Inside Story: How Kerry Stokes wielded power over his Seven empire
Seven insiders lift the lid on how Kerry Stokes wielded his power at the network, as Australia’s last great TV titan prepares to step down.
Seven’s top news bosses reckon they knew the call was coming before the phone even rang.
It was early 2022 and they had just broadcast a story detailing the latest allegations levelled at accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith in the 6pm news bulletin and the channel’s formidable, billionaire chairman, Kerry Stokes, was bound to be furious and soon on the blower.
That the piece was an impartial recap of the day’s court proceedings in the former soldier’s marathon defamation action against rival Nine, and sensitively handled by Seven’s senior newsman Chris Reason, would be of little defence in the oncoming onslaught, they feared.
In fact, that was likely to be precisely the problem. After all, network sources claim, Stokes had been “explicitly clear” – over and over again – about what he expected when it came to the coverage of Roberts-Smith’s case: no matter what happened in court, Seven News was to be on his side. What part of that did his news bosses not understand?
“Kerry was absolutely ropeable,” a Seven news executive told The Australian.
“The thing about Kerry is that he would pick up the phone and do his own dirty work, and let you know in no uncertain terms when he wasn’t happy, and why he wasn’t happy – and this was one of those occasions.
“He said he’d had a gutful of seeing unflattering stories about BRS on his own network; that he didn’t want us airing every new allegation Nine raised in court about BRS; and that it was to stop – effective immediately.
“He couldn’t care less if we believed we had an obligation to run straight court reports on the matter, particularly given BRS was still employed by us at the time.
“He didn’t want straight-down-the-line court reports.
“He wanted every story about BRS to give him the absolute benefit of the doubt and to be told from his perspective. Kerry couldn’t have made it any clearer.”
Frank and forthright
Another senior Seven news executive claimed Stokes’s alleged edict went much further than offering Roberts-Smith “the benefit of the doubt”.
“If there wasn’t a positive angle about Ben, then it wasn’t to go to air,” they said of Stokes’s view. “End of story.”
Such is life at Seven West Media under its mercurial media proprietor.
“It wasn’t just about Ben Roberts-Smith. These aren’t one-off things. You need to understand, it’s constant. It’s a really small club (the people who receive his calls), but there’s almost daily criticism about how we need to handle the news yarns,” one Seven insider said.
For Stokes’s part, he says he has never interfered with any of his news outlets’ independent editorial processes.
It is a position that is backed up by some of Seven’s key leaders, including former Seven West Media chief executive Chris Wharton and former The West Australian editor Brett McCarthy, who are adamant Stokes never involved himself with editorial decision-making.
Yes, he was frank and forthright in his views, they insist, but he never issued directives or instructions to his news bosses – they simply wouldn’t stand for it.
Others suggest he didn’t need to. That Stokes’s newsrooms pre-empted what they thought he would like to see on the network, and adjusted angles accordingly.
News directors and editors were always able to disagree with Stokes and go against his wishes – they just had to be ready for the argument.
Either way, his influence – implicit or otherwise – has pervaded almost every corner of his media empire for decades.
In three months, that will all change when Australia’s last great titan of television plans to relinquish his position as chairman of the media giant he forged.
The self-made magnate stunned his staff – and much of the country – this week when he revealed he would be stepping down from his role running his prized newspaper and television empire in February once it had been acquired by radio business Southern Cross Media as part of a $270m takeover.
The move, if it receives the necessary ticks of approval from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and the Australia Communications and Media Authority, will see Seven merge with the Triple M and Hit radio networks and its Listnr audio app.
The deal, announced on Tuesday just a fortnight after Stokes’s 85th birthday, will bring to an end his 17-year reign overseeing SWM, with Southern Cross chairman Heith Mackay-Cruise to assume the role across the united business as it looks to further adapt in the ever-evolving digital age.
Succession plan
Sources close to the Stokeses said his decision to resign was all part of a carefully crafted succession plan and prompted – at least to some extent – by a desire to spend more time with his wife, Christine Simpson Stokes, and family; enjoying diving off his $10m superyacht, the Antipodean, in scenic hotpots throughout Southeast Asia; and skiing in Colorado, where he owns a $24m penthouse at Beaver Creek, a short drive from the resort town of Aspen.
The merger will also signify the end of an era for big name – and big personality – free-to-air television tycoons in Australia.
Stokes’s personal “passion and drive” has been largely credited with transforming Seven into the nation’s top-rating commercial network after he first bought into the TV station three decades ago when he looked to best late media rival Kerry Packer and shrug off the derisive suggestion he was the “Little Kerry” from Western Australia.
Although Stokes currently commands a controlling 40 per cent stake in Seven West Media, in turn through his 68 per cent interest in parent company Seven Group Holdings, the takeover will see the businessman’s share in the combined entity halved and his famed media influence quite possibly diluted along with it.
History buff
For now, such is the power he wields in all matters at Seven and his Perth-based newspaper division headed by The West Australian, insiders are wary of speaking on the record about their influential chairman.
“Nobody really knows who owns Channel Ten or Channel Nine anymore – not since Packer’s day – but everyone still knows who owns Seven: it’s Kerry Stokes’s station,” one TV executive told The Australian.
“That’s a really powerful position when it comes to deciding what people get to see on television and he really is the last of his kind: an absolute force of nature who somehow went from the guy installing television antennas on people’s roofs to being the billionaire who owns the TV station.
“His DNA is through everything at Seven. When he took control, Nine was the No. 1 network and no one thought that would ever change. But Kerry changed it.
“He had the vision and brought in the right people and took Seven to the top.
“Packer inherited his top-rating television network. Stokes built his own.”
Another news executive claimed Stokes was so passionate about everything that appeared on Seven and in his papers that over time he became “progressively more involved” in offering his considered feedback in his assets’ editorial direction.
“Look, I’ve had a fundamentally positive experience with Stokes – he’s been great to me,” they said. “He’s been great to a lot of people. But there’s no question he loves the power that comes with owning a TV station and that he has become more strident and involved the longer he’s been at the helm. That’s hardly surprising though, is it? I mean, why would you buy a television network? Though, recently, it’s definitely been more trouble than it’s worth.”
Much of the drama has related to Stokes’s connection to Roberts-Smith legal action.
Sources said Stokes was personally involved in luring the war veteran to Seven back in 2012.
The billionaire history buff had been serving on the Australian War Memorial Council at the time Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross by governor-general Quentin Bryce in January 2011 for gallantry in extreme peril while engaging with the Taliban on deployment in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan the previous year.
Initially engaged as the presenter of Seven’s feature documentary The Power of Ten, highlighting the courage of 10 Australian Victoria Cross recipients, Roberts-Smith transitioned into corporate management and became one of Stokes’s most-trusted lieutenants after being appointed as general manager of Seven Queensland in 2015.
He privately funded the veteran’s defamation battle after Nine’s metropolitan newspaper accused him in 2018 of being complicit in the murder of four unarmed civilians while serving in Afghanistan, and publicly vouched for his character.
“Ben Roberts-Smith is innocent and deserves legal representation and scumbag journalists should be held to account,” Stokes told SWM’s annual general meeting in 2022.
“And quote me on that.”
Stokes this week categorically denied he had ever interfered with his network’s news coverage about the lawsuit, with a spokesman telling The Australian “he has never had any involvement in editorial matters in relation to the Roberts-Smith case or any other story.”
Not everyone saw it that way, with one of Seven’s best-known, on-air reporters saying “that’s absolute bullshit” and his thoughts on that case were well-known and routinely discussed by those in the newsroom. “I have no drama with him standing up for Ben. That’s good. But he definitely did (have views on) how it was to be covered,” one said.
“And you can look at it in a couple of ways … because one of Kerry’s blind spots is actually his loyalty. He’s a fiercely loyal guy, and he has a particular loyalty and bent for people who have fought for Australia. While I’m no fan of BRS, there’s something I actually like and respect about Kerry’s passion and loyalty for people who have done that.
“But it wasn’t just that story, Kerry’s hands are on everything.”
The extensive nature of Stokes’s business investments around the country, and in WA in particular, consistently gave rise to conflicts, perceived or otherwise, and in the business world, those who found themselves on the wrong side of a deal with the tycoon would sometimes find themselves singled out for special treatment.
Negative stories
One news executive recalled the assembled bosses of all of Seven’s news programs crowding around Stokes’s desk at Seven’s former Martin Place studios, in the heart of Sydney’s CBD, as he waved about a copy of The Australian and gestured towards the front-page photograph.
“See this man?” the media boss is alleged to have told his news chiefs. “Well, we don’t do stories about (rival WA billionaire) Andrew Forrest on this channel. Ever.”
The only thing worse than being whitewashed out of Stokes’s TV news bulletin was getting torched by negative stories in The West Australian.
The paper’s coverage of Forrest and his company Fortescue swung overwhelmingly negative around the time the iron-ore billionaire weighed up switching from Caterpillar equipment – sold by Seven Group Holdings’ dealer WesTrac – to electric and hybrid trucks built by rival Liebherr.
In 2023, Forrest told Fortescue staff in a video that ended up being leaked to the media that The West’s “biased, inaccurate reporting” about the company was being “driven by the narrow, self-seeking, commercial interest” of Stokes and SGH.
Fortescue wrote to then-communications minister Michelle Rowland to complain of The West’s “unjustified and commercially driven attacks”, arguing that The West’s coverage “has gone far beyond fair scrutiny and is clearly driven by fossil fuel interests with the aim of damaging Fortescue’s green energy mission”.
Hostilities between Forrest and Stokes have thawed more recently, however, marked by Forrest’s decision to speak at The West’s Leadership Matters business breakfast back in April.
Prominent Perth businessman John Poynton and his wife, Di Bain, also copped years of negative coverage in The West, with the paper’s angles believed to stem from their commercial rivalry.
Those who suspected Stokes used his media empire to establish close ties with the WA state government got their smoking gun during the 2022 defamation battle between Clive Palmer and Mark McGowan.
Text messages sent between McGowan and Stokes around the time the WA government was trying to legislate away Palmer’s $30bn lawsuit against the state showed the cosy relationship between the then-premier and the media mogul.
McGowan personally alerted Stokes to the state’s legal manoeuvring, and later thanked him for the “marvellous” coverage from The West.
After the legislation was fast-tracked through parliament, Stokes sent McGowan a message of congratulations. “I don’t think anyone else could have achieved that legislation in the speed you did … The people are with you!” he said.
And so was his paper.
“It was daily. The news directors would hear from him daily,” one West veteran said. “You’re never second-guessing what Kerry might want, there’s no doubt about it.”
Another former senior editorial member said Stokes was “absolutely a hands-on proprietor”.
Constant influence
Calls from Stokes to the editor were a daily occurrence and senior staff were always anticipating what they believed Stokes would want. “The influence was always there. It was just constant,” the former senior editorial member said.
“You didn’t go to conference and put the best news of the day without any conditions on the front page, because his fingers were in everything.”
Wharton, who was CEO of Seven West Media WA until 2017, was one of the few former Seven leaders willing to go on the record about the media mogul.
He dismissed suggestions that Stokes was overly involved in editorial decision-making but acknowledged he was never shy in letting his views be known.
“If you’re taking a position that he thinks is wrong, he’ll say it, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to change your position,” Wharton told The Australian.
“He wasn’t instructive in terms of being a proprietor, but he was forthright about what he thought. He said it publicly though, too, he wouldn’t just say it to the editor or whatever.
“And our editors wouldn’t cop it anyway.”
That was certainly McCarthy’s memory of his relationship with Stokes while running The West Australian as editor for a decade through until November 2018.
“Kerry’s definitely one of the last of that breed of old school media proprietors,” McCarthy said. “But he doesn’t get the credit he’s due. If you look at Kerry Packer, he was born into television.
“Kerry’s a completely self-made man who came from incredibly humble beginnings and through his own grit and drive built up this amazing company and legacy
“I was with him for 10 years as editor of the main newspaper in Perth and it was a pretty close relationship between editor and chairman.
“The West was his main game and he was an absolute enthusiast about it and loved journalism and he wanted to engage with the paper.
“But he never once dictated to me as editor what to put in the paper. He never once said ‘You must do this or you must do that’.
“I know he certainly didn’t always agree with everything we ran – you were never left in any doubt about that – but he never told you what to do.
“If he ever chipped you, it was just him letting you know his thoughts, not telling you what to do.
“He loves journalism and he backs good journalism – even when it’s not in his best interest – but he always left it to the journalists.”
Whether Stokes personally directed it or not, there is no question his paper has, more recently, been overwhelmingly negative in its coverage of the Perth Bears NRL franchise, which threatens to eat into the stranglehold held in WA by the AFL – the broadcast rights of which are held by Seven.
That’s if The West covers the Bears at all.
Sources told The Australian that Stokes had warned the NRL’s chairman, Peter V’landys, that under his reign “Perth is an AFL town and it will stay an AFL town”.
The club, and its “founding chief executive officer” Anthony De Ceglie, is a particular sore point for Stokes.
De Ceglie had once been one of Stokes’s favoured young news executives, and was handpicked by the chairman to succeed respected television newsman Craig McPherson after he stepped down as Seven’s national news director in 2024.
His tumultuous 13-month tenure in the role was punctuated by a stream of embarrassing headlines amid network-wide drastic cost-cutting, with long-serving Brisbane newsreader Sharyn Ghidella brutally sacked from her role anchoring the city’s 6pm news bulletin over the phone while at a hair appointment.
‘Deeply rattled’
Meanwhile, staff were even informed that ratings no longer mattered and that making budget was more important than making the hard-hitting news stories.
Instead, horoscope segments and comedy skits were inserted into the serious 6pm news bulletins.
Predictably, the ratings and newsroom morale both took a nosedive.
“Then it gets worse, right,” one insider told The Australian. “Because Kerry stuck solid with De Ceglie through it all – that’s Kerry right? He’s loyal.
“There’s nothing ADC did that didn’t have Kerry’s personal tick of approval – and then ADC just buggered off to the NRL to run the Perth Bears after less than a year, without even checking in with him first.
“That’s when Kerry started to question his own judgment. He felt like he was responsible for all of it because he’s always prided himself on his ability to pick the right people for the right positions and it was quite a shock to him how everything turned out like it did with De Ceglie.
“Kerry is a dominator and he loves the company – he loves Channel Seven and he’s so proud of the fact he is the guy who owns it – and so he should be.
“He loves being at the AFL grand final and sitting next to the prime minister and knowing it’s his channel that has put it on – you can see the tears in his eyes when they sing the national anthem.
“But everything with De Ceglie deeply rattled him.
“That’s definitely part of why he thinks it’s time to step away.”
Although Stokes is stepping down as chairman, he won’t be stepping away entirely.
His son, Ryan, will remain on the board to represent their 20 per cent stake in the new merged entity.
What that means for any influence the family will continue to exert over the media is unclear.
But he will most definitely remain the force behind the station’s annual telethon, which has raised more than $700m for sick and vulnerable children since its premiere six decades ago, with SWM confirming both Stokes and his wife would remain active trustees.
“It really is the most admirable thing Kerry has done at Seven – building up the telethon – and giving back to the less fortunate,” McCarthy said.
“He’s never wavered from that – it’s one of his great passions that he has. Both of them (Stokes and his wife) work incredibly hard on that.
“If you want to talk about Kerry’s legacy at Seven, that’s what you should talk about.”
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