As expected, Darren Wick has been announced as successor to Mark Calvert as Head of News and Current Affairs for Channel 9. He comes with good pedigree having most recently been in the role of Sydney News Director, and a 16 year veteran of the home of the dots. I wonder what changes might be made first? From the press release:
Nine Network Managing Director, Jeff Browne, today announced the appointment of Darren Wick to the role of Director of News and Current Affairs.
“Darren is one of those rare people who has a thirst and talent for news and current affairs embedded in his DNA. His extraordinary commitment and effort has been fundamental to Nine’s News performance, topped off with a great win in Sydney last year. Darren has rightly earned the respect of all in our newsrooms across the country, as well as other television networks and major news organisations and he is the natural choice to assume the top role in News and Current Affairs at Nine.” said Jeff Browne today.
Darren has been with the Network for 16 years, currently as Sydney News Director. His other roles over that period have included Executive Producer on A Current Affair and Today Show. Prior to joining the Nine, Darren began his career at News Ltd as a journalist on The Daily Mirror followed by a stint in the UK working in television news and current affairs.
“I’m honoured to take on the baton of Director of News and Current Affairs. We have an outstanding team around the country and I look forward to working with them on building our success nationally.” said Darren Wick.
David Gyngell, Chief Executive Officer of Nine Entertainment Co, said: “Darren has earned the post with sheer hard work and leadership – he’s an outstanding appointment”.
Nine News has had tremendous success thus far in 2012, with the weekly 6pm News bulletin winning the ratings battle across the East Coast in Sydney and in Melbourne. We look forward to rolling that success out across the network under Darren’s administration for years to come.