Channel Seven Adelaide reporter Andrea Nicolas departs as network rings in more changes amid staff bloodbath

Another Seven News veteran is departing the network amid a massive wave of staff changes and redundancies. 

After almost 18 years at the network, Adelaide reporter Andrea Nicolas will ditch television for politics in the coming weeks to take over as South Australian Treasurer Stephen Mulligan’s senior media adviser.

She will replace Jennifer Salter, who also previously worked as a television reporter.

Ms Salter’s husband, Chris Salter, was Ms Nicolas’ old boss in Seven’s Adelaide newsroom but has since relocated to Melbourne, where his wife will join him once Ms Nicolas steps into her job, the Adelaide Advertiser reported. 

‘Andrea departs with our full support and thanks for her extraordinary contribution to Seven News Adelaide over almost two decades,’ Seven News Adelaide news director Mark Mooney said.

‘This is a fantastic opportunity, and we wish her every success. We’ll try not to give her too hard a time!’

Ms Nicolas studied journalism at the University of South Australia before working as a freelance reporter for Seven in the UK.

She also worked for the ABC and BBC before joining Seven’s Adelaide news team in 2007.

Channel Seven Adelaide reporter Andrea Nicolas (pictured) is leaving the network to take over as South Australian Treasurer Stephen Mulligan’s senior media adviser

Ms Nicolas said she is excited to be ‘joining a talented team’ in her new role.

‘It’s been an incredible 18 years on and off at Seven, working with some of the best in the business and having a range of great experiences, but I’m looking forward to a new challenge and the next chapter,’ she said.

The news comes just days after Queensland newsreader Sharyn Ghidella was axed.

Ghidella, who had been the face of Seven News in the Sunshine State since 2007, confirmed the her sacking in a fiery Facebook post last Friday.

She said her ‘tap on the shoulder’ finally came while she was at the salon, admitting it was a ‘relief’ of sorts after several anxious weeks of media job cuts.

But she was determined not to go quietly as she took aim at the failing network for prioritising gimmicks like astrology readings over keeping veteran talent.

‘When you work in TV for as long as I have, not a day goes by when you aren’t expecting the proverbial tap on the shoulder… After 38 years, my shoulder tap has finally come,’ Ghidella began.

‘It wasn’t quite how I expected it to end at Channel Seven.

‘I was actually sitting at the hairdressers for work, when I got the call informing me, that after 17 years with the network, my time was up.’

Ghidella then said her recent time at the network had been ‘miserable’ and she was glad to be heading out the door. 

Seven veteran reporter Sharyn Ghidella (pictured) confirmed she was axed from the network on Friday

New Director of News and Current Affairs Anthony De Ceglie (right) has made several staffing changes to the network

‘While somewhat saddened by this decision, there is also some sense of relief. As has been widely reported, the past couple of weeks in TV has, sadly, been a miserable affair,’ she wrote.

‘A long list of talented, loyal and dedicated employees have been shown the door, in what seems to have been an interminable process of pulling the Band-Aid off slowly when it comes to removing what has been deemed excess stock.

‘These people are some of the best content creators in the business. They are good people and it’s been heartbreaking to watch.’  

Weatherman Paul Burt, who filed weather reports for both the Gold Coast and Brisbane news bulletins since 2013, was also shown the door.

Meanwhile, high-profile international reporter Hugh Whitfeld is set to return to Australia as Seven streamlines its news operations to a national news desk.

New Director of News and Current Affairs Anthony De Ceglie notified he’d appointed Whitfeld, 39, the director of the new desk in an internal memo last week.

‘The Seven News National News Desk will be home to a centralised team of journalists whose responsibility as expert editors in their round will be to deliver exclusive content beyond anything seen on television,’ the email, seen by the Daily Telegraph, read. 

‘The specialist rounds cover everything from Business and Aviation to Property and Asia.’

Canberra and Foreign Bureaus will also answer to the new national desk. 

Whitfeld has spent the last decade working as a foreign correspondent throughout Europe where he’s covered several massive stories, including the war in Ukraine and death of Queen Elizabeth II.

European correspondent Hugh Whitfeld (pictured right with Dolly Parton) is set to return to Australia to oversee Seven’s new National News Desk

Ghidella (right) said her ‘tap on the shoulder’ finally came while she was at the salon, admitting it was a ‘relief’ of sorts after several anxious weeks of media job cuts

His new role will see him based in Seven’s Eveleigh headquarters, in Sydney’s inner-south.

Ashlee Mullany will be Seven’s only Europe-based correspondent and will report to the National News Desk alongside US correspondents Tim Lester, David Woiwod and Mylee Hogan. 

De Ceglie has also promoted Sunrise executive producer Sean Power to Director of News in Sydney while. His old role will be filled by Jake Lyle.

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