the Catalyst unit would likely lead the ABC to realise it in fact had neither the resources nor the expertise to produce hour-long science documentaries. "One-hour science films are complicated to make, and very hard to bring in on budget and on time," he said. "I fear it will ultimately lead to the easy solution, which is to buy these programs from overseas, and that's the end of Australian science on Australian television."

Audience demand forced change The Catalyst team will now be expected to generate additional short-form content for use on the ABC's digital platforms throughout the year. Mr Finlayson said the proposed change in direction was driven by changing audience demands. "Catalyst has made a huge contribution to science communication over 16 years. But audiences can now get instant access to quality content anywhere in the world and we must ensure our programs can have the greatest possible public impact. "Under this model, we will encourage excellence by allowing the best minds in Australia to pitch their science ideas no matter how local or how global."

The ABC created 29 hours of science-related TV content in 2015-16. Seventeen hours of that content came from Catalyst. Karl Quinn is on facebook at karlquinnjournalist and on twitter @karlkwin