Jessica’s happy, but it’s not all good news for Seven: [2 All-round First Edition]
Michael Bodey, Amanda Meade, Additional reporting: John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 24 July 2007: 3.
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Abstract
“The fact is, she’s not pushing anyone aside,” Mr [Peter Meakin] said of [Jessica Rowe]. “If there are any complaints, I haven’t heard them, and there’s no cause for complaint because she’s not taking anyone’s job. She’s only going to be doing it part-time, she wants to ease back into it.”
Mr Meakin admitted [Ian Ross]’s contract had yet to be renewed. “Ian is under contract until the end of the year, and we want him to stay with the network and we’ll be negotiating with him really soon,” he said. “Jessica hasn’t been slated for that 6pm role. We are well aware of the fact other people on our staff will have ambitions when Ian retires. There’s no need to think Jessica jumped the queue.”
Full Text
THE imminent arrival of newsreader Jessica Rowe at the Seven Network has led to tension in the station’s Sydney newsroom as it prepares for Ian Ross’s will-he-or-won’t-he contract negotiations with the top-rating 6pm news service.
Seven’s director of news and current affairs, Peter Meakin, denies Rowe’s appointment as a part-time anchorwoman will come at the cost of anyone else’s job, but The Australian understands Seven CEO David Leckie has made no move to renew Ross’s contract, which expires in four months.
Mr Leckie is known to be a fan of Rowe, telling people he finds her charming and funny.
Tensions in the Seven newsroom are high, despite staff being forewarned by news director Chris Willis of the former Nine and Ten personality’s recruitment. Staff are tetchy as several aspiring readers jockey for the plum Sydney prime-time gig on Ross’s retirement.
“The fact is, she’s not pushing anyone aside,” Mr Meakin said of Rowe. “If there are any complaints, I haven’t heard them, and there’s no cause for complaint because she’s not taking anyone’s job. She’s only going to be doing it part-time, she wants to ease back into it.”
Ross has catapulted Seven to number one in the important Sydney market, and kept it there for more than two years.
Mr Meakin admitted Ross’s contract had yet to be renewed. “Ian is under contract until the end of the year, and we want him to stay with the network and we’ll be negotiating with him really soon,” he said. “Jessica hasn’t been slated for that 6pm role. We are well aware of the fact other people on our staff will have ambitions when Ian retires. There’s no need to think Jessica jumped the queue.”
While former Dancing With The Stars finalist Chris Bath has been nominated as Ross’s number two, her hold on filling his seat in Sydney in the event he leaves this year is not assured.
Rowe appeared relaxed yesterday as she and six-month-old daughter Allegra awaited the return of her husband, Peter Overton, at Sydney airport.
Of her new job as a newsreader and competitor on Seven’s ratings powerhouse Dancing With the Stars, she said: “It’s going to be exciting, just good fun. All I am thinking about is a whole fresh start, that’s what this is all about.”