Media Diary: Biggest losers in Antoinette Lattouf case? Protesters outside court

Sky News reporter Caroline Marcus and other female reporters were subjected to disgusting slurs from the crowd, who had ostensibly turned up to support a female journalist’s right to simply do her job.

A protester disrupts Caroline Marcus’s live cross outside the Supreme Court after Antoinette Lattouf won her case against the ABC. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

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Every court case has its winners and losers – but without a doubt the biggest losers in Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful termination action against the ABC weren’t even a party to the proceedings.

They weren’t even the taxpayers left to foot the bill – likely to be to the tune of more than $2m – for the whole sorry saga after the broadcaster’s decision to illegally sack Lattouf midway through a week-long stint as a fill-in host on ABC Radio’s Sydney morning show in the lead-up to Christmas in 2023.

No, the biggest losers were the handful of despicable grubs who lobbed outside the Federal Court when judge Darryl Rangiah delivered his judgment last Wednesday and began shouting disgusting slurs at the reporters – many of them women – covering the decision.

These would-be heroes, who ostensibly turned up to support a female journalist’s right to simply do her job, thought it appropriate to bombard other female journalists simply doing theirs with vile obscenities.

In fact, Sky News’s respected correspondent Caroline Marcus told Diary one protester repeatedly called her “a whore” and taunted her with degrading sexualised hand gestures as she worked to relay the judge’s verdict to her newsroom.

Now, of course, Lattouf can’t pick and choose who turns up to “support” her … but these are clearly the sort of supporters she could do without.

Fortunately, Marcus was undeterred by the raucous and ­revolting heckling.

A true professional, she has developed a rather thick skin. It’s just an absolute disgrace she was subjected to that kind of treatment during the course of her work.

Seven’s secret killing season: Inside plan to sack its biggest names

Seven News bosses secretly plotted to sack almost all of their brightest – and best-paid – stars in a savage network-wide cull that would have irrevocably devastated the channel’s trusted news and current affairs division.

Diary can reveal the ruthless plan – conceived under the short-lived reign of former top news boss Anthony De Ceglie – would have seen just about every Seven personality on more than $300,000 a year ousted in favour of a second-string line-up of cut-price no-names.

We’re reliably informed the proposed purge would have seen major network identities, including Spotlight chief correspondent Liam Bartlett, Seven News chief reporter Chris Reason and Seven News Sydney anchor Michael Usher, quietly shown the door as part of a drastic cost-cutting operation in at the station’s Media City headquarters.

The broadcaster’s loyal Perth news hosts, Susannah Carr and Rick Ardon – who just this year celebrated their 40th anniversary fronting the city’s prime-time bulletin and are recognised as the longest-serving news anchor duo on the planet by Guinness World records – were also set to be sacrificed as part of the push.

The only top stars to be spared under the drastic overhaul were the network’s Sunrise and Morning show presenters, Natalie Barr, Matt Shirvington, Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur.

The startling proposal was apparently driven by De Ceglie’s firm insistence that it was “the yarns” not the names that pulled in viewers – and that the only stars that could truly attract audiences to the network’s nightly news offerings were of the ­horoscope variety.

Oh, aside from ill-fated Friday night funnyman Mark Humphries … apparently.

Network sources said the proposal was met with immediate resistance from Seven’s more seasoned executives, who questioned whether the channel’s novice news boss should even be entrusted with a TV remote, much less the country’s top TV news division.

Still, their warnings initially went unheeded, with Seven’s popular Brisbane news anchor Sharyn Ghidella, Queensland cloud watcher Paul Burt and Melbourne crime reporter Cameron Baud all given the chop under the initiative before it was killed off during an explosive boardroom showdown following the brutal backlash that ensued.

Sharyn Ghidella. Picture: Network 10

By that stage, though, a similar cull had already been carried out behind the scenes with key news executives, including Melbourne news director Shaun Menegola, Sydney news boss Neil Warren and Brisbane chief Michael Coombes all moved on in favour of a “news in nappies” line-up of cheaper child bosses.

There’s little disputing the lack of depth and experience in key newsroom leadership roles spilt on to the small screen, with Seven’s robust 110,000-viewer lead over rival Nine across the capital cities at 6pm reduced to a mere 300 viewers during the course of De Ceglie’s disastrous 13-month tenure.

The shock revelations come as Seven’s new top news boss, Ray “The Wolf” Kuka, continues to mop up the mess he inherited – though perhaps in the knowledge the task could have been far worse … particularly, if he had lost headline names like Usher.

Luckily, the affable anchor is still with Seven, has just been rightly nominated for the best news presenter Logie and is currently burning up the boards on ­Dancing With The Stars – that’s much better than seeing him skating on thin ice.

Radio air looms

Turns out a change really is as good as a holiday – at least at Nine Radio’s flagship Sydney station.

Diary can reveal the network has tapped veteran newsman Jason Morrison to fill in as host of 2GB’s top-rating morning show for two weeks from next Monday while regular presenter Mark Levy is on leave.

It’s a long-overdue homecoming for Morrison, who kicked off his journalism career as a cadet at the station in 1989 before going on to become its youngest-ever news director nine years later.

Indeed, in a little quirk of fate, he was actually the one who employed Levy in the first place before sensationally quitting the talkback station – and his job hosting its hit drivetime show – in 2010 after being headhunted by then-fierce rival 2UE.

Jason Morrison.

Morrison told us he was thrilled to be back behind the mic at 2GB after 15 years – and that he reckoned things had never looked better at the outlet’s Pyrmont studios.

“I’m delighted to be getting back to my first love again It’s also a very different place to the 2GB I last worked at and it’s a credit to Tom Malone and Greg Byrnes that they’ve weeded out the horrible, hostile culture that permeated through the joint and made me and too many others leave,” the highly regarded broadcaster and one-time radio wunderkind said.

Nine Radio wasn’t the only network to have the bright idea to enlist Morrison as a host.

Erstwhile ABC Sydney Radio boss Steve Ahern had the same brainwave back in 2023 – when he hired him to fill in as the host of the station’s morning show in the lead-up to Christmas … only to get the wobbles and worry his new recruit might be a tad too conservative for the public broadcaster’s more progressive staffers.

Fearing a staff revolt, Ahern regrettably backed out of the deal and told Morrison he’d decided to instead go with someone who wouldn’t cause him any unwanted dramas: Antoinette Lattouf.

That ended well.

Deal or no deal

Speaking of Nine Radio, Diary can confirm reports at the weekend that popular finance reporter Deborah Knight is parting ways with the network.

Knight has been one of the best (and, let’s face it, few) female ­voices on the network – which includes 2GB, Melbourne’s 3AW, 4BC in Brisbane and Perth’s 6PR – since launching her hour-long nightly Money News show 18 months ago.

The suggestion is Knight wants to focus solely on her television duties.

Deborah Knight.

And fair enough too – between her talkback radio commitment and hosting Nine’s A Current Affair on weekends, she’s had a fairly full on schedule.

Still, we suspect the hardworking presenter will have to cop a hefty pay cut at Nine as a result of the move, given her $700,000 a year salary is evenly split across the media company’s television and radio arms.

Meanwhile, the nicest man in television, Peter Overton, has quietly sorted out his contract extension to host Nine’s prime-time Sydney bulletin.

Despite our predictions he would have to take a nasty hair cut on his $1m deal to help compensate for Karl Stefanovic’s new deal, we’re assured he’s still at seven figures.

Sadly, he’ll have to make do without his talented executive producer, Tanya Weingarth, who has been lured to Seven to run its rival Sydney bulletin following the departure of Sean Power in May.

Expect to see Kuka add more recruits to his “wolf pack” in the coming weeks.

Ten’s new project

Say what you will about The Project (we certainly did), the grating news and current affairs show has gone out on a high with almost half a million Australians tuning in across the nation to watch its final outing on Ten last week.

Although that still wasn’t enough to push the program into the top 10 in the ratings rundown, it was easily about double the show’s usual Friday night audience.

Diary can only assume most of the viewers wanted to ensure the thing was definitely dead and ­buried. Rest assured, it is.

From Monday night, the network’s woke nightly gibberfest will be replaced by what will almost certainly prove to be its new woke nightly gibberfest, the unimaginatively named 10 News+.

How’s it likely to fare? Who knows … it could hardly be worse than The Project. Or could it?

After all, the promo for the show, featuring former Seven reporters Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock, is already bristling with so many cloying cliches it’s been compared to an ad for satirical Hollywood Anchorman star Ron Burgundy.

Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock. Picture: 10 News

It’s easy to see why, given it finishes with Hitchcock’s deadpan delivery that at Ten “the truth comes first”.

Really? That’s novel. Of course, the truth also comes first here at Diary – so here it is.

Although 10 News+ is being pitched as a big new investment in news and current affairs, it’s not. The network is actually saving millions – as many as five – by canning The Project and replacing it with their own cheaper in-house alternative.

While Ten is hiring a heap of people to run the new show – and jobs for journos is always a good thing – it comes after 50 staff were sacked when The Project was axed and production shifted from Melbourne to Sydney.

The show is also being rolled out against the two highest-rating programs on television, Seven and Nine’s respective 6pm news bulletins, meaning it will be in a bitter fight for survival from the very start.

In fact, the show’s own staff are so unsure about its future that we hear a number of them have insisted on signing two-year contracts with the network rather than the industry-standard “run-of-show” deals.

On the plus side, if things do go south, Ron Burgundy – sorry, we mean, Denham Hitchcock – can probably just return to Seven’s Spotlight.

After all, we hear he left behind an expensive half-shot story about an accused Aussie drug-smuggler banged up abroad in a Filipino jail when he made his hasty departure from the program.

Who’s that?

Guess who?

OK, we’re still not quite sure what his name is (Google’s AI summary reckons it’s Adam Hergarty) but one thing’s for certain: 60 Minutes’ sole male reporter, Whose­amacallit, is quite the acrobat.

Just a couple of weeks after we confirmed he was on leave from the Nine current affairs staple while not-so-quietly contemplating his future on the show with a view to leaving, he’s done an amazing backflip and decided to stay.

We’ve now been advised that he will be returning to work in July and is “fully committed” to the program.

That’s quite the somersault.

Fuge’s fine innings

After a quarter of a century at the crease, the Sydney Morning Herald’s larger-than-life sports boss Ian Fuge will face his final few ­deliveries – at least for now – on Friday.

And what a knock it’s been.

The proud Welshman and popular sports editor has somehow managed to transcend traditional media rivalries since arriving in Sydney in the lead-up to the Olympic Games from the Edinburgh Evening News.

We’re told the big guy will get a fitting send off from Denison Street at a local watering hole at the end of the week before heading back to the United Kingdom to spend time with family.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have a ringside seat at some of the greatest sporting events in Australia and beyond for 25 years,” he told us when we tracked him down in between sporting fixtures at the weekend.

Former 4BC radio host Neil Breen. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

“The best bit has always been working alongside some extraordinarily talented people. There’s been blow-ups and belly laughs aplenty and I’ve loved every minute of it.”

Meanwhile, former Sunday Telegraph editor, Today show executive producer, Alpha mag boss, A Current Affair reporter, 4BC shock jock, Continuous Call Team host and all-round journalism odd-job man Neil Breen will enter the fray at Nine’s news­papers in two weeks.

The media organisation informed staff Breen has been appointed as the first-ever national sports editor across the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age on Friday afternoon.

Of course, you already knew that, given we told you about his new gig weeks ago.

Name check

If anyone wants to get on – or off – B&T’s 2025 “women in media power list”, just give us a hoy.

Although we’re not officially running the list, we couldn’t help but notice the trade mag speedily erased Nine’s Amanda Paterson from its extraordinarily long 594-name rundown after we pointed out a couple of inconvenient truths last week … like, you know, how she doesn’t actually work at Nine – and hasn’t all year – after she was brutally sacked last ­November.

They also added the media organisation’s powerful first female chair, Catherine West, to their rundown after we questioned how Nine somehow forgot to suggest her … despite calling the mag and begging them to include their ­national news boss and the woman who personally sacked Pato, Fiona Dear, on the list.

Nine chair Catherine West. Picture: World Rugby

Now we’re always pleased to see that people are reading Diary and studiously taking notes … but, honestly, it’s hard to take any “women in media power list” seriously when it largely overlooks the media company with the most women in powerful positions in the country.

Because try as we might, we couldn’t spot The Sunday Telegraph editor Anna Caldwell, The Sunday Mail editor Melanie Pilling, The Adelaide Advertiser editor Gemma Jones, The Townsville Bulletin editor Jill Poulsen, The Geelong Advertiser editor Nadja Fleet, The Cairns Post editor Tyla Harrington, The Northern Territory News editor Melanie Plane and news.com.au editor Kerry Warren on the list.

No mention either of Diary’s boss at The Australian, editor-in-chief Michelle Gunn.

Sadly, women at News are used to it. When the Walkleys launched a specific “one-off” round of awards in 2023 to recognise the outstanding contribution women had made to journalism, all eight of them went to women known for their work at the ABC, SBS and the former Fairfax mastheads, with not one female journalist from the company that employs the most female journalists apparently worthy of recognition.

So much for equality.