News veteran Jane Doyle signs off after 33 years reading news for Adelaide’s Channel 7
Jane Doyle has signed off on her iconic broadcasting career. Watch how her colleagues saluted her after the cameras stopped rolling – and her cheeky nod to Meghan Markle.
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South Australian broadcast news veteran Jane Doyle has farewelled “fond friends” and loyal viewers while looking back on some of her greatest moments over 33 years on SA TV screens.
Hailed by colleagues and fans as television royalty, Doyle said goodnight for the last time Thursday after declaring that joining the 7 News team was her “best decision both personally and professionally.”
Doyle thanked the “lifelong friends” she’s made at the network and said they’ve been a “continuous source of inspiration”.
Most of all, she said she wanted to thank her viewers who she’ll miss most of all.
A video montage shown at the end of the 6pm bulletin recapped some of Doyle’s greatest moments from the 7 News desk, and in the field.
The video was followed by an emotional speech that thanked her colleagues and viewers for a wonderful 33 years. Another video shows what happened after cameras stopped rolling, with Doyle’s colleagues giving her a heartfelt standing ovation.
And Doyle responded with a few curtsies, including a very exaggerated one that was a nod to Meghan Markle re-enacting her curtsy in front of the Queen.
The adrenaline rush of working in a newsroom was one of the things Jane said she would miss the most, but that most of all she would miss her viewers.
Jane said she has been “completely overwhelmed” by the love and support that was shown by loyal viewers after she announced her retirement from the newsdesk in mid-November.
Before signing off for the final time, Jane extended her gratitude to her colleagues and family who have supported her career with 7 News for over 30 years.
Doyle announced her retirement at the end of a news bulletin in November but gave notice to the Channel 7 newsroom more than 18 months ago.
She is a rarity in the cutthroat world of commercial television for leaving when she wants, on her own terms, without being pushed.
“Television presenters don’t always get to script their ending, but Jane is Australian news royalty,” Channel 7 Adelaide news director Chris Salter said. “She’s decided the time is right and we now have a chance to give her the farewell she deserves.”
Doyle, who moved to Channel 7 from the ABC in 1989, wanted to tell viewers herself and argued her contract was with them.
“I have always taken the view that it’s the audience that employs me and that it’s Channel 7 that facilitates and pays me,” Doyle said.
“It wouldn’t matter if I was the nicest or the nastiest person on television; my future depended on the audience being prepared to invite me into their homes at night.”
Doyle said she considered leaving earlier but Covid kept her at her desk.
She said Covid was the biggest story she covered, bigger than the death of Princess Diana, the Snowtown murders, or the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.
“When Covid hit, I thought ‘I’ve got to see this through’ and I knew it wasn’t going to be a story I could leave in that first year,” she said.
“We are still in it but three years later it’s time.”
Doyle, who was awarded an Order of Australia Medal this year for her work in the media and the community, plans to travel and will next year celebrate her 40th wedding anniversary – three years late because of Covid – in Norway.
She said knowing when to retire was difficult but she wanted to leave while she was still enjoying work.
“I have had the great privilege of maturing in public, on air, and largely on my own terms.”
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