Dumped Channel 7 reporter Robert Ovadia done with journalism

Former Channel 7 reporter Robert Ovadia.

Veteran Channel 7 reporter Robert Ovadia, who was sacked by the network last week after various emails and correspondence involving inappropriate conduct were unearthed, is done with journalism.

On Friday, The Australian revealed Ovadia had been officially dumped after 23 years at the network, and while his legal team has instructed him not to talk to the media, you can be sure this won’t be the last you’ll hear of the matter.

Over the weekend, well-placed sources told Diary that Ovadia was so upset by the accusations – which he has pledged to defend – that he is planning to leave the media industry for good.

When Diary contacted him on Sunday, Ovadia said: “I’ve been advised not to talk about my case so I won’t, but if you’re asking whether I’ll be returning to journalism? No, I don’t think so.” The Sydney-based reporter has engaged the services of high-profile lawyer John Laxon.

Last week, Ovadia told the media: “Yes, I’ve been sacked and there will be more to say about that in the appropriate forum at the appropriate time.”

On Sunday, it was reported that one of the strikes against Ovadia’s name was that he allegedly sent an image of a flaccid penis to a male colleague.

Sources told Diary the imagery was sent in response to a request by the male colleague, who was in the newsroom, for “Dick pics” while Ovadia was covering a court case.

It’s understood the picture Ovadia sent his colleague was an image obtained via a Google search for a flaccid penis.

No complaint was ever made over what was understood by both men to be a lighthearted joke between them.

However, the incident was slapped on Ovadia’s file after he later came under investigation for sending a female employee inappropriate emails using a caricature app.

No complaint was ever lodged relating to those emails, either.

West-style story

Nine Entertainment chair Catherine West has only been in the top job at the media company for a fortnight following Peter Costello’s sensational airport departure, but the accomplished businesswoman is already enjoying the perms – sorry, perks – of sitting at the head of the table.

Spies inside Nine contacted Diary last week to voice their displeasure at the sight of West nestled up in the station’s hair and makeup room, a necessary luxury usually reserved for on-air talent.

Nine Entertainment chair Catherine West.

West was seen enjoying the vibe in Nine’s hair and makeup quarters twice in the past week.

Once word got out about the in-house styling of West’s nest, there was a fair degree of grumbling among on-air staff, who often struggle to get their locks tended and their faces powdered before appearing on screen.

Diary understands West’s decision to use Nine’s hair and makeup team was in the name of business, and not for a personal engagement.

We’re told the chairwoman was “representing Nine” on the days she was pampered by the professionals, so it sounds vaguely legit.

Diary contacted West to ask whether her use of the service was appropriate but, surprisingly, we didn’t hear back.

Tom attacks Aunty

Melbourne 3AW mornings host Tom Elliott unleashed on the ABC last week after the media organisation’s relatively new chair, Kim Williams, said the public broadcaster needs a stack of extra cash to keep ticking along.

Taking to the airwaves on Thursday, Elliott said he was mortified to learn of Williams’s calls for the ABC to get additional funding, during a speech he delivered at the State Library of Victoria the previous night.

“He said we need to increase its funding,” Elliott said during his on-air take-down of the ABC and its boss.

“Now, as it is, the ABC gets $1.1bn of your money. That’s taxpayers’ money, every year, and yet the ABC is a failure.

“Its radio ratings are terrible. For example, the show that competes with me on the ABC rates one-third of what this program rates. And very few people watch ABC TV.”

But Elliott was just warming up.

“The ABC is an exercise in failure, it is not popular, it doesn’t have to play ads, it has a very strong signal when it comes to radio, yet people by and large don’t listen to it and don’t watch it,” he thundered.

Elliott’s cheeky ratings dig was firmly targeted at his long-time on-air rival, ABC’s Raf Epstein, with the pair pitted against each other in the mornings slot after previously competing for listeners in the drive slot for years.

But Elliott’s rant can be backed up with cold hard data.

Tom Elliott at 3AW. Picture: Jay Town

The latest GfK ratings, from survey three this year, show Elliott is the dominant force in Melbourne in the mornings slot with a 17.5 per cent audience share, compared to Epstein with just 6.0 per cent.

To crunch the numbers further, Elliott had 423,000 listeners – almost double that of Epstein’s 224,000.

Having made his point about ABC Radio Melbourne, Elliott turned his attention to the public broadcaster’s flagship station.

“Radio National, very, very few listeners,” Elliott told his audience.

“It is hard to see why we should keep pumping more money into something which doesn’t work.

“Kim Williams says $1.1bn a year isn’t enough, that we need more and more and more. Well, for what purpose?

ABC chair Kim Williams.

“I haven’t even addressed the ABC’s bias but it’s there for all to see. There is not one single person of a conservative bent who presents one of their major radio or TV programs, so everybody is left of centre, the only question is how left.

“The ABC’s own charter says it’s supposed to be balanced – it is anything but.

“It is paid for by every taxpayer but it appeals to a very small minority of viewers and I must say the small minority has shrunk dramatically in recent years.”

Tell us what you really think, Tom.

Boots’n’all

A solid crowd turned out for the Walkley Foundation’s “mid-year celebration of journalism” at a fancy harbourside bar in Sydney on Thursday night.

The usual media riffraff – including Diary – showed up to eat their body weight in arancini balls and party pies, but also to cheer on the deserved winners.

Among those to jag a gong was The Australian’s legendary workplace editor reporter, Ewin Hannan, who has been the nation’s foremost journalist on the industrial relations beat for decades.

The Australian’s workplace editor Ewin Hannan.

Hannan won the June Andrews Award for Industrial Relations Reporting for his brilliant coverage last year of the secret plan hatched by vaccine and blood products supplier CSL to shift workers on to lower pay and conditions, and make them redundant if they refused to relocate to the company’s new plant in Melbourne.

Hannan broke several exclusive stories on the shock move, revealing the initial plot by CSL, the subsequent fallout within the company’s staffing ranks, and the ructions at board level.

The Australian’s Liam Mendes was recognised for his short form journalism, winning that category for his groundbreaking work on the youth crime scourge in Alice Springs, which he captured in print, online, on video and through photography.

The other big winner on the night was ABC Broken Hill journalist Bill Ormonde, who was named the Young Australian Journalist of the Year, an award sponsored by the family of John B. Fairfax.

Ormonde, who regularly files for AM, The World Today and Landline, was recognised for his report titled Out of the Darkness, an interactive online story about mental health in remote Australia, featuring the account of a grazier who had tried to take his own life.

But Ormonde’s acceptance speech – during which he spoke of the difficulties of working outside the big city newsrooms – was worthy of its own award.

“I just think (regional journalism) is such an important part of journalism and it’s great, not only for people starting out in their careers, but also for those who have chosen to stay,” Ormonde began.

“It is undervalued though, and you do feel at times under-appreciated by those in metropolitan newsrooms. No one really gives a f..k (about you). You’re trying to pitch a story, like, ‘hey, this is a good story’, and they’re like, ‘no, get out of here, f..k off back to Broken Hill’.”

ABC Broken Hill reporter Bill Ormonde.

To clarify, Ormonde was telling his tale of journalistic woe while wearing a broad smile, so it seems as though he can see the funny side of being too readily dismissed by his colleagues sitting on news desks in the big smoke.

And Ormonde did say winning the award gave him “confidence that people appreciate good regional journalism”. Bloody oath!

As with all good speeches, Ormonde finished by thanking his mum.

“I want to thank my mum for giving me cynicism, and also her shoes,” Ormonde said, to the delight of the crowd.

“I left my boots in Broken Hill, so I’m wearing very tight size 9 women’s shoes right now. You might see me later walking around without any shoes but that’s the reason – I’m not too big for my boots.”

Cornes’ future

The future of Channel 9 AFL commentator and former Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes’ media career is causing plenty of rumblings within footy circles, with Diary being reliably informed his contract with the station is up at the end of the year.

Channel 9 AFL commentator and former Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes.

So will he stay at Nine, where he fronts weekly programs including Footy Classified and the AFL Sunday Footy Show, alongside Matthew Lloyd, Damian Barrett, Nathan Brown and Tony Jones, or will he jump ship?

When Diary contacted Cornes to find out his plans, he fended us off with a “no comment”.

Cornes caused a fracas back in March when he put together a video clip mocking former Richmond champion Trent Cotchin’s mundane and emotionless analysis of the great game on rival network Seven.

You’re the voice

One legacy of the horrendous Covid period was the workplace phrase: “Hey mate, you’re on mute!”

Was there ever a single work meeting during 2020-21 when some dopey colleague started to gibber on, without realising no one could hear him or her?

Ah, Covid. How we laughed …

Anyway, in the Seven newsroom, there’s a new variant. It goes: “Hey mate, you’re not on mute!”

The variant should have been deployed last Thursday, when Seven West Media editor-in-chief Anthony De Ceglie – whose recent newsroom reshuffle has left insiders’ heads spinning – again addressed the newsroom to deliver another line-up update.

Seven West news boss Anthony De Ceglie.

This time around, he announced that Sydney news director Neil Warren was hanging up his boots and being replaced by Sunrise executive producer Sean Power, who in turn will be replaced by the show’s supervising producer, Jake Lyle.

But an older male colleague was obviously far from amused with the in-house musical chairs, and unintentionally shared his colourful assessment across the meeting, for all to hear.

“What a f..king joke. A f..king joke. Unbelievable,” said the male staffer, loud and clear.

Nothing like honest feedback! Who needs anonymous workplace surveys when staff are so forthcoming with their views?

The explicit appraisal of the staff changes left people in the newsroom gasping – while those within reach of a mute button were able to hit it before bursting into peals of laughter.

When Diary asked Seven if any actions would be taken over the online slip-up, a spokeswoman declined to comment.

It’s understood the offender is well known to plenty of staff, but Diary would like to think they won’t dob.

Nick Tabakoff is on leave