Industry shock as popular Channel Nine reporter sensationally poached by rival network
Channel Seven is continuing to plunder the Channel Nine talent pool, poaching a popular senior reporter.
Long-serving Nine reporter and former US correspondent Laura Turner will move to Seven's Melbourne newsroom as one of six new appointments, according to the Herald Sun.
In an internal email seen by the publication, Seven's Melbourne news director Chris Salter revealed that fellow Nine reporter Phoebe Worthley would also be making the move to Melbourne.
Jordan Quinn from 7News Brisbane, and Sheri Smith from 7News Toowoomba will also make the move to Melbourne.
'Laura is a natural leader in our industry — she's got a strong news sense and a passion for breaking and telling compelling stories,' Salter said.
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'Her experience will be an enormous asset for us.'
Turner began her career in Nine's Melbourne newsroom back in 2010, before taking on a two-year stint as US correspondent in 2015.
She recently took to Instagram to mark her 15 years with Nine by sharing a montage of some of her memorable moments with the network.
'I recently marked 15 years with Channel 9 and 20 years as a tv reporter,' she wrote.
'It's been a wild ride of natural disasters, US Presidential campaigns, missing aeroplanes, Quill awards, crime scenes, NFL games, Oscars red carpets, mass shootings, typhoons, pregnancies, personal highs and crushing lows.'
Back in December, it was revealed that rising Nine star Xander McGuire, the son of veteran broadcaster Eddie McGuire, had also been poached by Seven to take on an expanded role in its sport and news divisions.
McGuire established himself as one of Nine's most promising talents after joining the network in 2022, with sports presenter Tony Jones describing him as 'the best young reporter I've seen in almost 40 years'.
It comes after Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed last week that Seven had poached the executive producer from Nine's nightly bulletin, Tanya Weingarth.
Back in December, it was revealed that rising Nine star Xander McGuire, the son of veteran broadcaster Eddie McGuire, had also been poached by Seven to take on an expanded role in its sport and news divisions
In an internal email, the network announced the one-time A Current Affair senior producer would be appointed executive producer of the broadcaster's 6pm Sydney news bulletin.
Seven's acting news director Geoff Dunn welcomed the appointment in the internal email.
'Tanya started her career with Seven Queensland, so she really is coming home,' the message read.
'We will confirm her start date in due course,' he said.
'We're thrilled she is making the switch to Sydney's most dedicated news team.'
Weingarth's career has spanned two decades in Australia after she started as a reporter at Seven News Queensland in 2003.
A Nine spokesman told Daily Mail Australia the network wished Weingarth 'all the best for her next career move'.
'Tanya continues to fulfil her current role as EP, including tonight at 6pm,' he said.
It was also recently revealed that Seven News bosses were secretly planning to sack some of their most popular and best-paid stars.
Former top news boss Anthony De Ceglie had a plan to axe every Channel Seven personality earning more than $300,000 per year in favour of upcoming TV stars, according to The Australian's Media Diary column.
It was planned that Spotlight chief correspondent Liam Bartlett, Seven News chief reporter Chris Reason and Seven News Sydney anchor Michael Usher were going to be quietly dismissed as part of a 'drastic cost-cutting operation'.
Sunrise and Morning Show presenters Natalie Barr, Matt Shirvington, Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur were the only high-paid stars not at risk of losing their jobs.
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