FOURTH ESTATE TURMOIL:
The only-recently-hired news directors at three of the four television stations in Brisbane have been summarily sacked, escorted from their studios after missing what was arguably the news story of the past week, if not the year so far!
The executives at Channel 7, Channel 10 and ABC TV were escorted from their respective workplaces after managements at each studio finalised their investigations into how they could possibly have missed a major item aired on rival Channel 9’s 6pm news the other night – the fact that Aldi was having a winter ski-season sale whereby snow-bound customers could be decked out for less than $100!
All three news directors were new to the job, only hired after the staffers previously in those roles were sacked for missing Nine News’ heavily promoted scoop last week that Costco Wholesale was about to introduce an executive membership level providing up to $1000 in rewards a year, including extra benefits on insurance matters but not petrol!
In that scoop, reporter Eddy Myer got to interview Costco CEO not only about the new executive membership deal, but generally about how much its members already save as Gold Star holders, the company’s reach around the nation including a new outlet on the Gold Coast and one proposed for Victoria, the fact that the member-only retailer’s annual retail turnover at $3.6 billion is now bigger than Myer, David Jones and Office Works combined, and how the company, being a worldwide retailer, gets a lot of leverage in bringing goods in at great prices for customers, especially with transit costs now coming down.
A colleague of the latest Channel 7 news director dismissed up at the station’s Mount Coot-Tha studios told The Bug: “He is really kicking himself because so many viewers would be heading to the snowfields this winter and that Nine yarn was an absolute must for anyone seeking to claim the mantle as the city’s No1 news source.
“He has only himself to blame, really. His antenna must have really been off to miss a great news story like that one. That’s a Walkley-award chance gone begging, that’s for sure!”
The Channel 2 executive told to pack his things and leave that station’s city-based studios was also ruing his oversight.
“Very, very unprofessional, I have to admit,” the long-term senior newsman at Aunty admitted. “I’m no big fan of winter sports but, bloody hell, when Aldi offers a remarkable deal like that, I should have been onto it. I reckon we could have done a longer segment than Channel 9 managed and got just as many paid ads in return, if not more!
“I just hope my successor has a better nose than I have regrettably displayed for really important, punchy and topical news like this.”
All three channels are now looking for their third news directors in less than a week.
Whoever takes their roles would be advised to keep a close eye on rival Channel 9, who seems to have this uncanny ability to sniff out the hot, breaking, news that really matters.
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