EXCLUSIVE
The billionaire owner of the Seven Network will travel to Sydney next week in a bid to help stabilise the troubled broadcaster amid falling ratings and a very public and brutal bloodletting of some of its most popular presenters.
Channel 7 chairman Kerry Stokes is expected to take up residence on the executive floor of Seven’s Eveleigh headquarters for at least two weeks as the troubled broadcaster attempts to put an end to months of damaging headlines and internal turmoil following numerous redundancies.
The 83-year-old, who lives in Perth,’s pious decision comes amid ongoing criticism of Seven’s tarnished news brand and its widely ridiculed decision to include a controversial horoscope segment and a comedy sketch in its 6pm primetime bulletins.
The public backlash has seen the once-dominant broadcaster suffer a slump in national news ratings that threatens to see the channel cede its title as the country’s most popular free-to-air broadcaster to fierce rival Nine.
The ratings freefall has been exacerbated in Queensland by the brutal sacking of popular veteran news presenter Sharyn Ghidella, who was fired over the phone after 17 years of service while working in a hair salon preparing for an upcoming network promotion.
Stokes, whose wife Christine Simpson Stokes is a long-time friend and former colleague of the fired news anchor, was reportedly so incensed by Ghidella’s ruthless dismissal that he reached out to her personally, although the details of their conversation have remained confidential.
A source close to the Seven Network told Daily Mail Australia that staff were already treading cautiously inside the channel’s Sydney headquarters, and that news of Stoke’s impending visit had done little to ease their concerns.
Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes to make compassion trip to broadcaster’s Sydney bunker
“Everyone is looking over their shoulders and waiting for the axe to fall again,” they said.
‘We are concerned that there will be further cuts, including among on-air presenters, and no one feels safe here at the moment.
‘New news director Anthony De Ceglie says ratings don’t matter, but we’re losing viewers and it feels like the end of days for the network.’
Seven has declined to comment on internal staff cuts.
De Ceglie, who previously worked as a newspaper editor and had no television experience, was promoted to Channel 7’s top editorial post in April.
His appointment comes after his predecessor, Craig McPherson, left the network amid the fallout from the Bruce Lehrmann Spotlight scandal, along with the show’s executive producer, Mark Llewellyn.
Taylor Auerbach, a former producer on the network’s flagship news and current affairs program, told the Federal Court in April that Lehrmann had been reimbursed for drugs and sex workers while seeking an exclusive interview with the accused rape suspect.
The Seven Network has denied the allegations.
De Ceglie has told staff he has a “zero tolerance” attitude to bad behaviour in the newsroom and oversaw the dismissal of Seven News Sydney senior journalist Robert Ovadia in July following allegations of “inappropriate conduct”.
Ovadia has since hired prominent employment lawyer John Laxon and filed a complaint with the Fair Work Commission against De Ceglie and broadcaster Seven, seeking compensation and reinstatement to the job she held for 23 years.
Seven’s new news boss Anthony De Ceglie wants to revamp primetime bulletins
Meanwhile, a company-wide restructuring in June saw around 150 employees across the Seven West Media empire made redundant.
A conga line of members of the network’s senior management team lost their jobs, including marketing director Melissa Hopkins, revenue director Kurt Burnette, Seven Melbourne’s director of sport and managing director Lewis Martin.
Meanwhile, former Seven chief executive James Warburton resigned last December before ending his employment at the network on April 18, while Seven Melbourne news director Shaun Menegola tendered his resignation in May, just weeks after McPherson quit.
The turmoil within the network is far from over, with speculation that Mark Ferguson, the long-serving presenter of Seven’s 6pm news bulletin in Sydney, could also be next in the firing line.
Ferguson is on leave during the Olympic period, when Nine’s games presenter is expected to sweep the ratings, and Seven bosses are understood to have trialled alternative presenters with audience-friendly panels including Michael Usher, Angela Cox and Angie Asimus.
Long-time Seven news presenter in Sydney Mark Ferguson to take time off during Olympics
Seven journalists Michael Usher and Angela Cox compete for prime time
Seven bosses will be nervous about making hasty, long-term line-up changes after suffering a backlash from spectators in Queensland following Ghidella’s departure.
Secret internal ratings figures reveal that in just two weeks, Seven News Brisbane has lost 29,000 viewers. The plummeting ratings left Seven some 88,000 viewers behind Nine’s Brisbane newscast on Monday, while on Monday 8 July, before its axing, Seven was just 60,000 behind.
In a scathing Facebook post after her firing, Ghidella said morale at the network had been “miserable” in recent weeks and she was glad to be leaving.
“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,” he wrote.
‘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.
“While I am a little saddened by this decision, I also feel a certain relief. As has been widely reported, the last two weeks on television have unfortunately been a depressing situation.”
Sharyn Ghidella has mocked the decision to include zodiac signs in news stories after her brutal firing
Kerry Stokes and his wife Christine Simpson Stokes were shocked by the presenter’s brutal dismissal
In a scathing attack on Seven’s new news boss, Ghidella also made particular reference to De Ceglie’s decision to lighten the network’s prime-time bulletins with zodiac signs and comedy sketches.
‘“I’m also not one of those people who likes to hear the evening news with humor and horoscopes, so to be honest, it’s time to go,” she wrote before signing off. “I hope my horoscope for tomorrow indicates that better times are coming,” she wrote.
Rival broadcaster Nine has also been battling scandal after The Australian revealed former news chief Darren Wick left the station following a complaint from a female employee.
Other staff members have since come forward to report instances of bullying and sexual harassment at the broadcaster, prompting Nine to conduct its own investigation.