Australia’s #1 news service today confirmed former US correspondent Angela Cox joins Sydney’s top-rating 7NEWS presenting team led by Mark Ferguson, to take up a new seat at the desk alongside Michael Usher on weekends.
Starting Boxing Day, Cox and Usher will co-present Sydney’s 7NEWS at 6.00 across the summer while Ferguson takes a much-deserved break after a relentless year dominated by breaking news.
From late January, the duo will then return to co-hosting weekend editions on Friday and Saturday evenings alongside sports anchor Matt Shirvington and weather presenter Sally Bowrey. Both will continue their hosting roles on The Latest and anchoring live news coverage and special reports for the network.
Mark Ferguson will return to the news desk from Sunday, 24 January 2021 alongside sports anchor Mel McLaughlin – fresh from traversing the country for Seven’s coverage of the four-Test series between Australia and India – and weather presenter Angie Asimus.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Michael at the desk,”
– said Cox, an award-winning journalist and foreign correspondent with the Seven Network for the past two decades, seven of those years in the US Bureau.
“He’s an outstanding newsman and a good bloke with a surprisingly cheeky sense of humour. We’ve worked together closely over the years particularly on The Latest, and most recently Seven’s US election coverage.
“Mush shares my unrelenting passion for good storytelling which is reliable and responsible.”
Usher added:
“I love working with Ange. We’ve covered hours of live coverage together this year – on The Latest, during rolling coverage and live specials for the bushfire crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently, on the US Election. She’s a hard-working journalist. We make a great team.”
Director, 7NEWS Sydney, Jason Morrison, said:
“Michael and Angela have the experience and have earned the respect of our audience. Together they’ll bring even more strength to our weekend news and be a great back-up for Mark Ferguson.
“Angela has done the hard yards and been with 7NEWS from her start in television journalism. It is great to see her achieve one of the most senior positions in the newsroom.”
The announcement follows a remarkable year for 7NEWS, with Australia’s #1 news service winning every week of the survey year:
7NEWS:
- 1.64 million viewers nationally, 1.06 million in the capital cities
- #1 news program
- Won every week of the survey year
- Up 8% on 2019 in 25 to 54s, up 10% in total people
The Latest:
- 366,000 viewers nationally, 240,000 in the capital cities
- Up 59% on 2019 in 25 to 54s and 16 to 39s, up 63% in total people
7NEWS.com.au:
- #1 news website for under 40s
- Average daily unique audience: 1.29 million
- Average monthly page views: 69.7 million
- Australia’s #1 social news brand
- Australia’s #1 digital news show, The Latest
Michael Usher was much better on his own. I really looked forward to his reading the news. Why on earth team him up with Angela Cox.