They said it was dying - TV News would be eaten up by new media and viewer apathy and disappear from our screens.
But there's more of it than ever, ratings are higher than they've been for years and competition between the networks remains ferocious.
So what's happened and why? And what can we expect in 2013 and beyond?
In a rare joint appearance, Melbourne's TV News Directors - Shane Castleman of the ABC, Simon Pristel from the Seven Network, the Nine Network's Hugh Nailon and Dermot O'Brien from Network Ten - provided some answers to those questions and others at a Melbourne Press Club lunch.