Former ABC’s political editor to join Nine Entertainment

Former ABC political editor Andrew Probyn has a new job with Nine Entertainment after he was made redundant by the public broadcaster in June.

Former ABC national political editor Andrew Probyn has signed with Nine Entertainment and will take up a position as the network’s national affairs editor next month.

In a note sent to all staff on Sunday by Nine’s national director of news and current affairs Darren Wick, he congratulated Probyn on his new role.

“Andrew is highly regarded, respected and well liked among his peers in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery and brings to Nine his three decades of experience as a reporter and an envious track record of breaking major stories,” he said in the email correspondence.

Probyn was one of the ABC’s highest-profile reporters but his job was made redundant in June which he said at the time left him “gobsmacked”.

Sources told The Australian Probyn had been seen at the Nine’s Canberra gallery recently ahead of starting his new role next month.

It is a new role for Nine News in Canberra and it has not yet been determined whether Probyn will be writing a column for Nine’s newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

His appointment will not impact Nine’s political editor Charles Croucher who was appointed to the role in October last year, replacing Chris Uhlmann.

Welcome aboard @andrewprobyn, Nine’s new National Affairs Editor.

Having you in the building is good for our industry, having you in the office is great for us!

— Charles Croucher (@ccroucher9) October 22, 2023

In the note to staff, Probyn said he was excited about his new job at the network.

“At a time when the need for reliable, trusted and agenda-free news has never been greater, I look forward to working alongside Charles Croucher and some of Australian journalism’s best,” he said.

Probyn began the ABC role in 2017 and was one of its two most senior political journalists alongside 7.30 chief political correspondent Laura Tingle.

At the time of Probyn’s sacking he said, “I’m shell-shocked. I’m just shell-shocked.”

Awkwardly for the ABC, Probyn was announced as a finalist in the 2023 Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism in the category of scoop of the year alongside former colleague Jake Evans for the report, Lidia Thorpe and the Bikie Boss.

The ABC issued a press release four days after the Walkley finalists were announced, unlike in previous years where they are usually issued shortly after finalists are revealed.

There were some suggestions by ABC staff at the time of his axing that Probyn may have been too feisty internally when dealing with the public broadcaster’s executive ranks.

During his time at the ABC he also came under intense criticism after he described former Prime Minister Tony Abbott as “the most destructive politician of his generation” in a news report.