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Spicer puts boot into ‘bland’ Nine’s panda obsession

Foormer Ten newsreader Tracey Spicer has this morning laid into Nine’s evening news as dull, predictable and too full of pandas.  

Writing in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph about the replacement of presenter Mark Ferguson with Peter Overton, she says: “But is it just the bland leading the bland? Why bother respraying the car when you really need to overhaul the engine?”  

“In the 1980s it was famously said that Channel 9 could “make a turd look like a chocolate eclair”. Now, it’s more like a dessert from the Coogee Bay Hotel.”

She goes on: “Colleagues watch in sadness as the once mighty Nine News serves up graphics with spelling mistakes, poor writing and, at times, incorrect information. It never would have happened in Kerry’s day. Then, there’s the “if it’s Monday, it must be cheese-rolling” approach to news. Every year we see the same tomato-throwing festival in Spain, bog-snorkelling contest in Wales and wife-carrying race in Finland.”

“I love a panda as much as the next person – but every second night?”

Meanwhile, the paper is also reporting that Nine’s news and current affairs boss John Westacott could be on the way out.

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