Inside the media sackings and feuds that made headlines in 2025
From breakfast radio disasters to boardroom betrayals, Australia’s media elite have delivered a year of unprecedented industry chaos.
Twenty months after their top-rating Sydney breakfast show was launched in the Melbourne market in 2024, Melbourne remains largely indifferent to the nation’s highest paid and crudest radio duo, Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson.
The sun has risen and set on 12 radio surveys since the duo attempted to capture the flag in the southern capital yet despite the laboured introduction – and the expenditure of many millions on marketing the show – the Kyle & Jackie O program has barely managed to move the needle at all.
Having landed in eighth place in the radio ratings upon their launch in April 2024, the KIIS FM stars remained resolutely in eighth place in the latest radio survey.
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It now looks as though radio bosses at KIIS FM’s parent company ARN, notably outgoing CEO Ciaran Davis, may have made a gross miscalculation on the duo’s appeal when he doubled down and signed Sandilands and Henderson to record-breaking $10 million-a-year packages at the end of 2023.
Melburnians, unlike Sydneysiders, seem to recognise value for money when they see it.
Sickie-prone Sandilands started the year as he always does, baiting the media with claims he needs life-saving surgery or may die and finished it as he always does, still very much alive and angrily threatening radio bosses and the broadcasting watchdog ACMA over its plans to introduce new licence conditions which could force him to clean up the vulgar and sexually explicit content on his program.
LIZ HAYES V NINE EP
Following a remarkable 44 years at Channel 9, in February 60 Minutes stalwart Liz Hayes shockingly pulled the pin on the broadcaster that had made hers a household name.
Spurring her hasty departure, industry insiders exclusively told news.com.au which broke the news, was Hayes’ long-running disagreements with 60 Minutes executive producer Kirsty Thomson.
The relationship between the two women had been strained since 2016 when 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown and a crew of three staff were held in a Lebanese jail for their part in a botched and expensive Beirut child-recovery operation involving the two children of Sally Faulkner.
The four were eventually released after two weeks before returning to Australia.
Thomson survived Nine’s internal investigation – and was promoted to program EP while one of Hayes’ friends, veteran producer Stephen Rice, was let go by Nine.
Five years on in 2021 Hayes was given her own series, Under Investigation, which put some much needed distance between the two women but when Nine pulled the pin on that program last year Hayes refused to return to 60 Minutes’ fold despite Nine bosses going out of their way to keep her. In a stinging snub to 60 Minutes, the veteran soon turned up at rival Seven on that network’s struggling Spotlight program.
ITA BUTTROSE V OUTGOING ABC MD DAVID ANDERSON
Ex-ABC chair Ita Buttrose contacted the ABC’s lawyers in February to convene an emergency teleconference over alleged “inconsistencies” between Buttrose’s evidence in the Antoinette Lattouf unfair dismissal case and the federal court affidavit of ABC managing director David Anderson.
Buttrose’s evidence – an invoice from Corporate Cars Australia showing she’d been in transit from her Redfern home to the ABC’s Ultimo studios – showed she could not have been, on December 20 2023, as Anderson claimed in his affidavit “outside her office on Level 14” of the ABC.
The former chair’s action, revealed exclusively by news.com.au, highlighted the growing division within the ABC’s executive ranks over who should shoulder the blame for Lattouf’s unnecessary sacking three days into a five-day casual booking, something which in the end cost taxpayer’s $2.6 million.
Having been fingered by some sections of the media for calling for Lattouf’s sacking, which she denied, Buttrose urged the ABC’s lawyers to present her evidence to Lattouf’s legal team.
Having found that in fact ABC executive ABC content chief Chris Oliver Taylor had done the firing – Oliver Taylor resigned from the public broadcaster in February with a tidy $342,436 termination payment which took his pay for eight months work to $836,098 - the court in June ordered in Lattouf’s favour with $70,000 in damages awarded plus an additional $150,000 in pecuniary penalties.
ALEX CULLEN V NINE
Nine wasted little time in axing popular sports presenter Alex Cullen after he’d referred to Melbourne businessman Adrian Portelli as “the McLaren man” during a Today show cross to the Australian Open in January.
Flashy property investor Portelli had offered a $50,000 cash reward to the first journalist who gave him the title on television rather than call him “Lambo guy”, the tag the media had previously attributed to him.
Cullen’s Today show colleague Karl Stefanovic may have also dropped the “McLaren Man” moniker in the live-to-air cross – along with the suggestion he and Cullen “can split the $50,000” (drawing laughs from co-host Sarah Abo) - however no action was taken against Stefanovic, who subsequently flew to Las Vegas where he spent a week making puppy dog eyes at Nine partner and NRL boss Peter V’landys ahead of the opening round of the league season.
Portelli responded to Cullen’s plug on social media, writing, “we have a winner, well played sir”, and published what looked to be a screenshot showing a $50,000 bank transfer to the journalist.
Cullen, who later donated $25k to the RSPCA and $25k to the Salvation Army, bounced back after moving to Melbourne mid-year and picking up a job as a sports presenter on GOLD radio’s The Christian O’Connell Show and later as an afternoon news reader on Seven, as revealed here first.
AUSTEN TAYSHUS V ABC CHAIRMAN KIM WILLIAMS
Forty years after he last made news headlines veteran comedian Sandy Gutman, aka Austen Tayshus of Australiana fame, was back in the spotlight in 2025 after becoming embroiled in a running stoush with ABC chairman Kim Williams and staff attached to the broadcaster’s radio division.
In April the ABC’s own in-house whistle blower, Media Watch, revealed Gutman had dropped Williams’ name in correspondence to radio staff while attempting to tee up interviews to promote a 40th anniversary regional comedy tour he was doing.
Having initially accused the ABC of antisemitism, Gutman, who is Jewish, contacted Williams who responded by emailing or phoning executives on the comedian’s behalf and admonishing regional radio staff for knocking Gutman back.
“Our people are often arrogant with talent. How often would someone like Austen Tayshus be in New England? Strange attitude. I know he can be demanding, but he is talented,” Williams wrote to ABC head of audio Ben Latimer and news executive Donna Field.
After his actions were exposed, Williams told Media Watch he genuinely regretted any “misunderstandings in the process or erroneous assumptions”.
Two months later Gutman took aim at Josh Szeps, a former ABC presenter, in a social media rant that he signed “Friend of Kim Williams”.
Having initially outed himself as an acquaintance of Gutman’s from 27 years prior, Williams came out firing.
“He is not, has never been, and would never be a friend of mine. It is disgusting,” he told media.
MARTY SHEARGOLD V MATILDAS
Marty Sheargold and Triple M “mutually agreed to part ways” in February after the radio host made offensive comments on his radio show about the Matildas.
While discussing the national women’s team Sheargold told his audience he “would rather hammer a nail through the head of (his) penis” than watch the Matildas play in the 2026 Asian Cup.
He went on to say the team reminded him of Year 10 girls fighting.
“All the infighting and all the friendship issues, ‘The coach hates me and I hate bloody training and Michelle’s being a b*tch.’
“Now, I’m sorry to undermine the whole sport, but that’s what I think of it so you can stick it up your arse… Got any men’s sport?”
Following a barrage of criticism, Sheargold and Triple M were forced to apologise as politicians and Football Australia condemned the comments.
“Such remarks not only diminish the extraordinary achievements and contributions of our women’s national football team but also fail to recognise the profound impact they have had on Australian sport and society,” a statement from Football Australia read.
“I fully understand the gravity of my comments,”
In his apology the following day on February 25, Sheargold said: “I’d like to sincerely apologise to the Matildas and the broader organisation.”
He vacated the Triple M airwaves a day later and is yet to return.
As Matildas interim coach Tom Sermanni described Sheargold’s on-air comments as “out of order and very unnecessary”, female athletes such as Hockeyroo Rosie Malone and Olympian Libby Trickett expressed their outrage and federal Sports Minister Anika Wells called the comments out for being “boorish, boring, wrong”.
Triple M parent company SCA said: “We respect Marty’s decision to take a break from breakfast radio. He is, and always will be, one of the greats of Australian radio and comedy.”
In September ACMA found Sheargold had breached decency standards with comments that were “degrading and demeaning” to women.
NINE COMMENTATOR TONY JONES V NOVAK DJOKOVIC
Bungling Nine sports editor Tony Jones was benched from Nine’s Wimbledon coverage in June six months after provoking 10-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic and Serbian fans during a live news cross from the event.
Jones had been reporting from the Open on January 17 when, responding to cheers from buoyant Serbian tennis fans, he launched into what he later called humorous “banter” concerning Djokovic.
“Novak’s overrated. Novak’s a has‑been. Novak, kick him out,” the Nine News veteran heckled, sparking backlash from incensed fans that went viral on social media.
Despite Jones extending an apology to the tennis star the morning after, when Djokovic beat Jiří Lehečka in the fourth-round of the championship the next day, the champion boycotted his scheduled on-court interview with Nine.
Djokovic told media the Nine presenter had “made a mockery of Serbian fans” with comments that were “insulting and offensive”.
The comments added insult to injury as they were interpreted as a reference to the tennis star’s 2022 deportation during Covid.
Jones repeated his sincere apology on Nine however members of Australia’s Serbian community called for the Human Rights Commission to further investigate the incident.
This prompted yet another extended published apology from the broadcaster in July, the week after Wimbledon concluded.
“On 17 January 2025, 9News Melbourne aired a live broadcast as part of its 6pm bulletin that referred to Novak Djokovic’s attendance at the Australian Open.
“Nine sincerely apologises to the Serbian Council of Australia, its members and the wider Serbian-Australian community for any offence caused as a result of the Broadcast.
“No harm, nor any offence, was intended to the Serbian-Australian community.
“Nine thanks, and is pleased to have cooperatively worked with the Serbian Council of Australia to address and resolve their concerns in respect of the broadcast.”
THE PROJECT V TEN’S BEAN COUNTERS
The decision by Ten executives to cancel The Project after 16 years sent shockwaves through the industry in June.
According to network insiders, the program’s cancellation would save cash-strapped Ten around $15 million a year as the broadcaster wound up the lucrative contracts of hosts including Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Hamish Macdonald, Sam Taunton and Susie Youssef as well as production company head and sometime guest Rove McManus and around 100 staff working on the show.
Georgie Tunny however would be retained to replace Ten’s weekend newsreader Chris Bath, as revealed here.
However the real problem for Ten, as it soon emerged, was its back-up plan to replace The Project with a cheaper magazine-style news show.
That one-hour program, Ten News+ hosted by Denham Hitchcock and Amelia Brace and with eight contributing reporters, was soon haemorrhaging audience numbers prompting Ten to concede in October that it will slash the show in half from January and run costly game shows Deal or No Deal and Millionaire Hot Seat off the back from 6.30pm weeknights.
STOKES’ ROOKIE PROTÉGÉ JUMPS SHIP
He was celebrated following his April 2024 appointment for being a man with a “compelling” vision who thought “differently” about media.
However 12 months later Anthony De Ceglie’s vision – including introducing astrologers and comedians to Seven’s evening news bulletin – had become a running joke both inside and outside Seven as the little-known 38-year-old newspaper editor from Fremantle’s TV inexperience was laid bare.
The jokes began the day of his appointment when De Ceglie embraced the longest title in television, Director of News and Current Affairs and Editor-in-Chief Seven West Media.
No one was laughing two months later when he started slashing 150 jobs across the news division and replacing seasoned veterans with wet-behind-the-ears rookies.
In his third month he introduced a Friday night comedy spot The 5.57pm News with Mark Humphries which struggled to build an audience before it was dropped at the end of the year along with an out-of-place astrology segment hosted by Natasha “Astrotash” Weber.
By December Seven had lost its evening news hour to Nine for the first time in nine years yet De Ceglie, as editor-in-chief West Australian Newspapers which is owned by Seven chairman Kerry Stokes, talked up plans for the new year.
As Stokes’ “captain’s pick”, De Ceglie, or so it seemed, was locked in for the long haul.
But in March sports writers noted with interest De Ceglie’s acceptance of an invitation from NRL boss Peter V’landys to fly to Vegas for round of the NRL season. It seemed an unusual trip given Seven’s rival Nine had the free-to-air league rights sewn up while Seven had the rights to rival code AFL.
Then in May 2025 De Ceglie announced he was joining V’landys and heading to WA to take up the position as inaugural CEO of the Perth Bears.
The appointment brought taunts from the Perth newspaper De Ceglie had once edited, prompting claims Stokes was unimpressed his protégé of six years had switched camps and become a league man.
RHOS V LOGIES ORGANISERS
Seven of eight Real Housewives of Sydney (RHOS) saw red in August when their dreams of going to the Logies were shattered.
Fashion-obsessed program stars Krissy Marsh, Nicole Gazal-O’Neil, Terry Biviano, Caroline Gaultier, Dr. Kate Adams, Victoria Montano, Martine Chippendale and Sally Obermeder spent months contemplating their couture options for television’s glamorous night of nights when a missive from an executive, the head of unscripted/development at RHOS co-production partner Matchbox, arrived in their inboxes.
The Matchbox executive opened with butter.
“Congratulations to each of you on the Logies nomination for RHOS,” they wrote.
“It’s a show we are very proud of and we are grateful for all your hard work that helped make it such a great series.”
Then the bitter pill, as revealed here previously.
“We have one ticket only available for a RHOS cast member … I know this will be disappointing news for many of you,” queue hell hath no fury women scorned.
As benign Housewife Obermeder started joyously planning her trip, her rival Housewives tried to come to terms with the slight.
Montana spoke for all seven spurned castmates when she took to social media to blast the decision to give two tickets to producers affiliated with the show but only one to a Housewife: “I was under no misconceptions about the fact that production would prioritise themselves over the stars of the show. The ladies, who for almost no pay at all, open their lives to the public so that production can make money from our lives.”
