Darren Wick, Nine Network Director of News and Current Affairs, today announced two major appointments within the management team at Nine News.
Mike Dalton will move into a new position as the Head of Nine News Regional, undertaking one of the most exciting challenges in the history of Nine News, after five years as Queensland News Director.
As the first Head of Nine News Regional, in this new role Dalton will build a regional television network for Nine News from the ground up. He will work closely with our affiliate partners, Southern Cross Austereo, to establish news bulletins and newsrooms in all major East Coast regional markets.
This is an enormous undertaking and commitment to regional Australia.
Dalton has more than 30 years of television experience in metropolitan and regional markets across Australia. Born and bred at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast, he has been based everywhere from Darwin to Dee Why.
He has been one of the most accomplished Chiefs of Staff at Nine News in Sydney, working with the legendary newsreader Brian Henderson and the current Number 1 team of Peter Overton and Ken Sutcliffe.
In 2011, he took over the reins of Nine News Queensland. Under his news direction the standard of the bulletin, the morale of the staff and the ratings all lifted substantially. With the team led by Melissa Downes and Andrew Lofthouse, Nine News Brisbane soon regained the Number 1 spot in the 6.00pm timeslot, where it remains today, as well as being Number 1 in the competitive daytime news market, with bulletins read by Eva Milic.
This year Dalton has overseen the relaunch of Nine News Gold Coast, with Bruce Paige and Wendy Kingston, where it retains the market leader position after 20 years of serving viewers on the Coast.
Amanda Paterson is to become the Queensland News Director.
Amanda Paterson began her television career as a 19-year-old reporter, recruited from the University of Southern Queensland to join the Extra program at the Nine Network in Brisbane. She subsequently moved to A Current Affair, working as an investigative reporter in Melbourne and Brisbane, before being appointed as the program’s Queensland Bureau Chief, a position she has held for the past eight years.
Paterson has been a three-time Walkley Award finalist for her reporting and a multi-award winner at the prestigious Queensland Media Awards, including the Investigative Report of the Year, after revealing a high-flying business millionaire to be a sexual predator. Other acclaimed reports include an investigation into medical negligence at a major hospital; exposing the national sporting coach who resigned after an improper relationship with a young athlete; and the killer who confessed to her on camera, forcing police to reopen a cold case and ending with him being jailed for 26 years.
As Queensland Bureau Chief at ACA, Paterson has rebuilt the team into an outstanding chase and investigative unit, and steered them to a series of annual ratings wins in one of Australia’s most intensely competitive markets.
She has mentored and driven a new generation of reporters and producers within the Nine Network. Her tenacity, passion and commitment to journalism is contagious.
Born and bred in Brisbane, she is the best person to lead the successful Queensland News team
into the future and maintain the trust of viewers and the integrity of the Nine News brand.
Both of these appointments take effect from Monday, August 29.
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