Peter Costello has resigned as chair of Nine following airport clash with reporter
Former federal treasurer Peter Costello has quit as the chairman of media giant Nine three days after a controversial incident with a journalist.
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Peter Costello has resigned as chairman of Nine Entertainment and is standing down from the board three days after a clash with a reporter at Canberra airport.
Board member and former Sky UK executive Catherine West has been announced as Mr Costello’s replacement.
Mr Costello has been accused of pushing over The Australian journalist Liam Mendes at Canberra Airport, a claim Mr Costello denies.
Footage taken by Mr Mendes and posted on The Australian’s website shows Mr Mendes approaching the former federal treasurer inside the terminal and proceeding to follow him through the terminal and ask him a series of questions related to Nine’s handling of harassment allegations against its former news director Darren Wick.
In the video, Mr Costello appears to walk towards Mr Mendes before Mr Mendes falls to the ground.
Mr Costello said Mr Mendes fell over after he backed into an advertising placard.
“I did not strike him,” Mr Costello told reporters on Thursday.
But Mr Costello faced a backlash almost immediately with even stars of the Nine-owned 2GB radio station calling him out.
On Friday morning, breakfast presenter Ben Fordham told listeners that he had written to his boss to invite him on air to address the incident.
Fordham said if Mr Costello was to come on his show, he would say: “Boss, you’ve had a shocker.”
Fellow 2GB host Ray Hadley also addressed the incident, saying from the company’s point of view, “it’s not really good when the chair is accused, let alone acted in the way that he allegedly acted”.
Mr Costello served as treasurer during the John Howard government.
He joined the Nine board in 2013 and was appointed chairman of the ASX-listed $2.3bn media giant in 2016.
Nine boasts a sweep of print, radio and television assets, including its flagship Today and A Current Affair programs, and newspapers such as the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review.
In an internal company statement reported by the AFR on Sunday, Mr Costello said the board needed a new chair to “unite them around a fresh vision”.
“The board has been supportive through the events of the last month and last few days in particular,” he said.
“But going forward I think they need a new chair to unite them around a fresh vision and someone with the energy to lead to that vision for the next decade.
“The new chair will require full support from all directors as this is an industry where there is fierce rivalry.
“I do not rate the attacks of a commercial rival.
“The threat to this industry comes externally from trillion dollar technology companies that are competing for its business.
“To stand still or hope to continue to do things as they always have been done is not an option.”
The company is confronting a sudden swell of pressure following the departure of Mr Wick.
In a statement, Ms West said: “The Board knows that the events of recent weeks have been extremely difficult and de-stabilising for our employees and other stakeholders and we are committed to ensuring, through our cultural review and other actions announced last week, that issues will be appropriately addressed.”
Year-to-date, Nine’s share price is down 30 per cent and sits at $1.40 a share.
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Originally published as Peter Costello has resigned as chair of Nine following airport clash with reporter
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