Melissa Doyle dumped from Channel 7 weekend news to make way for Nine defector Michael Usher
CHANNEL 7’s Melissa Doyle has been dumped from a presenting role to make way for the network’s newest recruit, 60 Minutes reporter Michael Usher.
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CHANNEL 7’s weekend news anchor Melissa Doyle has been dumped from the presenting role to make way for the network’s newest recruit, 60 Minutes reporter Michael Usher.
Usher’s defection from Nine’s embattled flagship current affairs program was announced last week by Seven’s news and public affairs director Craig McPherson.
Doyle, who is moving over fulltime to Sunday Night, Seven’s rival to 60 Minutes, is “very happy’’ with the move, according to Seven sources last night. “It will give her a chance to travel with the show and work on it 100 per cent of the time,” they said.
It is the latest career detour for Doyle, who was moved on from Sunrise in 2013, and into a newsreading role on Seven’s digital channel as well as an afternoon newsreading gig on the main channel.
The 7Two gig was short-lived and Doyle last year replaced Chris Bath as presenter of Sunday Night when Bath quit the network.
Usher is yet to start at Seven but comes with excellent news reading credentials. He was once one of three candidates vying to replace the Network’s retiring news legend Brian Henderson.
Mark Ferguson, then at Nine, eventually wedged out Peter Overton for Henderson’s weeknight chair but after jumping ship to Seven, Overton prevailed in the battle of two.
Usher went on to 60 Minutes after hosting the now redundant Nightline and doing stints in the anchor’s chair of A Current Affair.
Seven is expected to announce Usher’s new role today. He has also been signed to Seven News Investigates — a new unit set up to work on in-depth news stories.
Usher starts at Seven in a couple of months.
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