Nine’s feedback channel – an automated platform where the good, bad and ugly of audience feedback is sent – was on fire this week as the network’s highest-paid and most-polarising presenter was being shown the door.
“I will not be watching Channel Nine while Karl Stefanovic is employed there,” one viewer wrote. “Having a ‘speak the truth’ podcast is one thing. Interviewing a race-baiting fascist like Tommy Robinson is just way too far!”
And at the other end of the spectrum came this missive: “I am writing to express my strong support for Karl Stefanovic’s podcast series. His interviews bring forward perspectives and behind-the-scenes insights that are often overlooked or left unexplored by mainstream media coverage.”
The torrent of vastly different feedback neatly summarised the damned if you do, damned if you don’t predicament Nine entered once Stefanovic’s independent podcast with far-right thug Tommy Robinson was published and swiftly deleted.
Nine had only two options. The first was to part ways with Stefanovic but anger free-speech champions and loyal viewers who claim the presenter is being “cancelled”. Riding high in the polls, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has already whipped her supporters into a frenzy over the fate of her “good friend”. But she and others manning the barricades for Stefanovic have failed to acknowledge that it was Stefanovic himself who deleted the episode with Robinson once the proverbial hit the fan. He wasn’t silenced – he silenced himself.
Nine’s second option proved even less palatable: decline to take action and face a near-certain advertiser boycott of its lucrative Today program, as well as a revolt from staff who reckon Stefanovic was getting away with behaviour they would never be allowed to replicate.
Late on Thursday, Nine executives settled on option one. Karl had to go. The decision was announced on Friday following days of legal negotiations, with the Today host to leave the network immediately.
In his first remarks since the scandal broke, Stefanovic posted a video on Friday morning worthy of a Logie Award for best acting. Sitting on a park bench, Stefanovic smiled as he celebrated being “free” from his corporate overlords.
That would be “free” from the network that made him a star, and paid him tens of millions of dollars over the years. Sounds like a tough place to be imprisoned.
In the video, he also espouses the virtues of free speech and the airing of different perspectives. Few would disagree with that principle. But it is hard to swallow such a sermon from Stefanovic given he has spent the past three years publicly and privately undermining the reporting of his colleagues at the Herald, The Age and 60 Minutes on controversial neurosurgeon Charlie Teo and alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith.
In and of itself, interviewing someone like Robinson should not be a hanging offence. Stefanovic’s failure was not doing the interview, but how he did it. He did not interrogate Robinson, he threw his arm around him in a preview video, and he told him he loved him. Stefanovic also called British Prime Minister Keir Starmer a “wanker”.
The presenter spoke for less than 10 per cent of the hour-long discussion and, even then, most of that was complimentary chitchat. Robinson is given free rein to rant and rave, veering down rabbit holes while repeatedly clearing his throat and nose in a stomach-churning manner.
It was excruciating stuff. Nine titans such as the late George Negus, Peter Harvey and Brian Henderson must be rolling in their graves at the idea Stefanovic’s interview constituted journalism. We can only imagine what the likes of Tracy Grimshaw and Jana Wendt think.
In times when Karl has been good, he’s been very, very good. His first decade hosting the Today show was a triumph. In an industry with few genuine stars, he shone brightly. Even appearing drunk on air after the Logie Awards only cemented his status as larrikin and leading light.
But he was forced to take a year’s hiatus from the show in 2019 amid poor ratings and focus on his private life. When he returned in 2020, much of the gloss had worn off. Last year, Nine offered him only a 12-month contract for 2026, and a pay cut. The writing was on the wall and Stefanovic’s loyalty to Nine immediately began to wane.
In the world of commercial television, juggling the eccentricities and egos of some on-air talent is far from easy. Throw into the mix rapidly evolving technology and consumer habits, a weak advertising market and populist forces bagging legacy providers, and you’ve got a beast to tame – often daily.
In the case of Stefanovic, the beast has been off the leash for the better part of six months – and there is blame to go around.
Nine could have acted sooner, and was a touch naive not to recognise the probability that for Stefanovic’s podcast to be a commercial success, it might need to tap into themes at odds with Today’s clean-cut image.
But it was ultimately Stefanovic who blew himself up. He now must stitch himself back together, one podcast at a time.
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Bevan Shields is a senior writer, and former editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
