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Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

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Speaker 1: It's Monday, October twenty twenty twenty five. It's finally happening.

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Speaker 1: Anthony Albanesi will today touchdown in the United States for

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Speaker 1: his long anticipated meeting with President Donald Trump. It's a

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Speaker 1: high risk moment, given Trump's tendency to humiliate foreign leaders

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Speaker 1: on the agenda for Albanesi, submarines and trade. In return,

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Speaker 1: the presidents likely to demand a huge uplift in Australia's

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Speaker 1: spending on its own defense. Another another law and order

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Speaker 1: embarrassment in Victoria, where weekend protests sought two police taken

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Speaker 1: to hospital with serious injuries after demonstrators through rocks and

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Speaker 1: bottles at them. It was a clash between self proclaimed

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Speaker 1: anti fascists and anti immigration activists, but senior offices say

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Speaker 1: it was the left wingers, not the far right, who

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Speaker 1: started the trouble. There's a supremely awkward situation developing around

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Speaker 1: one of Australia's most high profile media franchises, Nine Entertainments.

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Speaker 1: Today Program Nine's in talks with former seven star Samantha

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Speaker 1: Armitage to pair up with long reigning host Karl Stefanovic.

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Speaker 1: Just one problem, someone else already has the job, and

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Speaker 1: that's not the only hr catastrophe brewing at the Broadcaster. Today,

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Speaker 1: Media Diary editor Steve Jackson joins me, Look.

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Speaker 2: It's good to see that breakfast television coulters are as uncomfortable.

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Speaker 1: As ever and as dirty's tie, that's atory here. One

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Speaker 1: of the most intriguing figures on Australian television is Samana

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Speaker 1: the Armitage, the former host of Channel seven Sunrise. She's

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Speaker 1: quite posh but also seems like a whole lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: But she hasn't been on TV for a pretty long time,

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Speaker 1: at least in the critical breakfast time slot. Joining me

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Speaker 1: is The Australian's Media Diary editor Steve Jackson, to talk

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Speaker 1: about a potential return to primetime for Samantha Armitage. JACKO,

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Speaker 1: where's she been all this time?

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Speaker 3: Well, she has been doing reality television for the past years.

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Speaker 3: She's been working on a show called The Golden Bachelor,

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Speaker 3: which we will see tonight Monday night on Channel nine

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Speaker 3: for the first time.

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Speaker 2: Do you think you can find love again?

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Speaker 1: Do you think lightning.

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Speaker 2: Can strike twice?

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Speaker 1: Let's help?

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Speaker 2: So are you ready?

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Speaker 1: I'm ready as I may have want to be.

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Speaker 3: But she took a break a couple of years ago

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Speaker 3: to spend time with her now ex husband down on

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Speaker 3: the Southern Highlands and doing a lot of horse riding, etc.

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Speaker 3: But she has been massively missed from the Australian media landscape.

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Speaker 3: She's one of those people that love her and I've

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Speaker 3: got to say most people love her because she's fun,

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Speaker 3: she's vironment high energy. She is someone that people talk

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Speaker 3: about love, talking about love, reading about.

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Speaker 1: Breakfast television is hard, isn't it, Because you have to

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Speaker 1: segue from interviewing the treasurer to doing a recipe to

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Speaker 1: spooking potentially some products that you might have to sell

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Speaker 1: depending on what your time slot is. What sort of

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Speaker 1: mix of characteristics do you need to succeed in that

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Speaker 1: quite cut throat world.

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Speaker 3: It is one of those jobs that everyone thinks they

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Speaker 3: could do, but few people actually can. You need to

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Speaker 3: be well informed, you need to be friendly. You need

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Speaker 3: to be ideally someone that people would love to have

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Speaker 3: over for a cup of coffee and to talk about

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Speaker 3: the latest news of the day. But to be across

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Speaker 3: all those things and as you say, being able to

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Speaker 3: interview the Prime Minister of one second to talking about

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Speaker 3: bon Jovi's latest track, The Next is a really difficult

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Speaker 3: skill set.

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Speaker 2: To do it at three a m.

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Speaker 3: In the morning, and to have every little accident or

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Speaker 3: slip up of any words you say plastered through the

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Speaker 3: pages of newspapers and on websites. It is really, really difficult.

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Speaker 3: Let's not forget this is live television three hours every day.

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Speaker 2: The ability to.

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Speaker 3: Talk for that long on camera and be across everything

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Speaker 3: is just one of the most difficult jobs in the

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Speaker 3: media industry.

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Speaker 1: Probably the master of the art is Karl Stefanovic. So

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Speaker 1: he's the long standing host of nine's Today Show. He's

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Speaker 1: been paired with quite a lot of pretty formidable women,

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Speaker 1: and he has a female co host at the moment

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Speaker 1: in Sarah Arbo, who's very classy. She ticks all those

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Speaker 1: boxes that you just talked about. Why would there be

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Speaker 1: speculation about Sarah being replaced.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's funny that you describe Carl as being the

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Speaker 3: master of the art. Sam is the master of the art. Now,

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Speaker 3: Karl's been there for twenty years, twenty one years. He

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Speaker 3: had one little sort of year off He's gap year

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Speaker 3: back in twenty nineteen. But Sam was the woman who

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Speaker 3: stopped Karl from winning nationally back in twenty thirteen, so

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Speaker 3: former Sunday Telegraph editor went across Neil Breen and for

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Speaker 3: the first six months looked like Today's Show was finally

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Speaker 3: going to lose the tag of the preenally second placed

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Speaker 3: national commercial television breakfast show.

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Speaker 2: Brennie was ep right.

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Speaker 3: Brennie was ep heaps the pressure on that year they

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Speaker 3: were going to win. Midyear, Melissa Doyle exits at Sunrise.

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Speaker 3: Samantha Armitage comes in gone. You know she is the

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Speaker 3: master when it comes to breakfast television.

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Speaker 2: Harry do you like Do you like all the girls?

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Speaker 2: Like you like all the women? Harry?

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Speaker 1: I was you were to all for me?

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Speaker 2: But I'm not getting Harry, Liam come back interview with

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Speaker 2: justin take one. I found an interview Dumbell.

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Speaker 1: You said you have a shot of tequila before you

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Speaker 1: go on stage?

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Speaker 2: You do that? Does that just take me a job

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Speaker 2: a little bit? Thanks Russell.

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Speaker 1: That's very cold. It's not when you come to interview

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Speaker 1: with celebrity and go away with the present like we

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Speaker 1: do it all the time. We'll give it.

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Speaker 3: So in at nine. They have wanted this for more

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Speaker 3: than a decade. If we can get Karl, who people love.

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Speaker 3: He's the kid from Queensland, come good, you know, with his'

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Speaker 3: manaro and he's loved for a couple of rum and cokes.

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Speaker 3: And Sam, who's the Sydney version of it, you know,

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Speaker 3: love to have her over so much fun, so Virobrant.

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Speaker 2: You put those together. It's a recipe for success.

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Speaker 3: I don't think they even need someone who's like Michael Heey,

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Speaker 3: who's the Vengali of television at nine. You don't need

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Speaker 3: to be Michael Heey to know this is a winning formula.

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Speaker 1: So you revealed in Media Diary a week ago that

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Speaker 1: nine was interested in Samanthromatis and that she was potentially

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Speaker 1: interested in a returned to Breakfast Television. Nine didn't confirm

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Speaker 1: or deny it at the time. What's happened Since.

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Speaker 3: They haven't confirmed or denied it, not denying it is

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Speaker 3: some people would say quite telling. But also nine has

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Speaker 3: a very strong policy of not talking about contract negotiations.

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Speaker 3: I can ask as many questions as I like. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 3: no one has to tell me the answers. But I

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Speaker 3: do know that she most definitely is going to be

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Speaker 3: on the Today Show for at least a few weeks.

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Speaker 2: This December, so this is going to be the real trial.

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Speaker 3: She did fill in last summer while Carl and Sarah

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Speaker 3: were both on leave. She didn't win in the ratings,

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Speaker 3: then read into that what you will, but she will

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Speaker 3: be back this summer again and it will be seen

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Speaker 3: as another trial for Is this going to be the

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Speaker 3: pairing that we finally see hosting the show and making

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Speaker 3: that last ditch bid to win while Carl's there?

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Speaker 2: Because, let's face it, twenty one years in the hot seat.

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Speaker 3: How many more years has Carl got in him that

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Speaker 3: he's done it for twenty years already? It's a taxing show,

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Speaker 3: as we've already discussed, it's a taxing show, and the

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Speaker 3: fact that he's still there after two decades is impressive.

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Speaker 2: But he's not going to be there forever.

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Speaker 1: This is a really awkward situation for Sarah Arbo, who

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Speaker 1: hasn't done anything wrong. She is doing a great job,

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Speaker 1: but it's the classic situation of you don't want the

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Speaker 1: substitute who fills in for you on holiday to be

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Speaker 1: better than you. Nine surely has a fonsibility to sort

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Speaker 1: this out quickly, don't they?

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Speaker 2: For her sake?

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Speaker 3: Look, you would like to think that they do, but

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Speaker 3: this is the game they plan, this is the world

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Speaker 3: in which they move, and you are getting paid a

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Speaker 3: lot of money to bring in viewers.

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Speaker 2: And we saw just.

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Speaker 3: Last week that a breakfast show host in Brisbane wasn't

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Speaker 3: achieving the numbers. He's ratings fell and he's gone. Now

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Speaker 3: that said, that's why they get paid so much money

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Speaker 3: because the risk is high. You put yourself out there

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Speaker 3: and if you pull in the people, you reap the rewards,

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Speaker 3: and if you don't, you're gone. So not saying Sarah's

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Speaker 3: doing anything wrong, but if they think that they can

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Speaker 3: get an edge by bringing in Sam and win, and

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Speaker 3: that is a massive premium when it comes to advertising.

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Speaker 3: Being number one or number two, we're talking about millions

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Speaker 3: of dollars in advertising revenue that they can charge as

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Speaker 3: being the premium number one show. It's big stakes. So yes,

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Speaker 3: it would be nice if you know, everyone could have

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Speaker 3: the job. Let's make everyone the host and keep everyone happy.

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Speaker 3: But they're a win and losers and all these things.

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Speaker 3: Sam is amazing, Sarah also amazing. Ideally you'd want them both,

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Speaker 3: but unfortunately there are only two chairs.

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Speaker 1: Television stations are notoriously brutal, pretty tough with their staff.

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Speaker 1: Generally people are on contracts, so they're not permanent employees.

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Speaker 1: That means you have very little job security. How are

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Speaker 1: they at handling complex HR situations in AT nine?

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Speaker 3: That's a it's a vexed question. Obviously, we saw a

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Speaker 3: few dramas last year. But you know, the promise is

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Speaker 3: always that come to us, you can tell us your

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Speaker 3: dramas at any point, will keep all your complaints, your

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Speaker 3: allegations confidential. Sadly, I've learned in the past week that

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Speaker 3: that isn't always the case, and there has been a

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Speaker 3: massive confidentiality breach in AT nine relating to allegations against

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Speaker 3: some of their biggest stars across all their divisions. I'm

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Speaker 3: talking across television, print and radio, where allegations made against

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Speaker 3: on their personalities have been sent to people not involved

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Speaker 3: in the cases.

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Speaker 2: Now, it's not a hack, it's not a.

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Speaker 3: Deliberate breach, but these files have inadvertently been sent out

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Speaker 3: to the wrong people, so someone who's not involved with

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Speaker 3: the cases is reading the allegations and we're talking about

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Speaker 3: serious allegations. In one of the cases, we're talking about

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Speaker 3: an on air sports presenter in Brisbane, Jonathan Upton, who

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Speaker 3: himself was once mooted as a potential host for the

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Speaker 3: Today Show, where he was asked if he could take

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Speaker 3: a workplace drug test because of some of the allegations

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Speaker 3: about him. He took that drug test of his free

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Speaker 3: will because he had nothing to hide.

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Speaker 2: He passed it. They investigated him.

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Speaker 3: He spent months off air last year, he missed out

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Speaker 3: on going to the Paris Games because they are investigating

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Speaker 3: the allegations against him, and clean bill of health. There

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Speaker 3: was nothing to be found against him. He passed with

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Speaker 3: flying colors. And yet the details of those serious allegations

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Speaker 3: made against him, which are unfounded, have now been made

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Speaker 3: public to people at the network who aren't involved in

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Speaker 3: the case. And it's not just television, say this has

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Speaker 3: happened across print radio. One of the allegations as serious

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Speaker 3: allegations of bullying made against a high profile radio identity.

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Speaker 3: The allegations against the radio host are still being investigated.

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Speaker 3: So I can't even reveal who that person is at

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Speaker 3: this point.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, how does that happen that the files about a

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Speaker 1: complaint end up in the wrong hands. That would be

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Speaker 1: a metaphor a defamation action potentially, wouldn't it it.

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Speaker 3: Would be because they've published it to people who aren't involved,

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Speaker 3: and obviously I've found out about it, so yeah, you

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Speaker 3: would imagine. And it's a massive breach of privacy for

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Speaker 3: the people who were told come to us, your complaints

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Speaker 3: are safe with us. We're going to handle this and

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Speaker 3: for your complaints and your allegations, for both the person

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Speaker 3: who's complained and the person who's being complained about. It's

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Speaker 3: a disastrous breach of privacy for these allegations to be

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Speaker 3: made public, and by emailing it to just one person

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Speaker 3: who's not involved, that is making it public. We work

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Speaker 3: in a very small media industry where we love talking

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Speaker 3: about the media industry, and so these things are going

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Speaker 3: to travel. Hey did you know this is what so

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Speaker 3: and so has been accused of.

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Speaker 1: It comes in the context of nine attempting to fix

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Speaker 1: its culture, to create a culture of openness where people

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Speaker 1: feel willing to come forward because they have acknowledged that

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Speaker 1: there have been problems in the past with issues like

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Speaker 1: sexual harassment and misogyny, Allegations by women that they felt marginalized,

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Speaker 1: that even when they were promoted, that it was a

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Speaker 1: bit of a glass cliff situation where they only got

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Speaker 1: the job because some man had fallen over. Are these

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Speaker 1: two instances do you think just an HR muck up

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Speaker 1: or are they evidence of something more serious going on?

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Speaker 3: Look for the record and to be abundantly clear, Claire,

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Speaker 3: I think nine has done a phenomenal job with the

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Speaker 3: procedures they've put in place, They've addressed the issues, They've

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Speaker 3: done everything they can. This is just a disastrous stuff up.

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Speaker 3: But I think generally and it's a disastrous stuff up

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Speaker 3: that will affect people's confidence in terms of come forward

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Speaker 3: because it's so difficult, as everyone knows in the media industry,

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Speaker 3: to make a complaint against someone who seems so powerful

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Speaker 3: if they're in a on air position. The last thing

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Speaker 3: that you want is to doubt the process. But generally speaking,

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Speaker 3: Nine have been phenomenal and you look at the bosses

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Speaker 3: they've got in there now. I think Fiona Die has

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Speaker 3: done a fantastic job, the executive producers, the.

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Speaker 2: Team they've got in there. I think they are trying

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Speaker 2: their best.

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Speaker 3: It's very difficult because, as we know, there's three sides

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Speaker 3: to every story. You know, their complaints, the complaint and

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Speaker 3: the truth that appears in the Australian media diary. So

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Speaker 3: I think they are doing a wonderful job. It's just

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Speaker 3: a shame when something like this happens and it undoes

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Speaker 3: the great work because people start doubting the processes that

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Speaker 3: are in place.

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Speaker 1: Coming up, another cringe worthy HR situation unfolding at rival

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Speaker 1: network seven. I guess one thing that Nine's got going

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Speaker 1: for it is that it's not being sued in a

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Speaker 1: class action by its own staff. That's happening at Channel seven.

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Speaker 1: I can't let you go without an update on that situation.

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Speaker 3: Well, we are seeing what is happening there and hopefully

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Speaker 3: I'll have more clarity on this in the days ahead.

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Speaker 3: Last week I revealed the senior reporter had been stood

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Speaker 3: down in the Melbourne newsroom. Someone had been snooping around

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Speaker 3: in her email. She told friends that she logged in

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Speaker 3: on the weekend and someone she could see via the

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Speaker 3: search history in her email someone had been searching for

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Speaker 3: a number of expletive words, one of which definitely wouldn't

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Speaker 3: be allowed on the front, as well as the INITIALSMA,

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Speaker 3: which is the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, which is

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Speaker 3: the union that represents journalists, as well as the name

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Speaker 3: of her law firm and which obviously sort of freaked

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Speaker 3: her out, according to her friends that told me that

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Speaker 3: she was like, obviously, they're searching through all my emails

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Speaker 3: to build a dirt FORI on her. I think hopefully

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Speaker 3: the situation involving that senior reporter sh be resolved. I'm

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Speaker 3: told that she has now been invited to return to

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Speaker 3: work contingent on her signing a new contract that might

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Speaker 3: limit her hours or pay. But it looks like we're

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Speaker 3: moving towards a solution in that particular dispute. The wages

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Speaker 3: war will continue. She might be back at work soon,

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Speaker 3: but she will also be heading towards court to say

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Speaker 3: you've got to pay us more money.

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Speaker 1: I can't wait to read what else you've got in

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Speaker 1: their diary.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Steve, Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Steve Jackson is The Australian's Media Diary editor. You can

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Speaker 1: read his Unmissible column, packed with all the news and

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Speaker 1: gossip from the media right now at The Australian dot

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Speaker 1: com dot au