EXCLUSIVE
Nine has sacked its second high-profile news director in as many weeks as the brutal season of murders continues at the beleaguered broadcaster.
The network’s veteran Sydney news director Simon Hobbs was the latest senior executive to be sacked after being unceremoniously sacked on Wednesday afternoon.
Her shock departure comes less than a week after Nine’s Queensland news director Amanda Patterson was unexpectedly sacked during a video conference with the channel’s new head of news Fiona Dear.
No reasons for Patterson’s or Hobbs’ departure have been publicly offered.
While a terse email to staff notified Patterson’s office that she had officially been transferred, many journalists in Hobbs’ hectic newsroom have yet to be seen.
“We don’t know the circumstances of his departure, only that he has been fired,” a source told Daily Mail Australia.
Other staff members were called into a meeting where they were simply told that he was “no longer” in charge.
Simon Hobbs has run Channel Nine’s Sydney news operation for almost 13 years but was unceremoniously sacked on Wednesday.
Hobbs had led Nine’s Sydney operations for almost 13 years after rejoining the company in 2012 after working as a producer in the United States for six years.
Although their departures come just weeks after the shocking findings of an independent investigation into the network’s toxic newsroom culture, there is no suggestion that any of the news executives sacked by Nine were linked to the report.
Nine staff members had been preparing for more heads to roll after Patterson was summoned to a meeting with the Brisbane-based broadcaster’s People and Culture representative last Thursday only to be told that her three-decade career in the chain was over.
After being informed of the network’s decision, she was immediately escorted out of the channel’s Mount Coot-tha studios without being allowed to return to her office or address staff.
The Nine veteran, who had held the top job since 2016, has not commented publicly on her dismissal but has since retained the services of celebrity employment lawyer John Laxon in an indication she is willing to fight her dismissal.
Hobbs’ departure comes less than a week after her Queensland counterpart Amanda Patterson was also sacked.
In an email confirming his departure, Dear said: ‘I wanted to let you know that QTQ news director Amanda Paterson has finished with Nine today.
‘While we formalize the internal and external recruitment process to replace the role, Kate Donnison has agreed to step in on a short-term basis until QTQ EP Brendan Hockings returns from the US and takes his annual leave.
“Brendan will assume the role until we finalize the hiring process to ensure stability in leadership during this time.”
