Anchor Jennifer Keyte praised for handling of Seven News technology failure
Seven management has praised its Melbourne News anchor Jen Keyte for her handling of an on air technical disaster which temporarily took last night’s bulletin off air in Melbourne.
The brief problem – which undermined the network’s Melbourne ratings for the night – hit just as the 6pm bulletin began.
Keyte, who usually reads the weekend bulletins and was covering for Peter Mitchell who is on leave, was forced to throw to an unscheduled commercial break and apologise to viewers when the broadcast was restored.
According to a statement from Seven:
“At 6 o’clock yesterday evening, as Seven Melbourne crossed to the control room dedicated to the 6pm News Bulletin, a faulty cable connector linking the control room and presentation, failed.
“Video and audio crackling made the picture and sound of such poor quality, the control room decided to throw to a commercial break, so the problem could be rectified.
“After the commercial break, at 6:03pm the bulletin recommenced, this time with perfect vision and sound. Jen explained and apologised and pushed on with a perfect outcome.”
The Seven’s GM of broadcast operations Andrew Anderson said: “We take it for granted with live broadcasts, that every time we push a button we will get the response we expect.
“Every so often we get technical reminders, like we had last night, to be ready for a whole range of unplanned outcomes.
“At the end of the day though, it’s the News anchor who has the toughest ride, and Jen Keyte’s calm professionalism, under considerable pressure was faultless.”
Seven and Nine’s 6pm bulletins are seen as a key battleground in the peak schedule, delivering an audience for the rest of the evening.
Although the bulletin was only off air for a few minutes, Seven never recovered from most viewers switching over to Nine, with the channel finishing an unusual fourth for the night in Melbourne, well behind its performance in the other four metro markets.
Seven News rated just 141,000 for the night in Melbourne, compared to Nine News’ 517,000. By comparison, last Thursday Seven News rated 285,000 to Nine News’ 354,000.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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“Keyte … was forced to throw to an unscheduled commercial break and apologise to viewers when the broadcast was restored.”
Er … she didn’t actually do either. 7 Presentation crashed out of a story to the break and, when the news was restored, it just started the whole bulletin again without any mention of the cock-up or an apology. Andy, who are you trying to kid? Don’t your guys check studio feeds prior to “pushing the button”. Very unprofessional.
CJ, She apologised twice during the bulletin – once they were back on track and again at the end. Don’t you check your facts before you post comments online? Very unprofessional.
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Is this really a story ? She was just doing her job well and was back on air shortly thereafter.
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Steve, please read what the story said and then what I said. Pot-kettle-black!
I think it’s sooo funny how mumbrella tried to spin the story of the technical issue in Melbourne into positive by ‘giving praise to Jennifer Keyte’ Think about it, if they didn’t come from that angle it just would have been bad press for Seven all round.
Firstly why would Jennifer require praise? She didn’t do anything. It’s not as if auto cue failed or she had to ad-lib live. She just apologised for what happened and that’s it. All she did was start again at 6.03 like nothing happened.
I think the article is meant to sway viewers of what happened and restore some faith by playing the ‘wow good job card’ There was nothing wrong with her anchoring but there was certainly nothing extra ordinary about it, and definitely not worth praising.
I wonder though if those original Seven viewers that made the switch to Nine that night liked what they saw with Hitchener and might stay a night or two more?
Mumbrella article….pointless !
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Um. No. A non-story.
She did not apologise.
She was not put under any stress. She may not have known about the problem, since the in studio monitor shows what they put to broadcast, not what is broadcast.
She did not apologise ‘when the bulletin was restored’. Seven acted like nothing happened, which is good – although an apology for the loyal viewers still watching would have been nice.
Also, it’s interesting to see the ratings never recovered. Would have thought viewers would tune in a little later.
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