Lisa Wilkinson’s on-air presence in doubt
Lisa Wilkinson’s contract is due to expire in October and there are plenty of well-informed media pundits who are tipping that she won’t be returning to Ten’s screens.
The last time viewers saw Lisa Wilkinson in the co-host’s chair on The Project was 17 months ago when she sensationally quit on air and called out “targeted toxicity” from sections of the media. Whatever that means.
So will history show that farewell was Lisa’s final appearance on Australian TV? The bitter fallout from her Logies speech resulted in her hiring her own legal representatives in her defamation battle against Bruce Lehrmann, putting her at odds with Ten.
Wilkinson’s contract is due to expire in October and while she’s been on TV plenty of times in recent months – that is walking in and out of court – there are plenty of well-informed media pundits who are tipping that she won’t be returning to Ten’s screens again before her lucrative annual six-digit salary expires.
Back in November 2022 when she quit, Paramount executive vice president and chief content officer Beverley McGarvey said she would continue to have a presence at the network: “I know she will be sorely missed both by our audience, and the entire Project team, and while we are saddened that Lisa will no longer be on The Project, we look forward to continuing our strong relationship with Lisa into 2023 and beyond.”
That never happened. And probably never will.
Bruce, Whitney, Kate
The inexplicable celebrity status that has been afforded to Bruce Lehrmann over the past couple of years will hopefully come to an end on Monday morning, regardless of the result of the defamation case he has brought against Lisa Wilkinson and Channel 10.
And while he will have to put his big boy pants on and pay for his own accommodation, his own golf trips, his own restaurant bills, and any other random co-curricular activities that he once asked others to pay for, there’s no guarantee that he won’t remain a figure of media interest for some time yet.
But there are plenty of media types who have had a gutful of the tabloid coverage of the Bruce Lehrmann/Brittany Higgins story, and want the more tabloid elements of the saga to stop.
Former editor of The Age, Gay Alcorn, made her feelings known on social media platform X on Friday, taking a veiled (actually, it wasn’t that veiled) swipe at her former stable’s coverage of the pair at the centre of the story.
For goodness sake, leave Lehrmann and Higgins alone. Don’t pap them, don’t follow them overseas, don’t salivate over their circumstances.
— Gay Alcorn (@Gay_Alcorn) April 12, 2024
“For goodness sake, leave Lehrmann and Higgins alone. Don’t pap them, don’t follow them overseas, don’t salivate over their circumstances,” Alcorn thundered in the universe formerly known as the Twittersphere.
But what prompted Alcorn to put her two cents in on Friday?
Could it have been the story published earlier that day in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald (both Nine-owned mastheads) about “avowed party animal” Bruce Lehrmann’s love of karaoke, written by the company’s most celebrated investigative journalist Kate McClymont?
McClymont’s investigation began thus: “The antics of accused rapist and avowed party animal Bruce Lehrmann and his mates have already angered their new neighbours, who have described them as ‘complete ferals’ who belt out karaoke until all hours, including a rendition of Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You”.
The story went on to quote neighbours who were upset by the ‘‘screeching karaoke’’.
It is believed that the story is McClymont’s first ever page one exclusive story on a neighbourhood karaoke noise complaint.
The Sydney Morning Herald put the story on page one, complete with a picture of Lehrmann walking his dog, while The Age saw fit to run it across pages 2 and 3 in its print edition (with a news pointer off page one). Unfortunately, the Nine websites didn’t carry any audio of Lehrmann singing. That would have really brought the story to life.
Seven slow out
When one of the biggest news stories of the year broke about the mass killings at Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon, reporters, photographers and camera crews rushed to Sydney’s eastern suburbs to cover the unfolding tragedy.
But Channel 7 viewers were off to the races.
As other networks swung to live crosses, Seven stuck with the gee-gees at Randwick Racecourse, which, as it happens, is a five-minute drive from Bondi Junction.
Seven’s racing coverage, led by veteran sports commentator Bruce McAvaney, ran through until 5pm on Saturday, more than an hour-and-a-half after the attack began.
This meant the network’s locked-in, five-hour coverage of the Golden Mile Race Day ran in full.
Seven’s rolling news coverage began almost 40 minutes behind its main commercial rival Nine News and other networks, including Sky News Australia (owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian).
Diary asked a Seven spokesman why they didn’t dump coverage of the races and switch to one of the biggest news stories of the year, but we received no comment.
One insider told Diary it was “staggering” that the powers that be at Seven let the horse racing coverage run in full and suggested it signalled a lack of leadership from the station’s news division.
It wasn’t the only issue for Seven either during the station’s coverage.
High-profile presenter Matt Shirvington, the co-host of Sunrise, was among those at the network to falsely name the Bondi Junction killer as Benjamin Cohen, when it wasn’t him at all.
Police confirmed mid-Sunday morning that the killer was in fact 40-year-old Queensland man Joel Cauchi.
Aunty in Parra
It’s well behind schedule, but the ABC’s highly publicised $40m shift from its headquarters in Ultimo, in inner Sydney, to Parramatta, in the city’s west, is underway.
“We have staff based in Parramatta already and training is underway for teams who will be based there once we have started broadcasting,” said an ABC spokesman in a detail-starved response to questions about exactly how many taxpayer-funded employees are currently stationed at the new digs.
Questions regarding the commencement of broadcasting programs out of Parramatta were also dodged, as were queries to news boss Justin Stevens about how often he’ll spend in the flash offices. Apparently he’s been telling people that he’ll catch the train out to Parramatta twice a week, and for the rest of the week he’ll steer the ship from Ultimo.
But when we asked him directly, he stayed schtum. Maybe he wants it to be a nice surprise for staff when he rocks up unannounced.
Diary has no idea why the ABC has adopted a secret squirrel approach to disclosing basic details about the move. We already know it was slated to cost almost $40m (covering the fit out and the cost of technology) and we know the NSW 7pm news bulletin will be broadcast from there.
We also know that it will have a giant glass-fronted ground floor studio, so punters can gawk at the ABC’s on-air talent in much the same way that passers-by would stop and stare at the Sunrise team when Seven’s main studios were housed in Sydney’s Martin Place.
Diary wonders if the ABC’s glass wall will draw as much attention as Sunrise’s old fish bowl.
Middle-aged politician guests probably don’t have the same appeal as a guy dressed in a cow suit, giving away cash prizes.
Last year, ABC managing director David Anderson said “the process to develop ABC Parramatta, and relocate staff, will be complete by early 2024”.
We’d be happy to give you an update on the move, dear reader, given that the deadline has passed. But the ABC would rather you didn’t know.
Axe falls at 4BC
The axe has already started to fall at Nine Radio’s Brisbane station 4BC, with music director Brent James recently shown the door.
James, who alongside breakfast hosts Laurel Edwards, Gary Clare and Mark Hine, moved from the now defunct 4KQ to 4BC back in 2022, is the first to go but now all eyes are firmly on the future of the troubled breakfast trio.
James helped establish a robust music catalogue at the station and led the music content on the breakfast show, working with the trio for more than two decades before parting ways in recent weeks.
The second official radio ratings survey by firm GfK is out this Thursday and insiders have told Diary it’s “make or break” as to whether the breakfast team has any hope of staying at the station when their two-year contract ends mid year.
Last week the program had Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on as a guest, and let’s just say it was far from a hard-hitting interview.
It quickly turned from talking about energy resources and construction, to a handful of Dorothy Dixers about one of the PM’s favourite topics … the Rabbitohs.
Surely there are a few more important issues than spending minutes talking about the Rabbitohs?
Afternoons host Sofie Formica is back on air on Monday but it’s unclear whether her fill-in breakfast stint with Peter ‘read a room’ Fegan will impress the bosses enough to put the duo there permanently come July.
Staff exit
Still in Queensland, it appears there’s a bit of trouble at 7NEWS Brisbane’s Mount Coot-Tha headquarters with quite a few staff departing in recent months.
Director of news, Michael Coombes, heads up the Queensland operations and since the end of last year, the newsroom – which spies told Diary has about a dozen journalists – has farewelled Kendall Gilding, Sally Gyte and most recently Jordan Fabris last week.
Now while it’s not a new thing to see reporters come and go, Diary has been contacted in recent weeks about some angst in the newsroom and the departure of staff.
Coombes recently posted that he was on the hunt for a chief of staff and news producer on his LinkedIn account and Seven has also posted a job ad online looking for a new COS.
While Diary contacted Coombes who did not respond, a Seven spokesman did and said the trio “left for individual reasons and with our thanks and very best wishes for the future”.
When asked about why it was advertising for a COS – given this job is often through word of mouth or hunting out someone who can fit the requirement to take on one of the hardest jobs in the newsroom – Diary was told: “Why would we not advertise for a COS, thereby ensuring we cast a wide net and attract the best possible candidates?
“You might, for some reason, find that unusual. We think it makes perfect sense.”
It seems Gilding was certainly happy to cut ties with 7NEWS Brisbane, where she read the 4pm news.
Just a few months ago she boasted to her Instagram followers that she had been busy chewing up time “ranting” about how to get the “7 off my Instagram handle”, spending hours trying to get Meta, the owner of Instagram, to do something about it.
“It took so much back and forth, it’s so confusing when you make a profile using like a Hotmail account 13 years ago, because you’re trying to work out what emails are linked to it and which phone numbers and so much time has passed,” she told her enthralled followers before adding: “This is a post to celebrate being Kendall Gilding and not Kendall Gilding 7”.
“We got there, and although it’s so minor to me, this feels like the biggest win so I’m celebrating.”
Former Sunrise host Melissa Doyle chimed in, posting: “I hear you!! Took me forever to do the same.”
The big issues …
Beer gag falls flat
Northern Territory Chief Minister Eva Lawler held a press conference in Alice Springs on Friday to address the ongoing issues of community safety, youth curfews and alcohol-related crime in the town.
Things didn’t start well, with the beeping of a reversing truck nearby interrupting her opening spiel. But Lawler gathered her composure, and battled on.
Moments later, a mobile phone belonging to one of the press pack started ringing.
A good-humoured Lawler paused, and politely asked the reporter to turn his phone off, and jokingly issued him with a punishment.
“That’s a carton (of beer)! For all you other journos here, he’s shouting this afternoon,” Lawler said as she singled out the mobile phone miscreant.
Given the current state of things in Alice, with the town ravaged by alcohol-related problems, Lawler probably could have fined the journo with something other than a slab of booze.
Plus, journos rarely drink on the job these days.
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