I believe Sydney reporter Mike Duffy has finished up with 7 News - this gathered from this post on his Instagram and the ensuing farewells in the comments:
Also, “7 News reporter” has been removed from his Twitter & Instagram bio.
Seven Sydney has lost a lot of good journalists recently!
I wouldnt call him ‘good’.
Thought it was interesting we saw a story from him Sunday or Monday night in Perth. Hadnt seen him for a while over here (thankfully).
Yet another name to add to a fairly long list of high profile journalists who’ve departed Seven News Sydney in recent times!
I wonder why so many have been leaving in recent times. Budget cuts? Declining morale at the network? Or something else entirely?
I feel that with the changing media landscape, people are just looking for new career opportunities. At first it was quite concerning that reporters are leaving but I understand that when you’re doing the same job for a while it can get quite repetitive for some. With the influx of new reporters to Seven, in the long term this could be a great asset as they will mature and become high quality journalists.
As for budget cuts, I don’t think that is a contributing factor but I might add in that Mark Ferguson is probably getting paid more than he actually deserves (just an assumption)
Maybe the culture is a bit toxic, not just for young triplet women?
Well why does Nine’s reporters stay there all the time while the Seven reporters leave frequently? Is there something that is so special at Nine that their key reporters stay while Seven’s revolving door continues?
It might also have something to do with the quality of the content. I know if I was a reporter there and was reporting on the current state of the bulletin, I would leave too.
Well to say that Nine reporters stay there all the time is an overstatement, Nine has had there fair share of reporters coming and going particularly in the late 90’s early 2000’s in Sydney. Reporters such as Chris O’Keefe, Eddy Myer, Zara James etc. haven’t actually been at the network for a long time and would of replaced other reporters who left.
The reporters who have left Seven, e.g. Lee Jeloscek, Damien Smith, Mike Duffy, have all been at Seven for a long time. I do have to agree that content has gone down though (but gradually picking up) and that is probably a contributing factor to some extent.
If I remember correctly, Mark Burrows, Simon Bouda, Damian Ryan etc. have more than 20 years experience under their belt. I don’t think Chris Reason, Robert Ovadia (I know some will disagree, but he’s a good reporter IMO), Paul Kadak, Chris Maher etc. has that much experience in comparison. Similarly, most of Nine’s reporters (junior) have been there for as long as I can remember, while most of Seven’s junior reporters are much more recent and therefore unpopular. I don’t get why Seven can’t get some decent talent into their newsroom tbh.
Chris Reason started his career in 1986 working in newspaper journalism, in 1989 joined Nine Gold Coast then joined Seven in 1992 working in the London Bureau for 4 years.He returned in1996 joining the Sydney newsroom.
As always, it’s important to remember that we are on the outside looking in to these networks. We see the finished product a few times a day but we don’t see the reality of working 9-5 (or 9-7) or whatever at these businesses. Perhaps the culture at 7 is shocking on the inside, perhaps employees don’t feel like they’re valued for what is not a regular eight hour a day job. It might seem like a great job, but the reality is it’s just another workplace with likely the same old issues you might encounter in yours (low wages, poor management, understaffed/resourced, annoying colleagues).
Reporters also don’t get paid as much as regular Joe Bloggs might think and not having a social life or balanced life outside the walls of your workplace also comes into thinking.
For those senior Nine reporters you’ve mentioned, it’s closer to 30 years experience (maybe even more than that for Burrows & Bouda).
As Salty mentioned, Chris Reason has been at Seven News Sydney since 1996 and I’d imagine that Chris Maher has been at the network for a similar amount of time.
Paul Kadak has been at Seven News Sydney since (at least) the final days of Ross & Ann presenting the bulletin. I’m not quite sure how long Robert Ovadia has been at Seven for, but I’m sure I remember him filing reports during the days that Roscoe presented the bulletin.
Seventeen years.
Update: he’s said on his Instagram that he is “leaving for a corporate media gig”.
Maybe he will be earning more money in his new position.
Samantha Brett presenting weather in national morning news & Sydney 4PM & 6PM news today
Elspeth Hussey, Theo Duropolous, Bruce Abernethy, Tim Hatfield & Jessica Adamson from Seven Adelaide are in Melbourne for the AFL GF, there’ll possibly be even more.
Ten Adelaide sent Max someone.
Nine Adelaide also sent a couple.
–
Paul Kadak started at Seven Perth, Alex Hart started at Seven Adelaide & Robert Ovadia at Ten Melbourne (though from Sydney).
All have been at Seven Sydney for many years now.
Chris Reason their longest, though Nick McCallum of Seven Melbourne beats them all by the length of the Flemington straight.
Of note, Eddy Meyer (formerly of Ten Sydney for 20+ years) started on TV before Chris Reason, now at Nine Sydney.
Do Seven Sydney still have Chris Maher?
Angie Asimus is still on holidays overseas, Freya Cole would’ve been a better choice to present weather. I find Samantha ok presenting news updates but not very good on the weather.
Samantha also read news updates on The Morning Show and The Daily Edition today.
US correspondent Mike Amor returned to Melbourne today for the AFL Grand Final. He said on 3AW that he went straight to the parade after his plane landed at 10.30am, and would fly back to America on Tuesday. He and his parents are longtime Richmond fans, and he said he was able to get match tickets from Seven.
Yes they do thank god with all these long-time reporters leaving them lately!!
Nick McCallum was at Nine for many years before joining Seven in 2007. He was also a former foreign correspondent for Nine.
