My immediate impression upon meeting want-to-be journalist Fiona Dear for the first time was "this really is the keenest work experience kid in the world".
Fiona was doing voluntary (unpaid) work experience in our WIN Television Wollongong newsroom and from day one she was demonstrating a keenness and willingness to learn you rarely see. She was a sponge, soaking up as much about the news business as she possibly could.
That was 25 years ago, and that same Fiona has just been announced as the new director of News and Current Affairs at Channel Nine, one of the most influential jobs in Australia’s news media business.
Fiona is also the first woman to be appointed to the prestigious position, coming at a time when Nine is under intense scrutiny for its alleged "toxic workplace culture" and the shock resignation of its high profile Chair, former Treasurer Peter Costello, following an altercation at Canberra Airport earlier this month.
Ready for the challenge
That’s not the ideal circumstance to take charge as the new head of news but Fiona says she’s more than ready for the challenges ahead.
The very likeable but very determined Fiona certainly breaks Nine’s decades-long mould of employing mainly gruff, often intimidating, blokey blokes as their news chiefs.
Let’s wheel back firstly, though, to how Fiona chose a life embedded in the cutthroat world of the Australia news media.
Having grown up in the sleepy community of Camden, on Sydney’s south-western outskirts, and after completing her schooling at the local primary and high schools, Fiona decided to study arts/history at the University of Wollongong (UOW).
At the end of the course and not quite knowing what to do, she decided to enrol in a new Master of Journalism degree at UOW and she knew immediately she’d found her calling.
Imagine being the next Jana
"When I was growing up, I saw Jana Wendt (60 Minutes and A Current Affair) on television and I thought to myself, imagine being her. And like Jana, I wanted to tell amazing stories," Fiona said.
Her next challenge was to get her first break into television.
That’s where we first met. Fiona firstly offered herself up for one week of work experience at the WIN-TV Wollongong newsroom.
While she loved the experience, she recalls "nothing came of it".
"I was working at Woolworths in the pay office at the time and decided I’d better maintain the relationships I’d already created at WIN and asked if I could do one day’s work experience a week there in the hope it might lead to something," Fiona said.
I remember how keen, bordering on desperate, Fiona was to get a full-time reporting position. She’d say to me, "I’ll work absolutely anywhere, I just need a chance." I’d seen enough of Fiona’s drive and tenacity to know here was someone who’d almost certainly make a success out of a career in journalism.
An opportunity arises
As luck would have it, within a matter of weeks an opportunity opened up in our Wagga newsroom and I suggested to the chief of staff in Wagga at the time that Fiona would be a great fit for his small team.
Shawn Burns wasn’t easily convinced but he had a chance to meet with Fiona the following weekend when we brought all our reporters together from across our newsrooms in Canberra, Wagga, Orange, Dubbo and Wollongong for promo shoots and some team building in the Wollongong studio.
There wasn’t time for Shawn to meet Fiona before the promo was shot, so I suggested we ask If she’d step into the frame for some of the shoots and then we’d take her out of shot for the rest.
It was super awkward, but Fiona understood the deal. If she and Shawn hit it off and she was offered a job, we’d have her included in the on-air Wagga promo. If she didn’t, well, she’d just have to wait for the next opportunity that came along.
Thankfully, Fiona made a great pitch and a strong first impression and Shawn didn’t hesitate in signing her on. Within a week or two, Fiona’s first stories were going to air in the 6pm Riverina bulletin, and the slick new promo featuring a beaming rookie journo was on high rotation into homes across Wagga, Junee, Narrandera, Gundagai and Tumut. An exciting new career in journalism was underway.
Reward for hard work
Fiona’s first boss, Shawn, today a senior lecturer in journalism at UOW, recalls just how impressive his recruit was from her first day on the job.
"Fiona is the personification of reward for hard work. She has and always has had exquisite news sense and an innate ability to work within and to lead a team," Shawn said.
Having done her time at Wagga, a reporting position opened up in the busy WIN Canberra newsroom and Fiona jumped at the opportunity to work in the national capital.
While she was less than two years into her career, Fiona’s hunger to help set the daily news agenda impressed her fellow team members.
WIN’s long-time sports reporter/presenter, Phil Small, remembers Fiona as, "100 per cent committed to the job. She always had a good eye for a story and was willing to go the extra yard to get it. Aside from that she was compassionate, understanding and very well respected."
Tony Lynas, who remains one of Fiona’s closest friends all these years later, was both reporting and presenting the weather at the end of the nightly WIN Canberra bulletin when Fiona was promoted to the chief of staff role, a reward for her incredible dedication and for proving, even so early in her career, she had the "news chops" as they say in the business.
A great operator
"She was a great operator," Tony said. "The team had a lot of love and respect for her, and she had this amazing ability of just making things happen, and at speed."
Another member of the WIN reporting team, Marguerite McKinnon, describes Fiona as, "One of my all-time favourite colleagues. Smart. Perceptive. Measured. Absolute quality."
Former Canberra Times reporter, Monika Boogs, shared an apartment with Fiona in Narrabundah. While there was a professional rivalry, there was also great mutual respect and a strong friendship.
"When I was still at the Canberra Times, we would often talk about the stories we’d covered that day and the different perspectives from the newspaper and TV angle," Monika said.
"Then when I first went to work as a media adviser (with former ACT Minister Simon Corbell), I was very fortunate that Fiona gave me some really helpful tips about TV reporting, which I was really grateful for, as this was my first job outside of journalism and that really helped me in the transition."
A talented team
Fiona has great memories of her time in Canberra, leading a hugely impressive ratings-topping team. She led and mentored some of today’s best-known television journalists and presenters, including Samantha Armytage, Jayne Azzopardi, Hamish McDonald and Peter Stefanovic.
"It was an amazing team and I learnt a lot from every single one of them," Fiona said.
The late Peter Leonard, WIN’s hugely popular news anchor at the time, also held a special place in Fiona’s heart.
The team covered all the big stories in the Canberra region but the one that stands out in Fiona’s mind was the devastating Canberra firestorm on 18 January 2003 that took four lives and destroyed nearly 500 homes.
"I’ll never forget that afternoon. We were all a bit hungover after celebrating Jayne Azzopardi’s farewell the night before. We drove down south to check out the fire and we knew it was going to be a tough night, and it was."
As the WIN newsroom chief of staff, Fiona would have daily conversations with her counterpart, John Choueifate, who managed Channel Nine’s Sydney newsroom.
"John and I were talking one day, and he asked if I’d pop into the office ‘to talk about life’. It was really quite strange when they brought me into the Channel Nine building up the back stairs so no one in the newsroom would see me."
‘A little scared’
Fiona was offered, and accepted, the assistant chief of staff role in the Sydney newsroom and admits being "a little scared" at leaving Canberra for a big new challenge working on Australia’s most watched news bulletin with veteran Jim Waley as the anchor.
Fiona says she remains eternally grateful for the support she received from her new teammates, but she singles out the late Peter Harvey, one of Australia’s best-known television reporters, as her greatest mentor.
"Peter really took me under his wing, and I recall how he was always very kind to young people. He even gave me a saucepan which he said didn’t fit in his home and I still have it," Fiona said.
"(Veteran sports presenter) Ken Sutcliffe is still a very, very dear friend and, with Mark Burrows, they were the best of the best."
Fiona went on to spend 15 years in the crazy-busy chief of staff role in Nine’s Sydney newsroom before a further promotion in 2018 when she was appointed executive producer of the top rating A Current Affair, hosted by Tracy Grimshaw.
Tough times at Nine
Her elevation to Channel Nine’s top news job follows a time of considerable turbulence after the resignation in March of her predecessor, Darren Wick, amid claims of "inappropriate behaviour".
Fiona sees her first priority as the new head of news and current affairs as "uniting the team". "I plan to get around the country and get to know them all and earn their trust."
Now in her 20th year with Channel Nine, Fiona is confident of building on the strong foundations already in place.
"I love that our people genuinely care about telling stories and they love doing what they do, and that’s infectious. The buzz, the chatter, the laughter, it’s the best thing about coming to work."
Another former WIN Canberra colleague and housemate, Karen Stewart-Moore, isn’t surprised at where Fiona’s career has taken her.
"When I think about it, this is the job Fiona was made for," Karen said. "A great friend and mentor and a whole heap of fun. It’s great to see she is now where she was always meant to be."
Now facing the biggest challenge of her career and helping blaze a new trail for women in the media, Fiona insists that despite so much change in the profession there will always be one constant.
"After all these years, the core part of what we do today hasn’t changed. We still aim to find a good story and then tell it well."
Fiona Dear, another wonderful Wollongong success story.
About the writer
Jeremy Lasek was a former WIN-TV journalist, chief of staff and news director (1988-2000) based in Wollongong and Canberra.
