Ever since last year, Seven has been using quite a lot of new (but not all of them are young) talents to fill-in on news updates. Samantha Brett, Adene Cassidy, Paul Kadak, Sean Berry, Matt Carmichael, Ryan Phelan are just some I’ve seen. They are all quite good IMO but TCN’s fill-ins are slightly better. Wonder if Seven is able to poach some of these talents from Nine or will Seven’s young talents defect to their bitter rivals…
@Salty in all honesty both Melina and Emily (who deserves a permanent as well as prestigious role within the network, and maybe replace Jen in the future?) are better than Jane, who is definitely someone that Mark Ferguson can learn from in terms of bantering…
I think If Michael was to continue as weekday presenter the gap between 7 and 9 will gradually close. Peter will probably still win the ratings but I can see Michael gradually working his way up. Of course these things don’t happen over night, personally I’ve always preferred 7 News regardless of which state (probably because I live in WA) but like most on here I just can’t stand Mark reading the Sydney news and the circumstances of how he got the top job.
Last night’s ratings alone would support your theory (although it’s far too early to say). Nine dropped by 42000 in the 2nd half, while Seven also dropped it wasn’t as much. In a sense, Michael is closing the gap on Peter, and from what I can see, Mark usually drops in the 2nd half while Overton gains…
@NewsAustralia I also prefer Seven News to Nine, and I would definitely ‘make the switch’ to Seven News Sydney if Musher was appointed on weeknights.
Congratulations to Seven News Brisbane anchor Kay McGrath who was bestowed with the Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to children, and to the broadcast media as a journalist.
In a Sydney Confidential article (paywall alert) otherwise about Ten’s presenter changes that we’ve already heard about, an interesting quip about the current presenting situation at Seven:
Usually I wouldn’t speculate about the future of newsreaders, but wasn’t Fergo back on board presenting bulletins at this time last year? Somehow, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if Seven quietly “do a David Brown” and make Michael Usher Sydney’s Sunday-Thursday 6pm newsreader on a permanent basis before too long.
Personally I think Seven can even go one better by taking advantage of the gap in the Sydney market that Ten is about to leave when they (again!) abandon their dual presenter format, but that will more than likely not happen of course…
@SydneyCityTV I thought you (as well as many members onboard MS) would be absolutely thrilled with that. Fergo sucks at bantering, let alone interviews.
The sooner they bite the bullet and get Musher on weeknights, the better.
The fact remains he is losing by a bigger margin than Ferguson was during his last weeks on air in 2016.
I agree Usher has more presence and authority and I definitely couldn’t see Ferguson doing the “killer job” Usher did when he interviewed Baird on his resignation as Premier.
The absence of Ferguson from Seven News promos so far this year adds fuel to the speculation that Seven is looking to move him on. If they were to replace him they’d need to ditch Mel McLaughlin as well. She has no warmth and lacks the ability to interact naturally and effectively with other presenters. They should beg Matt White to come back.
