Ai-Media to make changes after culprit behind newsreader’s Novak Djokovic rant is identified

Ai-Media will make changes to its operations after finding the culprit behind the leaking of Channel 7 News presenters’ Novak Djokovic rant.

Listed company Ai-Media is promising to “enhance controls” after it identified the employee responsible for leaking studio footage of 7 News Melbourne newsreaders Mike Amor and Rebecca Maddern slamming tennis star Novak Djokovic.

Video of the hosts slagging Djokovic before the 6pm evening bulletin went viral on Tuesday night, in what Seven says was a “private conversation”.

Ai-Media released a statement on Friday saying that it had identified an employee working remotely due to the Covid-19 outbreak as responsible for the “unauthorised distribution of the content”.

“Appropriate action has been taken with regard to the employee responsible,” the company said.

On Wednesday, captioning service Ai-Media launched a thorough investigation, with an external “forensic IT auditor” called in to determine the exact source of the leak. As part of the process staff were extensively interviewed.

Ai-Media CEO Tony Abrahams said this was the first such incident in the company’s 19-year history, and enhanced controls have since been implemented to ensure it cannot be repeated.

“We have longstanding and strong relationships within the media industry in Australia, and value our relationship with the Seven Network with whom we have worked with for over five years,” he said.

Screen grabs of Mike Amor and Rebecca Maddern who were caught out slamming Novak Djokovic in an off-air studio exchange that was leaked online.

Leaked footage went viral on social media earlier this week with the Maddern and Amor labelling tennis player Djokovic an “arsehole”.

“Whatever way you look at it, Novak Djokovic is a lying, sneaky arsehole,” Maddern said.

“That’s it, I mean he’s an arsehole. He got a bullshit f. king excuse and then fell over his own f. king lies. It’s just what happens, right, that’s what happened,” Amor said.

Sources have also said Seven are “likely” to report the leak to police. Seven employees were cleared early on in the investigation, with a timestamp – which does not appear on internal Seven video outputs – visible in the footage.

It’s not known whether Seven is looking at terminating the contract, which is understood to have fewer than six months to run.

It is expected the tender will be hard-fought between prospective replacements and the network will secure considerable savings.

It is understood the captioning of breakfast show Sunrise costs the network almost $750,000 a year, and the 6pm evening news comes at up to $80,000 per market.

Director of News and Public Affairs Craig McPherson issuing a blistering statement this week against the individual or individuals responsible.

“The illegal recording was of a private conversation between two colleagues. It was an underhanded, cowardly act in breach of the Victorian Listening Devices legislation the perpetrator of which will be accordingly dealt with when found,” he said.

Shares in Ai-Media are trading 3.7 per cent lower to $0.66 on Friday afternoon, extending the week’s losses to 4.56 per cent.