Another beloved Seven News veteran is leaving the network amid a massive wave of staff changes and redundancies.
After almost 18 years with the network, Adelaide reporter Andrea Nicolas will leave television for politics in the coming weeks to take up a role as senior media adviser to South Australian Treasurer Stephen Mulligan.
She will replace Jennifer Salter, who also previously worked as a television reporter. Adelaide Advertiser reported.
Ms Salter’s husband, Chris Salter, was Ms Nicolas’s former boss in Seven’s Adelaide newsroom but has since moved to Melbourne where his wife will join him once Ms Nicolas takes up her job.
“Andrea leaves with our full support and gratitude for her extraordinary contribution to Seven News Adelaide for nearly two decades,” said Seven News Adelaide news director Mark Mooney.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity and we wish him every success. We’ll try not to make it too hard for him.”
Ms Nicolas studied journalism at the University of South Australia before working as a freelance journalist for Seven in the UK.
He also worked for the ABC and BBC before joining Seven’s news team in Adelaide in 2007.
Adelaide-based Channel Seven reporter Andrea Nicolas (pictured) is leaving the network to take up a role as senior media adviser to South Australian Treasurer Stephen Mulligan.
European correspondent Hugh Whitfeld (pictured right with Dolly Parton) will return to Australia to oversee Seven’s new national newsroom.
Ms Nicolas said she is excited to “join a talented team” in her new role.
“It’s been an incredible 18 years at Seven, working on and off with some of the best in the business and gaining a huge variety of experiences, but I’m looking forward to a new challenge and the next chapter,” he said.
The news comes just days after Queensland news presenter Sharyn Ghidella was sacked.
Ghidella, who had been the face of Seven News in the Sunshine State since 2007, confirmed her dismissal in an impassioned Facebook post last Friday.
She said her “tap on the shoulder” finally came while she was in the salon, admitting it was something of a “relief” after several anxious weeks over media job cuts.
But she was determined not to go quietly and criticised the ailing network for prioritising gimmicks like astrological readings over retaining veteran talent.
“When you work in television as long as I have, not a day goes by that you don’t expect a tap on the shoulder… After 38 years, I finally got a tap on the shoulder,” Ghidella began.
‘It wasn’t exactly how I expected it to end up at Channel Seven.
‘I was sitting in the salon for work when I got a call telling me that after 17 years at the chain, my time was up.’
Ghidella later said her recent time at the network had been “miserable” and that she was glad to be walking out the door.
Veteran reporter Sharyn Ghidella (pictured) confirmed she was fired from the network on Friday.
New news and current affairs director Anthony De Ceglie (right) has made several staff changes at the network.
“While I am a little saddened by this decision, I also feel a certain relief. As has been widely reported, the past two weeks on television have sadly been a miserable affair,” he wrote.
‘A long list of talented, loyal and dedicated employees have been shown the door, in what seems to have been a never-ending process of slowly ripping off the band-aid when it comes to removing what has been deemed excess stock.
“These people are some of the best content creators in the industry. They’re good people and it’s been heartbreaking to watch.”
Meteorologist Paul Burt, who has been reporting for the Gold Coast and Brisbane news bulletins since 2013, has also been shown the door.
Meanwhile, leading international journalist Hugh Whitfeld will return to Australia as Seven streamlines its news operations into a national news desk.
New News and Current Affairs Director Anthony De Ceglie announced he had appointed Whitfeld, 39, as the new section’s editor in an internal memo last week.
‘The Seven News National News Desk will house a centralised team of journalists whose responsibility as expert editors on their beat will be to deliver exclusive content beyond what is seen on television,’ the email, seen by the Daily Telegraphread.
‘Specialist rounds cover everything from business and aviation to property and Asia.’
The Canberra and Foreign Affairs Offices will also report to the new national office.
Whitfeld has spent the past decade working as a foreign correspondent across Europe, where he has covered several major stories, including the war in Ukraine and the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Ghidella (right) said his “tap on the shoulder” finally came while he was in the salon, admitting it was a “relief” of sorts after several weeks of anxiety over media job cuts.
In his new role he will be based at Seven’s Eveleigh headquarters in Sydney’s inner-southern suburbs.
Ashlee Mullany will be Seven’s only correspondent in Europe and will report to the National News Desk alongside US correspondents Tim Lester, David Woiwod and Mylee Hogan.
De Ceglie has also promoted Sunrise executive producer Sean Power to news director in Sydney. His former role will be taken by Jake Lyle.