Costello clings on at Nine as executives circle Sneesby
The Nine chairman is expected to dig in and cling to power, but there is a growing sense chief executive Mike Sneesby is still vulnerable.
Nine Entertainment chairman Peter Costello will dig in and attempt to cling to power at the nation's largest domestic media company despite an unsavoury incident with a journalist at Canberra airport. But there is a growing sense among senior Nine figures that chief executive Mike Sneesby is still vulnerable.
Several senior figures at Nine, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their careers, said they expect Costello to survive allegations he knocked a News Corp journalist to the ground at Canberra airport on Thursday afternoon, footage of which has been aired across major news websites since it happened.
Costello was en route to the opening of Nine’s new “super bureau” at Parliament House, which houses journalists from its TV network and newspapers. In remarks at the event, where a source present said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made an appearance alongside a grab-bag of politicos, Costello covered off on the company’s key regulatory initiatives including the importance of the government’s ongoing support for the news media bargaining code and anti-siphoning.
On arrival, he was confronted by a number of reporters, some of them Nine employees, who asked questions about the report and footage. He denied the account and said the reporter had tripped over an advertising placard walking backwards.
