NINE issues legal threat to DAILY TELEGRAPH after ‘Gutless’ attack on GEORGIE GARDNER

NINE has threatened legal action against Australia’s largest publisher after a front-page article was published in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph yesterday describing Today host Georgie Gardner as an ‘Ice Maiden’. 

A spokesperson for NINE has told the New Daily website legal action was “under consideration” and that “The Daily Telegraph should take full responsibility to correct false reporting.” The legal moves come after NINE’s News director Darren Wick yesterday slammed the article as “one of the most deliberate acts of bullying” he had ever seen.

The controversial article written by Sydney Confidential columnist Kris Crane alleged NINE had conducted secret focus groups to determine why the new hosting line-up of Georgie Gardner, Deborah Knight and Tom Steinfort were failing to resonate with viewers.

According to the article, the focus group described the banter between TODAY hosts as ‘forced’. Gardner copped the harshest criticism from the focus group who allegedly described her as “cold” and an “ice-maiden”.

The article, which has now been removed from The Daily Telegraph website went on to claim production staff at TODAY were angry with Gardner for her alleged role in removing Karl Stefanovic, Sylvia Jeffrey’s and Tim Gilbert from the program.

Speaking with Ray Hadley on 2GB, NINE’s News director Darren Wick was brutal in his assessment of the article, and the journalist who wrote it.

“Yeah, he’s a fairly consistent critic of Nine. He’s a fairly consistent critic of The Today Show.”

Wick went on to say he felt the attack on Gardner was a “gutless attack” and the description of her as an Ice-maiden was “horrible terminology” and “appalling” 

“I don’t know if this guy has an agenda or whether it is deliberate, or he’s just completely incompetent. He’s clearly been fed this lie by someone”

Wick went on to deny the network had conducted any form of testing in 2019, adding;

“I don’t think Kris Crane made this up himself, I think it’s all been fed to him, but the fact is he hasn’t checked anything, he’s just run with it.”

Tensions have been rising between News Limited and NINE since the announcement of a media deal last year which saw NINE take control of Fairfax Media, owner of rival publications including SMH and The Age.

In an updated version of the article published on Thursday afternoon, Daily Telegraph editor Ben English conceded there would be a review to check if the article met the editorial standards of the publication;

“We are reviewing every aspect of the publication of this story.” “We are committed to accuracy in our reporting. We will keep our readers updated.”

The attack on TODAY comes as the recently relaunched program continues to struggle in finding an audience. Ratings for the show are now regularly below 200,000 and on Monday of this week, TODAY fell to a 13 year low of just 168,000 across the 5 cities.

In a media statement yesterday, Darren Wick indicated the network would continue to back the program despite the poor numbers.

I don’t shy away from the weaker numbers the Today Show has recorded in 2019. But just five weeks into a new team on-air, we’re not about to hit the panic button. We’ve been through this battle before with other programs, where a section of the media is quick to write us off. We’re in for the long haul.”