Thursday, February 05, 2009

The face to save Nine News


The op_inion has taken an extended hiatus but now with all that has happened in the television world, it is time to return and start throwing some punches.

Perennial favourite Mark Ferguson was removed from Nine’s news desk and replaced by ‘sneaky Pete’, Peter Overton finally ending the rumors that he had the eye on the top job since Brian Henderson’s departure earlier this decade.

Nine’s decision to replace Ferguson with Overton demonstrates that Nine’s newsroom has no backbone.

Clearly Ferguson needed time and in four years he was not given an opportunity to cement his face upon our television screens for the next forty years like predecessor Henderson was given.

Terrible news lead-ins thanks to a lack of creativity from Nine aided by redundancies and retrenchments of key on-air personnel like Brad Schmitt, Christine Spiteri and Adam Walters followed by Dale Paget and Shaun Fewings departures from the network.

The experience is thinning with only Mark Burrows, Allison Langdon and Simon Bouda remaining as senior and experienced journalists who are out there in the field filing reports.

Overton’s debut was not flattering as a clunky and mistake ridden first night has not eased any critics or helped his cause as the newsreader who usurped the likeable ‘friend next door’, Mark Ferguson.

And what are Nine going to do with Ferguson?

A weekend news-reading gig is not enough for the best man in the business and then where does Michael Usher go?

Nine has got it all wrong but if there were one face to resurrect the 6PM news disk then lure back Hugh Riminton.