‘I’ve wanted it for so long’: Meet the new additions to 60 Minutes
In the same year it is celebrating its 46th season on Australian screens, 60 Minutes has announced two new big additions to its line-up.
First revealed at a launch in Melbourne last week, it was announced that award-winning investigative journalist, Dimity Clancey, and international news correspondent, Adam Hegarty, will join Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Nick McKenzie and Amelia Adams this year.
Though the pair are new to the current affairs program, both should be familiar faces to Channel 9 viewers. Clancey first joined 9News Sydney in 2010 before moving to A Current Affair in 2016.
Meanwhile, having previously worked in newsrooms at SKY News (UK), Turkish Television and CCTV/CGTN in Beijing, Hegarty moved to 9News 2018.
Speaking to Mumbrella at the launch event, Hegarty said he first got the news in an email from 60 Minutes executive producer, Kirsty Thomson.
“I turned to the person behind me and said… ‘what is this?’ And we all just had a bit of a laugh,” he recalled.
“It’s just one of those pinch yourself moments. It’s an email you don’t expect to ever come, especially at the stage of your career. I’m absolutely honoured. It’s extraordinary.”
Clancey added: “I’ve wanted it for so long. I just thought ‘Thank God, they’re gonna let me in!’”
For Thomson, bringing Clancey and Hegarty on board was an easy decision and one she says was well deserved by both.
“I’ve always been an admirer of Dim’s work because, you know, she’s so devoted to her journalism, to her storytelling. She works so hard,” Thomson told Mumbrella.
“She’s incredibly passionate about the people in her stories and helping people. I just think she deserves this opportunity.
“Adam just brings us a really nice, fresh perspective. I mean, we need a newsman in our line-up. And, you know, Adam’s covered a lot of news and travelled the world. I think he’s got a unique perspective that the program needs.”
60 Minutes first debuted in Australia in 1979 and not only does it boast a slew of Walkey Awards and Logies to its name, but the line-up over the years has included some of Australia’s most notable journalists, including George Negus, Ray Martin, Mike Munro and Liz Hayes, who first joined in 1996.
For Clancey and Hegarty, they know the pressure is on.
“It’s daunting, absolutely. I’m not gonna lie about that,” Hegarty said.
“Every little thing I do on the job now, about two weeks of it, you almost start overthinking it because you feel that pressure. But to work with the best in the business, you can’t do better. That’s what it means to me, to work with the best cameramen, the best sound recorders, the best producers, the best bosses, the best journalists, the best reporters.”
Clancey said that having grown up with 60 Minutes and later joining A Current Affair, she believes any long form journalists aspires to work on the show.
“For me, when I was working at ACA, [60 Minutes] was always that next step,” she said.
“Not having to do the daily deadline and now having a weekly program, you get to spend a little bit more time digging for the truth, asking questions, and I find that comes with great privilege.”
With the new season set to commence on February 4, Thomson told Mumbrella she is incredibly excited about the year and in large part to the team she gets to work with.
“I feel like the luckiest person I mean, I’ve now got this great team of excellent reporters,” she said.
“I think everybody’s going to keep doing what they’re do, which is find great stories, tell them really well, break a lot of stories. That’s really important.
“I think in this very fast paced 24 hour news world, with a program like ours, we’ve got to work that extra bit harder to find stories that need to be told.”
In addition to 60 Minute’s new lineup revealed at last week’s launch, Nine also announced the launch of popular game show Tipping Point, hosted by tennis commentator Todd Woodbridge, and new series, Do You Want to Live Forever, which will premiere later in the year with hosts Tracey Grimshaw and medical expert Dr Nick Coatsworth.
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Neil Griffiths is the editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
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What a pity will miss Dimenty she is to good for 60 minutes
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