MEDIA NEWS:

One of the Murdoch media’s prominent Righters, columnist for The Australian Gerard Henderson, has been ordered to take indefinite leave and rest for several weeks.

It is understood that national broadshit’s editor-in-chief Michelle Gunn directed Henderson to take extended leave on full pay and undergo medical assessment and treatment following a visit this morning by a senior producer from ABC TV to Henderson’s Sydney home Keithrupert.

The ABC staffer, a producer for the national broadcaster’s News Breakfast program who did not wish to be named, said she received a phone call early today from Henderson asking her to visit his home as a matter of urgency.

“Gerard wouldn’t explain why it was so important for me to visit and I did try to get out of it, but he was so insistent,” the producer explained.

“After I knocked on the front door of Keithrupert and Gerard let me in, I immediately knew something was amiss.

“Gerard went straight into a spiel about why he should be chosen to replace Michael Rowland as co-host of News Breakfast.

“He explained that he had been ‘broadcasting’ his own News Breakfast program from his lounge room for three hours every morning for some years (main picture) so he didn’t even need to audition for the co-host’s role.

“He said he and Bridget Brennan – actually a picture of her stuck on a mannequin – had developed a real rapport since he’d been fronting the show.

“He stressed that he was the Right choice to make to replace Michael, that he had the Right attitude, the Right background, and the Right on-screen presence to fill the gap as co-host.

“He assured me that he could do the News Breakfast job even though he would continue to ‘host’ his own Insiders show every Sunday from Keithrupert‘s second bedroom (below) as well as Q&A.

“He even turned to ‘Bridget Brennan’ and asked her to confirm all that he had said and then used a high-pitched voice without moving his lips to pretend she was agreeing.”

The anonymous ABC producer said she had immediately made an excuse to leave and rang The Australian’s Sydney office to urge Ms Gunn to send help to Henderson.

“I’m very pleased that Michelle has acted so quickly. It was very clear that Gerard needs to rest and to get the expert help he clearly needs,” she said.

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