NINE Defends Female Presenters After ‘Shameful’ Attack From The Sunday Telegraph

Nine has launched another stinging attack against The Sunday Telegraph as it looks to defend its presenters.

The defence of Nine talent comes after two articles appeared in the Sunday publication, again focussed on high profile female presenters.

The first article by Annette Sharp made the claim Sonia Kruger was about to be axed by the network as part of a reshuffle at Nine which would see Georgie Gardner demoted into the Today Extra hosting role.

A second article by Brianna Domjen suggested sports presenter Erin Molan was being “sidelined” by a sexist “boys club” at the network. The online version of the article was later updated to highlight the fact Molan had actually taken time off work for surgery on a broken shoulder.

A spokesperson for Nine responded to the allegations yesterday telling the Daily Mail;

“The sustained attack by The Sunday Telegraph on the female presenters of Nine is aimed to damage the standing of some of Australia’s most talented women in the media,”

“Working mums Georgie Gardner, Erin Molan, Sonia Kruger and Deborah Knight are just some of the Nine women who are performing great roles across the various parts of the business, yet have been targeted by The Sunday Telegraph in a shameful onslaught of stories.”

News Corp tabloids, and in particular The Daily Telegraph have been on the offensive against the network and its presenters since Nine announced a merger with Fairfax last year.

Its understood New Corp journalists have been instructed to avoid promoting Nine content, or referring to Nine programming by name wherever possible.

In February, the Daily Telegraph was forced to offer a page 3 apology to Georgie Gardner after it published “exclusive claims” of alleged focus group research by Nine on Today presenters. The article, which was deleted within hours of publication, went on to describe Gardner as an “Ice-Maiden”

At the time, Nine’s Head of News & Current Affairs, Darren Wick, described the story as;

“One of the most deliberate acts of bullying I’ve ever seen.”