SOME of Ten’s most familiar — and entertaining — reporters are confirmed to be leaving the network as others brace for forced redundancies.
Among those are some of television’s most talented journalists, who will disappear from our screens from next month.
After an anxious long weekend waiting, staff who applied for voluntary redundancy packages found out their fate Tuesday afternoon.
News Corp can reveal veteran Network Ten reporter John Hill, senior reporter Ali Donaldson, network correspondent Danielle Isdale, court reporter Mazoe Ford and reporter Ellie Southwood have all accepted redundancy packages.
Hill was nominated for a Walkley last year after, in a piece of brilliant television, he tripped up Liberal candidate Jaymes Diaz by asking him to explain his own party’s policies.
News Corp is aware of more reporters and five cameramen from Sydney who have had their applications for voluntary redundancy approved.
News Corp has also learnt that reporter Antoinette Lattouf, who is currently overseas, is also leaving the network. While she’ll still appear on Studio10 as a guest panellist, it’s believed she will be joining SBS news next month.
Ten’s poster girl for working journalist mums put her hand up for redundancy.
Coincidentally, on Tuesday Lattouf was also announced as a finalist in the Women in Media awards for her investigation into forced marriages among Sydney’s ethnic communities.
An insider said that the network was losing some of its “most experienced and respected” journalists.
“Ten will also no longer have any diversity in its news team — it will no longer reflect the audience it so desperately needs to gain,” they said.
The TV bloodletting began this morning with news a “handful” of redundancies will take place at Seven, although on the broader scale that station stands to gain from its rival’s cuts.
A number of familiar faces and big names from Ten’s state news rooms are expected to finish up next month.
The London and Los Angeles news bureaus will also close, affecting correspondents Ben Lewis, Lachlan Kennedy and Emma Dallimore.
This follows the removal of a number of staff biographies from the network’s websites.
TITLE: VIDEO: Wake Up's teary goodbye
Ten announced last month that up to 150 jobs would be cut nationwide from its news, operations and engineering departments.
It is understood the majority of job losses are occurring in production as on air talent is already lean. Digital news also “looks vulnerable”.
It is understood Ten’s Perth newsroom is being reduced from 24 to 16 staff, while journalists in Brisbane are being cut from 12 to four.
The Sydney newsroom is expected to shed about half its staff with the aim of keeping seven reporters, five cameramen and an unknown number of producers rostered on each day.
Employees had until last Wednesday to apply for voluntary redundancies and insiders told News Corp that some of the network’s finest journalists had put up their hands.
The network’s highest profile presenters appear to be escaping the cull while one is expected to be redeployed to The Project.
The jobs of remaining staff won’t be considered safe until forced redundancies are finalised later this week.
An insider said it was a tough day for both those staying and going.
“(Tuesday) wasn’t nice because people who we care about are leaving but tomorrow will be a really sad day for everyone because the redundancies announced tomorrow won’t be voluntary,” they said.
The network’s head of human resources Graeme Kathel said in an email to staff this morning that conversations about compulsory redundancies would commence tomorrow.
“We will commence consultation tomorrow and through the remainder of this week with those employees who did not apply for voluntary redundancy and whose roles are proposed to be made redundant,” he said.
“Managers will work with affected employees with regard to individual end dates.”
A Network Ten spokesman said redundancies in news and operations will happen over a period of time.
“It is not appropriate for us to comment on individual employees,” the spokesman said.
It’s a sad day for the network as staff who are staying start farewelling colleagues who will leave the business on June 27 or August 15, depending on work demands including coverage of the Commonwealth Games.
But Ten’s losses look likely to be the Seven Network’s gain as it prepares for some changes of its own.
Seven Tuesday morning announced it would direct more resources to their front line news gathering across the network and increase their local resources at Today Tonight in Adelaide and Perth.
A spokesman said there would be a “handful” of staff redundancies in its Sydney newsroom but would not confirm the exact number. They said, however, that there would be “many new jobs are available” with focus on frontline newsgathering.
News director Rob Raschke this morning told staff new roles had been created and positions across the capital cities were advertised on Tuesday.
“We will be consolidating the news investigative unit in Sydney. This unit, led by Max Uechtritz, will produce content for all 7 News bulletins as well as Today Tonight,” he said.
“There will be some changes in roles for staff working in the news investigative unit; and there will be a small number of roles which may become redundant as part of the reallocation of resources within News and Public Affairs.”
Changes at Seven are set to be finalised by the end of the month.
This comes after Network Ten put ill-fated breakfast show Wake Up to sleep last month. It was the network’s second breakfast show to be axed in as many years.
The Ten Early, Morning and Late news programs also ceased production on May 23.
kristin.shorten@news.com.au
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