ABC began international search to replace Justin Stevens as news director without his knowledge | Australian Broadcasting Corporation
ABC chief executive Hugh Marks has confirmed he has secretly hired a recruitment firm to replace news director Justin Stevens after the pair fell out over the direction of ABC News.
Marks said he was “not aware” that Stevens had begun an international search for a new news director, but said it was a necessary move because “they have not been able to agree on the path forward”.
Stevens, a 19-year veteran of ABC News, was forced to resign last month after Marks told him he had hired Reuters senior news executive Simon Robinson to replace him.
Marks also signaled a sweeping change across the organisation, saying all ABC’s leadership roles were being reviewed and that it was not unusual to “always undertake comprehensive succession planning for all our key executive roles”.
“We need to go through some changes and I think we might have different views on what those changes should be and how we would implement them,” he said in an interview with Sally Sara on Radio National Breakfast on Tuesday.
Marks said the ABC had “significant issues” to resolve and that resources were stretched too thin on live news. Once again, he noted that some old programs or services may need to be removed.
Now entering his second year in the top role at ABC, Marks looks set to start making big changes as Alan Kohler signaled in his role last month This Work podcast. “I’ll give you an example: an old television show that’s been around for 40 years,” he told the ABC business editor of plans to cancel some long-running shows.
During the interview with RN, Sara relayed the comments to him, which she said were “hypothetical.” He has previously ruled out 7.30, a 40-year-old programme, facing the axe.
“A better term would be: What got us to where we are today is necessarily [that] they will be successful in the future,” said Marks.
Marks also addressed the controversy that emerged last week when the ABC hired former Australian of the Year Grace Tame as the host of an autism podcast, with Melbourne radio presenter Charlie Pickering calling the move “problematic”.
Speaking to right-wing live broadcaster Avi Yemini, Pickering said: “I actually think it’s problematic, that’s my personal opinion. “As an Australian Jew, I think a lot of what’s been said and what’s been said has been completely misunderstood. [the] Their real meanings are as follows.”
Pickering later apologized for his comments about Tame and his conversation with Yemini, saying he had been “ambushed by a known provocateur”.
Marks said Pickering’s public comments were not a breach of the ABC’s broadcasting rules and noted that Tame had been hired before he made the controversial comments about her. Israel and Gaza.
In an interview with ABC Radio Sydney, Tame described the rape of Israeli women by Hamas on 7 October 2023 as “propaganda” and “debunked”.
“Frankly, knowing the controversy that has been reported and associated with a lot of her comments, I understand why people feel like Grace shouldn’t have a show on ABC,” Marks said.
“I spoke to Grace and what she really hates is violence of any kind, especially violence against women and children, and I think everyone can relate to what she truly believes… The podcast she does is amazing and I encourage people to listen.”
