Are the positions of NSW Political Reporter & Editor one and the same at Nine though? I’m not familiar with how their Macquarie Street bureau is structured.
In any case, I’m sure Elizabeth Daniels will do well at Nine. She’ll be in good company too with Kelly Fedor, Tiffiny Genders & Matthew Woolfrey (no doubt there’s others I’ve missed, although I certainly remember all those reporters from their radio days) among those from Macquarie National News Sydney who’ve made it big at TCN in recent years.
CONFIRMED: NSW State Political Reporter Chris O’Keefe has been promoted to Nine’s Canberra bureau.
Lizzie Daniels will replace O’Keefe as Sydney’s Political Reporter/Editor. Chris O’Keefe will still be involved in Nine’s NSW election coverage this year, though.
Oh, that’s really good then. Remembering some of his work here in NSW (like that Walkley/Kennedy Award-winning story during the hospital crisis a few years ago), I’m sure he’ll do an even better job on federal politics!
So is Chris staying for the campaign or is he moving to Canberra soon with a brief stay in Sydney for NSW Election night?
Unless someone else is leaving soon, I would guess that COK is taking over the spot that Lane Calcutt recently left behind, being the 2nd in-line reporter to another Chris.
Even taking into consideration that they’re all used in different shifts, it’s still interesting how Nine seem to have a need for at least five reporters (Chris Uhlmann, Chris O’Keefe, Airlie Walsh, Fiona Willan and Jonathan Kearsley) covering Federal Politics in Canberra though. Isn’t this the same network who has recently axed their Mackay & Darling Downs services and only has one state politics reporter even in the most populated states?
And Nine unlikely made the regional decision itself. Even if they are connected, think about the net benefits: more federal coverage in an election year for the whole country or continue to fund bulletins that few people are watching and Nine/SX is not required to provide.
Interesting… I wonder what this does to Yvonne and his living status… but again Joel Dry and Jessica Milward did something similar during the 2016 election.
Five reporters over a 7 day roster and filling bulletins from 5am - 6pm in multiple time zones plus online news commitments doesn’t leave much to spare.
Good addition to Canberra but he had a massive state contact list, but that doesn’t mean he is instantly going to get a massive federal list like Laurie Oaks.
At the moment, I probably wouldn’t compare Chris O’Keefe to Laurie Oakes. But in another decade or two, who knows!
Didn’t Laurie Oakes start his reporting career in state politics before moving up to federal political reporting? I’d be extremely surprised if Chris O’Keefe didn’t have at least some contacts in federal politics, given that Sydney/NSW is home to quite a few notable federal politicians.
I’d also imagine that most state political reporters would have some interest in federal politics and visa versa, since Nine used Laurie Oakes for state election night coverage on what surely would’ve been many occasions over the years…
