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Deb Knight, Tom Steinfort join Georgie on Today

Deb Knight to co-host Today with Georgie Gardner. Tom Steinfort reads news.

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This was due to run tomorrow but a Nine embargo has been broken:

Respected journalists Georgie Gardner and Deborah Knight will host a new look TODAY with Tom Steinfort joining the line-up as newsreader, it was announced this morning.

Joining the hosts will be legendary Melbourne sports presenter Tony Jones, Nine Finance Editor Ross Greenwood and former ABC journalist and Triple J newsreader Brooke Boney as entertainment reporter.

The new-look team will begin on-air on Monday, January 14.

Alongside the core presenting team will be the who’s who of Nine News reporting and presenting talent, including Political Editor Chris Uhlmann, Richard Wilkins, Lara Vella and Christine Ahern and Jessica Millward.

While on Weekend TODAY, David Campbell joins Allison Langdon, Jayne Azzopardi and Clint Stanaway.

Rounding out the morning programming will be TODAY Extra, hosted by Sonia Kruger and David Campbell for three days a week, with Richard Wilkins joining Sonia in the seat Thursdays and Fridays.

The new line-up forms Australia’s most dynamic – and ground-breaking – morning presenting team across the whole week.

Darren Wick, Nine’s Director of News and Current Affairs, said: “Georgie Gardner, Deb Knight and Tom Steinfort will spearhead an energised and exciting TODAY Show in 2019. We’ve brought together a team from within the Nine family who are already well-known, trusted and liked by Australian viewers.

“Georgie has established herself as one of the most respected presenters on television. Our viewers adore her. What you see is what you get. Authentic, caring and compassionate. Deb Knight is hands-down one of the best interviewers in the country. An incredibly hard-worker, she cuts to the chase with every conversation.

“And Tom Steinfort is among the best of a new breed of reporters. His career has taken him from the Melbourne newsroom to A Current Affair, European correspondent for Nine News and onto 60 Minutes.
“TODAY in 2019 has a new focus. But the show will retain everything that’s made it an institution for four decades. The perfect mix to start your day – news, information you can use and fun.”

Overseen by Director of Morning Television, Steven Burling, viewers will wake up to a fresh TODAY Show.

Steven Burling said: “Today viewers expect our reporters to deliver breaking news from overnight and early morning – but our team will also set the daily agenda; unique stories, exclusive interviews and content that will have people talking throughout the day.
“These are serious journalists but also fun personalities, Australia will love waking up with them in in 2019.”

42 Responses

  1. Here’s my 2 cents worth.
    This is a white bread line up. Georgie and Deb look like sisters with similar hair styles and a passion for white suits. Hope they don’t fight about who gets to wear it , like those other two Nine girls.
    Georgie Gardner does not appear to have a sense of humour and comes across as the quintessential Mosman mum married to an investment banker and living in a $6 million dollar home.
    Sitting next to poor old Karl she always looked as if there was a bad smell in the air.
    From my limited exposure, Tony Jones is a buffoon with a heightened sense of his own importance and knack as a TV funnyman. Think Will Ferrell in Anchorman, but for real.
    He is a very Melbourne taste who will find it difficult to translate to a national audience.
    Tom the news guy has the pre-requisite Chesty Bond square jawline, I guess he will be fine.
    In short , Nine should have…

  2. It’s unfortunate news.com.au have picked up on some negative comments from other sources like Twitter and Facebook and ran a story about the new line up.

    2. Sadly selecting half a dozen (or sometime even just one) comments from Twitter or Facebook to back up the story you want to write seems to pass as journalism nowadays.

  3. Great news about Deb Knight, finally and not before time! I think the audience wanted her last year to replace Lisa. I’d really would have liked to have seen a Deb Knight Ben Fordham pairing this year.
    Water cooler talk in my social circles has the issues with the Today Show being more then just Karl Stefanovic. Georgie is seen as rather bland and fence sitting, perhaps Georgie might fire up and be more opinionated surrounded by new people.
    So for me I think Today needed to clear the whole deck including Georgie. Time will tell if the shake up is the right one.

  4. All I can say is this is now the time for Ch10 to have a go at breekie TV again! They already have Lisa Wilkinson & Sarah Harris and there is also talent out there they can tea up… I remember reading someone saying about rebooting Good Morning Australia on Ch10 I think that is now a great idea!! Cmon Ch10 this is the time!! Good Morning Australia!

    1. Think Breakfast TV is crowded on current formats. For Ten to enter this space a new format is needed. To me l feel a music, interview and Skitch format would be different.

  5. Oh, great line up. Am happy with that. Do we know who is doing the weather? Stevie Jacobs has been filling in for Natalia while on maternity leave. Will she be coming back? Or is Stevie Jacobs staying put? Ross Greenwood used to have a money minute segment every day but it disappeared & he just pops up occasionally now.

  6. Not liking it. Much the same presenters as the past at various times. So where is the fresh look?? Just rearranging the deck chairs in my view.

  7. Great news for Deb. I’m really happy for her. Just an idea I’ll throw out there and Steve Burling can run with it if he likes. Have the new team present Today from center court each and every morning while the Australian Open is on. It gets the team out of that claustrophobic studio set and would make for great crossover promotion. Just a thought. Congrats Deb.

      1. Thanks maxxdude. I wasn’t aware of this. Pity they weren’t broadcasting from center court but just being there in Melbourne and out of that studio is a good start.

  8. Interesting.

    Individually they are all perfectly reliable, if not exactly stand out talent. As a team, very urban professional, very 30 something, very eastern suburbs and very white. Very same same.

    Where’s the diversity of outlook and life experience?

    Compare that to NBC Today where Savanna was born in Melbourne (who knew) and (kinda) taught law in Georgia, Hoda is from an Egyptian Muslim family – grew up in Egypt, Nigeria and the US, while Al Roker is a lifetime New Yorker and probably the longest serving Afro Caribbean American voice on US TV. So they bring differing perspective drawn from a range of backgrounds, previous life life success and different life experience.

    It’s exactly the same on Good Morning America with Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan who bring perspectives from differing gender, race, age, sexual orientation, professional…

    1. “Very 30 something”— think you’ve got to reassess their ages jjd as Tom Steinfort is the only one of the four main members of the New Today show that is in that age range, the other’s are closer to 50 than “30 something”.

  10. Looks like a great line up. Only Ross Greenwood remains? He must be good come tax time or something lol.

    Hopefully they get a new fresher set that doesn’t look like something stuck in the corner of a TV studio.

  11. Not sure having 2 girls is a good thing. Before anyone gets worked up, I would say the same if they chose 2 blokes. Just think that having 1 female and 1 male on a very long breakfast show is a better balance. They will need to have great chemistry for it to work but cannot see them getting near Sunrise.

    1. Agree. It’s interesting Nine said they did this not because of gender but because they were the two best presenters available. That obviously means they think they don’t have any blokes that are up to it and didn’t want the expense of poaching someone. At the same time though I don’t really believe that claim.

    2. Deb & Georgie have hosted together numerous times. they have good chemistry. Clearly nine wants to do breakfast tv different to the competition. I think it will work out well.

  12. Savannah and Hoda are going great guns on NBC Today as that shows first permanent female hosting team, wishing similar success for Deb and Georgie here.

    1. In my opinion that really felt like a sort of protest, sticking it to the man so to speak after the Lauer event. And it worked out really well. There wasn’t a Matt Lauer to get rid of from Today in Australia. Maybe it’ll work out for them too though.

  13. Deb, Tom and Georgie are great journos and do a great job when they’re being serious but fail miserably when they try to be cool and funny. This is where the stefanovic brothers failed. Journos aren’t known for their humour. Present company excepted. The smugness needs to disappear from this show. I wish channel 9 the best but please capitalize on their talents

  14. I reckon one of the best things about the new Today line-up is the addition of seasoned Melbourne-based Nine sports reporter Tony Jones. Tony is one of the funniest blokes in the business and one of the most talented writers. His affability, ready smile, quick-wittedness and wry observations add up to the perfect combination for a program like Today.

  16. It’s funny reading the nine release on their own website… it says Karl said “he wouldn’t be renewing his role” and it says Silvia “announced her departure”… no mention of being pushed

  17. Yayyyy from me. I think this is a great lineup. Good luck to them. People don’t usually like change and it will take time to get used to it but I see it eventually winning people over.

  18. Thanks for the update!
    I will tune in and give it a go. I like ABC Breakfast, but in winter they are on later as I leave early and watch them on 24 in summer!
    Both Georgie and Deb should be good and Tom has credibility too.

  20. Great choices but Georgie should have gone too. She has just12 as much to blame as she made no effort to get on with Karl. I feel sorry for Tim Gilbert though. I think he is great. Tom Steinfort would have been great with Deb Knight with Lara Bella as newsreader.
    David do you know if Stevie Jacobs is going to return permanently to Today? I know Natalia is on maternity leave but she was the weakest cast member.
    Still think they are making a mistake moving Richard as Today will lose his credibility as a long term entertainment reporter.
    I just hope they know what they are doing & don’t lose that hard news edge that Today has always had. I can’t see Georgie standing in a disaster area interviewing those affected. She is a bit too precious for that now. That was where Karl was a master.

    1. @Maxxdude I’ve heard you say that about Natalia before… the weakest link… not sure how you come to that conclusion apart from the fact she gets very little screen time every hours. I think she does a great job and I hope she stays.
      Didn’t Stevie leave because it was too much travel for him? Can’t imagine he would want to come back full time.

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