Furious Channel Ten insiders claim the network’s newsroom has been “completely compromised” by the attendance of a presenter’s influential wife. Editorial production meetings.
Narelda Jacobs’ wife Karina Natt recently began appearing in the newsroom at Ten’s Pyrmont Sydney headquarters. Ms Natt, until recently a Green Party influencer, is now Jacobs’ talent manager.
Sources have also raised concerns that Jacobs, a Whadjuk Noongar woman, uses 10 News First’s lunchtime and afternoon bulletins as a platform for activist causes, including her Comprehensive coverage of Perth grandmother’s imprisonment in Japan.
An internal critic told Daily Mail Australia that Natt has made multiple appearances at Ten’s headquarters and, during some of those visits, attended editorial discussions about Jacobs’ program. His last appearance on Ten was on Thursday last week.
Additionally, Jacobs is also said to seek news advice from a close-knit network of influential friends outside the organization, known as ‘the Clitorati’.
Those inquiries, plus her sympathetic coverage of the criminal case against Indigenous grandmother and romance scam victim Donna Nelson in a Japanese court this month, have sparked fury within Network Ten’s walls.
Channel Ten insiders say the network’s newsroom has been “completely compromised” by having the influential wife of a news anchor attend editorial meetings. Narelda Jacobs and wife Karina Natt pictured at the Women of the Year Awards in Sydney on November 13
“The newsroom feels completely compromised and its reputation for independence is threatened,” said one former Ten employee.
‘For some strange reason (Jacobs) seems untouchable and no one knows why.
‘It’s an insult to all of us who walk that fine line every day – the way that show is presented. Upstairs they are too afraid of him to do anything about it.
The source pointed to Jacobs’ coverage of Ms. Nelson’s arrest (and eventual conviction) to accuse Jacobs of being too sympathetic during what should be neutral news coverage.
A Network Ten spokesperson insisted that external parties do not influence the editorial process or decision-making at Ten and that the network’s news department is independent and has impartiality “at the heart of everything it does.” .
Nelson, 58, was arrested upon arrival in Japan last January and charged with importing 2kg of methamphetamine into the country from Laos.
Her defense team told the court she was essentially the victim of a romance scam and believed she was sending the country a sample item for her new lover’s fashion business, not drugs.
“If I had known or even suspected that there were illegal drugs in the suitcase, I would never have agreed to carry it,” Nelson told the Japanese court.
A Network Ten source pointed to Jacobs’ coverage of Perth grandmother Donna Nelson’s criminal case in Japan to criticize the TV presenter. Jacobs conducted a sympathetic interview with Nelson’s daughter Ashlee Charles on Ten a day after the verdict.
On December 4, the court found that Nelson had been deceived, but also convicted her of drug trafficking and jailed her for six years.
Jacobs has followed the story closely through her newsletters, on The Project, and in regular updates on her social media pages this year, including posting family statements and conducting an interview with Nelson’s daughter, Ashlee. Charles, on Ten, a day after the verdict.
Jacobs opened that interview by describing the verdict as “devastating” news. He went on to ask a question about how “selfless” Nelson was.
“Ashlee, your mother released a statement from her attorneys saying she cried in court not because of herself, but because of the impact on the family,” Jacobs said. ‘Do her words give any idea of how selfless she is?’
Charles said: “Yes, definitely, she’s always thinking about others instead of herself and the truth is we’re all worried about her and how she’s taking it.”
Jacobs went on to note that in handing down the verdict, “the judge said his mother was a peripheral participant and there was room for sympathy.” But if there is a conviction, what does that mean?
Perth grandmother Donna Nelson was jailed by a Japanese court earlier this month. He was the victim of a romantic scam when he was smuggling drugs into the country
Charles: ‘Umm, maybe a lesser sentence. Maybe they took into account that they feel sympathy for Mom, so they gave her less time than they could have.
Jacobs: ‘Does that seem like a lesser sentence to you?’
Charles: “No, it seems like it’s been too long for an innocent person like my mother.”
Jacobs then gave a noncommittal ‘mmm’.
Jacobs aired another interview on Ten with Australian lawyer Dr Felicity Gerry KC, a human trafficking expert who played a key role in saving Filipino maid Mary Jane Veloso from a firing squad in Indonesia in 2015.
In that interview, Jacobs asked Dr. Gerry “how could the legal argument from the Mary Jane case apply to Donna Nelson?” and ‘what should the Australian government do here?’
Dr Gerry said Australia should “protect the people we call victim-perpetrators – victims of human trafficking who actually commit crimes” and pointed to a legal mechanism in some Southeast Asian countries that does so.
Jacobs asked, “Does Japan have such a mechanism?”
Dr Gerry said Japan had committed to the same international law, adding that “sometimes vulnerable women are tricked into carrying drugs and need to be protected rather than punished”.
Producers often write questions for news anchors, who then choose whether to ask them or not. There is no suggestion that Jacobs’ wife has written questions for her to ask, simply that she has been present at Ten on occasion.
A critic of Jacobs within Ten accused her of essentially campaigning for Nelson during a news bulletin. ‘This is extraordinary. “Insinuating that she has been wrongfully convicted is not journalism,” they said.
Jacobs and his wife Karina Natt announced last week that they were having a baby.
Daily Mail Australia asked Jacobs and Network Ten questions about internal criticism, Ms Natt’s appearance in newsroom and production meetings, and so-called ‘Clitorati’.
A Network Ten spokesperson said: ‘Network 10’s news department is independent and impartiality is at the heart of everything it does.
“Neither third parties nor individuals influence the editorial process in any way, nor do they participate in editorial debates or decision-making.”
Jacobs did not respond to questions. Jacobs has spent more than two decades at Network Ten, starting in the Perth newsroom.
Ms Natt was until recently chief of staff to South Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
Natt announced a career change in a LinkedIn post last year. He stressed that he was looking forward to “supporting the Yes campaign (for an indigenous voice in Parliament) with Narelda Jacobs, outside the bubble, where it will be most important.”
Natt’s LinkedIn page now lists her occupation as Director and Talent Manager of Baayah Pty Ltd, a company she and Jacobs own. The website provided for the company is nareldajacobs.com.
In addition to being a journalist, Jacobs describes herself as a host, commentator and MC, and her website notes that she shares her “lived experience on panels giving back to the community through various ambassador and board roles.”
The couple announced last week that they were having a baby, and received thanks from friends and loved ones, including former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins and Bindi Irwin.