Seven’s Weekend Sunrise overhauled after naming wrong man as Bondi killer

Several staff have left the Channel 7 program following the disastrous on-air error that led to the wrong man being labelled the Bondi Junction mass murderer.

Channel 7’s beleaguered Weekend Sunrise program has been overhauled after the network wrongly identified a 20-year-old university student as the Bondi Junction mass murderer.

Sources have told The Australian that multiple staff have since left the program, including two producers, as the investigation into the disastrous errors on the show’s April 14 program continues.

During the Sunday morning broadcast, one of the station’s highest-profile stars, Matt Shirvington, was among those to wrongly name Benjamin Cohen as the Bondi Junction killer instead of 40-year-old Queensland man Joel Cauchi.

It resulted in a costly legal settlement between Mr Cohen and Channel 7, which is reportedly a six-figure sum.

An internal investigation into the program – as revealed by The Australian last week – is underway and so far one male producer who admitted involvement in naming the wrong man as the killer has been moved on from the program and reassigned to Seven’s news division.

He will not return to Weekend Sunrise.

The show’s supervising producer, who was overseeing the program on April 14 when the disastrous error was aired, has also left the program.

She finished up at Seven last week, however her departure from the network was already in place before the disastrous April 14 broadcast, and she is joining rival network, Channel 9.

A third producer, a female casual employee, remains on the program but investigations into her role in the error-strewn broadcast is continuing.

Channel 7 Sunrise presenter Matt Shirvington. Picture: Channel 7 / YouTube

Weekend Sunrise falls under the remit of Seven’s director of news and public affairs Craig McPherson and director of morning television Sarah Stinson.

It is understood Mr McPherson’s tenure as news boss remains safe for now, despite the recent scandals plaguing the network, including the Weekend Sunrise debacle and claims by former Spotlight producer Taylor Auerbach that the station reimbursed Bruce Lehrmann for his expenditure on sex workers and cocaine – a charge that has been vehemently denied by the network.

The Australian understands that billionaire Kerry Stokes, who has the controlling stake in Seven West Media, is privately furious about the mishandling of the Spotlight program and the botched news coverage of the fatal attack at Bondi Junction.

Last week Mr Cohen’s lawyers, Giles George, confirmed that a confidential settlement had been reached between the uni student and Seven, after he was wrongly named twice on the program as the Bondi killer.

The first time was at 6.05am by Shirvington and then at 6.15am by Lucy McLeod in a live cross with the show’s presenters Monique Wright and Michael Usher.

It wasn’t until 2.34pm that day that reporter Sarah Jane Bell – who had nothing to do with the error – read a prepared statement on behalf of Seven from her smartphone on air, apologising for the mistaken identity.

It has since been revealed by Seven West Media managing director and chief executive officer Jeff Howard that when the network tried to contact Mr Cohen on April 14 they were unable to find a number for him until his mother phoned the station.

It is understood the terms and the resolution of the payout were discussed at the Seven West Media board meeting on April 18.