War drums have been booming in Perth’s Nine’s St Georges Terrace bunker this week amid a flurry of speculation about the newly appointed news chief. Michael Genovese has fallen in love with one of the station’s summer news anchors…
Itself.
Some sections of the City newsroom have been somewhat miffed that the jack-of-all-trades has been presenting the channel’s flagship bulletin at 6pm over the festive holidays, despite having moved on to play a role purely administrative last month.
“These summer locum positions are the first rung on the ladder so we can show our bosses what we can do and try to claim a full-time job at some point down the line, but instead it’s the boss who has assumed the role.” !’ said a newsroom staff member.
“We have a lot of fantastic journalists who would really shine if given the chance: people like Erin Harwood, Brooke Comerford and Michael Seal – but instead, Genovese does everything himself – it’s really frustrating.’
Nine’s new Perth news boss Michael Genovese and the wife of Seven crime reporter Jerrie Demasi
Rising Nine News Perth stars Brooke Comerford, Erin Harwood and Michael Stamp
What’s more, network insiders believe Genovese should be more aware of the concern that wearing two hats like this can cause, after his wife and former Nine News reporter Jerrie Demasi defected to rival Seven just over a year ago.
“I really should know better given what happened with Jerrie,” one said.
“She’s absolutely incredible, but she got tired of waiting in the wings, so she went somewhere where her abilities would be appreciated and given the right opportunities.”
However, they should not worry.
Nine assures us that Genovese hasn’t been trying to steal the show: he had been holed up reading bulletins during the hectic holiday period long before he was promoted to the top job in the newsroom. So expect more opportunities in the future.
Meanwhile, according to our spies on Sydney’s Denison St, a different network star was on everyone’s lips, that being Nine’s recently returned US correspondent. Alison Piotrowski impressive as she co-hosts Today on the last weekend of the year.
Nine’s recently returned US correspondent Alison Piotrowski (left) is one to watch on the network this year.
‘It was obvious how good Ali was in America; We all saw it in the run-up to and on the day of the presidential elections; their reporting and analysis was probably the best on the network,” gushed a Nine source.
‘But watching Ali on Today showed a whole new side to her. She was really dynamic.
“The best part is that she is unpretentious: she is incredibly well-liked because she is down to earth, a great person, hard-working and good at her job.”
Away from her stand-in duties, Piotrowski appears to have taken on a senior reporting role since her return to Sydney last month and we hear she is shaping up to be one to watch in 2025.
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