…while another gets the sack!
FOURTH ESTATE STAFF NEWS:
Two long-serving members of the electronic mainstream media have suffered totally different fates after uncharacteristically misspeaking in front of work colleagues.
In Brisbane, Nine News’ Queensland state political reporter Tim Arvier is this morning recovering from shock in a Mount-Cootha private hospital after saying things around the Nine newsroom watercooler that stunned both his colleagues and left himself unconscious on the floor the moment he realised exactly what he had said.
And in Sydney, a producer on the new Sky News Australia TV channel dedicated to covering The Voice debate in a fair, balanced and professional way as befitting a News Corp Australia outlet was summarily sacked for uttering in front of colleagues views he never thought he held let alone be stupid enough to say out loud.
A sheepish Tim Arvier told The Bug by phone this morning: “We were all just mingling around the watercooler at work late yesterday after putting all our stories to bed and out of the blue I apparently said: ‘You know what? Tomorrow I’m going to look for a story that puts Premier Palaszczuk and her state Labor government in a good light. And more than that, I’ll run it day after day like my yarns about Palaszczuk and her Transport Minister hiding those rail infrastructure cost blowouts!’
“Apparently my colleagues all burst out laughing, thinking I was just being silly but apparently they reckon my eyes first shot wide open the moment I realised what I had said and then my eyes rolled back into my head and I slumped unconscious to the floor.”
Nine Entertainment Co. chairman Peter Costello in a statement released in Sydney said he stood by Arvier, wished him well in his recovery and added there was no need to further examine the politics scribe’s employment status “at this point in time”.
The Sky-News employee who asked not to be named was swiftly escorted by security from the Sky News Australia TV studios in Sydney almost at exactly the same time as Arvier’s brainfade in Brisbane after he uttered words that could see his journalism career ended forever.
The senior staffer was switched from other Sky News duties and had worked briefly at Sky News The Voice Debate, the new rolling news channel that will devote itself to the increasing bitter debate around The Voice right up until the referendum later this year. It has already earned a reputation for being as fair, balanced and professional as any News Corp Australia outlet could be expected to be.
Colleagues told The Bug the man said something along the lines of “Oh, I don’t know. I reckon The Voice deserves a chance to work even if it only slightly improves the lives of our First Nations people. We’ve got to try something, surely?”.
Security staff swooped quickly, allowing the former employee some brief moments to collect personal items including a pot plant (below) that was a recent birthday present from his daughter before being roughly shown the door.
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