Nine Gold Coast News: Axe falls on jobs as bulletin reduced to single newsreader

Insiders have slammed Nine bosses after positions were abruptly axed at its Gold Coast bureau in the latest devastating hit to local journalism. It comes as another regional bulletin is axed completely.

9 Gold Coast News presenters Paul Taylor and Eva Milic

Nine Gold Coast News will be reduced to a single newsreader, be produced out of Brisbane and run on skeleton staff under a savage move to cut costs that staff have likened to the sinking of the Titanic.

Presenters Eva Milic and Paul Taylor will split newsreading duties across the week, while there will be three redundancies at the Glitter Strip newsroom.

The axe was also falling on Nine’s Darwin news bulletin, with a Nine spokesman saying the Northern Territory would instead receive the Queensland bulletin.

It’s understood 11 full time roles across the Northern Territory and Gold Coast will be impacted by the decision, with many expected to be redeployed into other positions.

9 Gold Coast News presenters Paul Taylor and Eva Milic

“Nine has today communicated some regional TV News changes to its team as part of its strategic transformation program,” the spokesman said.

“These difficult yet necessary decisions ensure Nine is able to withstand external challenges, while maintaining a commitment to both the Northern Territory and Gold Coast regions.

“9News remains the only free-to-air and bespoke news bulletin on the Gold Coast, while in Darwin we will retain a reporter and camera operator on the ground to tell the Territory’s stories to a national audience.

“Through redeployment opportunities and current vacancies, Nine has significantly reduced the number of people impacted by this decision and we are supporting those employees through this process.”

Senior sources within Nine Queensland revealed long-term executive producer of the Gold Coast 5.30 news bulletin, Eve Sharpe, had been taken by surprise when she was called into a meeting with management on Wednesday morning and told her role will no longer exist from Friday.

“The management should hang their heads in shame,” a senior Nine network source said.

“They are on hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and are getting rid of people that are paid a pittance.

“Only months ago, management emailed staff on the Gold Coast telling them their jobs were safe and they weren’t going anywhere.”

Executive producer Eve Sharpe and long-time cameraman James Woodrow and John Dines have all had their jobs axed under the changes.

It’s understood Ms Sharpe, who has only recently returned from maternity leave, has been offered a reporting role on the Gold Coast three days a week. It’s a substantial demotion from her current role putting the 30-minute program to air each weeknight. She has been given until the end of the week to make a decision.

Another Nine staffer said producers from Brisbane will oversee the local news bulletin – with about six local reporters left to fill more than two hours of news every week.

Long-time Nine Network cameramen James Woodrow and John Dines were both let go by the network as part of the cuts. According to sources, Mr Dines is a good friend of Gold Coast anchor Paul Taylor and came to the city to work alongside his mate.

“This is the slow death of TV news on the Gold Coast – the Titanic of the industry,” the Nine source said.

“The network is on its last legs. It’s only a matter of time before the life support gets switched off.”

The Nine Gold Coast News bulletin has been running since January 1996.

The news comes just months after the Seven Network axed its Gold Coast news bulletin.

Originally published as Nine Gold Coast News: Axe falls on jobs as bulletin reduced to single newsreader