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Craig McPherson quits, Anthony De Ceglie appointed Director of 7News & Current Affairs

More exec changes at Seven following a flurry of headlines as news boss departs.

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Seven West Media has appointed Anthony De Ceglie as Director of News and Current Affairs and Editor-in-Chief, Seven West Media following the resignation by current Seven Network Director of News and Public Affairs, Craig McPherson.

A former Today Tonight exec producer, McPherson was appointed in 2015 when Seven News was trailing Nine News but he took it to a leading position, while maintaining winning performances by Sunrise and The Morning Show.

7News Spotlight was also introduced in more recent years, but has been enveloped in controversy following an interview with Bruce Lehrmann in 2023. Executive Producer Mark Llewellyn recently departed with the network forced to deny scandalous allegations levelled in court. The show is yet to appoint a new EP.

Seven has also settled a defamation case after it incorrectly named a UWS student as responsible for the recent Bondi Junction attacks.

McPherson thanked Seven West Media Chairman Kerry Stokes, CEOs past and present, and all staff saying, “It’s a decision I have been considering for a while and believe now is a good time for all to have a fresh start.

“To the hundreds of staff who represent the 7NEWS brand across Australia and the globe, you bring it all to our viewers’ homes every day and night.

“To the phenomenal News Directors in every market and the leaders of Sunrise, The Morning Show and our Digital team, you are central to why we have been and remain Australia’s #1 news for the past nine years.

“As for me, I’ll be taking a long break to spend time with all my family and wish everyone at the network continued success.”

Anthony Ceglie is currently Editor-in-Chief of The West Australian, The Sunday Times, PerthNow and its suburban newspapers, 19 regional newspapers and SWM’s recently launched The Nightly digital newspaper. He has been with SWM since early 2019, based in Perth. He previously spent more than 11 years in various roles at News Corp Australia.

In his new role he will be responsible for Australia’s most-watched News and Public Affairs programs including 7NEWS, Sunrise, The Morning Show and 7NEWS Spotlight, as well as 7NEWS.com.au.

SWM Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Howard, said: “Anthony brings a compelling vision to the Director of News and Current Affairs and Editor-in-Chief of Seven West Media role. His absolute focus on news gathering and storytelling will underpin his approach, while his knowledge of digital and his innovative mindset will be just what SWM needs as we continue to build a better media business.

“This appointment reflects our ambition to think differently about the future of media in Australia. I look forward to working with Anthony in his new role.

“Craig has been one of Australia’s preeminent news leaders and we wish him all the best for the future,” he said.

De Ceglie said: “It’s an absolute privilege and honour to step into one of the most important roles in news in the country, and to do such at such a pivotal and important time for our industry. I can’t wait to work with the many, many brilliant creative people across the network who put all our products to air.”

De Ceglie will commence in the role on 30 April 2024 and will be based in Sydney.

This post updates.

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11 Responses

  1. Has the new guy ever actually set foot in a TV station before yesterday? Still, it’s the little people that do stuff and then try to explain to the carpet strollers what and why they are doing it.

  3. I think all commercial networks are the same. All looking for exclusives and breaking news so ratings are the most important thing, not facts. Seven wins only due to having better presentation and stylists. Nine has better content and Ten not really in the game.

    1. Re “facts” has Seven learned that it’s no good being “first” if the ‘news’ is wrong and ends up with large payouts to settle defamation? Naming wrong person, using wrong Facebook photo, etc.

    1. They plaster that annoying red 7News logo over everything. Memorial services, concerts, and many things which have nothing whatsoever to do with “news”.

  5. Interesting how Seven News has been struggling lately (Melbourne’s collapse vs the last two years, a few five city losses and nearly nationally one day last week) plus the bad press… Yet Spotlight had a landslide victory last week (Chase’s Anne Hegerty). Guess it shows there’s different demographics that follow media headlines on broadcast vs online and that they don’t always affect a show, content over the brand.

  7. I’m sure he wasn’t pressured to step down at all. Just luck they had a replacement ready to roll 🤣. It’s unfortunate he gets to save face by ‘resigning’ given his reign of lacklustre performance which led to the recent damage to the brand. But that’s the culture of SWM for you. Execs protect each other and its the plebs who are hung out to dry.

    1. About time. Executives benefit enormously and escape any consequences when the younger journos take stupid risks to get the stories. Their careers are ruined yet the fat cats get massive payouts for appalling judgement’s.

  8. Unfortunately, if you don’t like how 7 News has (allegedly) been running their news operations recently, then a brief look at The West Australian and The Sunday Times’ front pages over De Ceglie’s run will certainly put you off. He seems to treat all news no matter how important or serious as a trivial affair with some awful pun-filled headlines

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