Major drama unfolds at Channel Nine as newsreader is seen bursting into tears – shortly after TV network’s new boss arrived in town

A veteran Channel Nine TV presenter was seen bursting into tears after meeting with her boss, as tensions run high at the network which is preparing to axe 38 staff from its news division.

Monika Kos – the much-loved Perth presenter who has worked at Seven, then Channel Ten and now Nine since 1990 – was seen crying after meeting with Nine News Perth’s news director Gareth Parker on Tuesday.

The meeting coincided with a flying visit to the state by Fiona Dear, Nine’s newly appointed national director of news and current affairs. It sparked fears from observers that Kos’s scalp could be the first in a wave of redundancies. 

Although Nine has denied Dear was at Kos’s meeting, staff are understood to be ‘walking on eggshells’ with Ms Dear’s arrival and the foreshadowed job cuts at the network.

Monika Kos and 6pm news reader, Michael ‘Thommo’ Thomson, are part of Nine’s nightly news line-up. Nine staff are ‘walking on eggshells’ as the network prepares to cull 38 news staff 

When Daily Mail Australia contacted Nine about Kos’s tears, the network denied she had been sacked.

Instead, a spokeswoman insisted that the newsreader, 56, was simply ‘sad’ about an issue regarding a colleague.

Known to viewers as ‘Mon’, Kos’s poise and warm broadcast voice see her front award shows, sports events and charity programs. 

She previously fronted Seven’s since axed local version of Today Tonight and Ten News First.

Kos now fronts Nine’s 4pm news hour, followed by the high-rating gameshow The Tipping Point, which gives a handy ratings lead-in to the 6pm bulletin.

Presented by 63-year-old Michael ‘Thommo’ Thomson, Nine News in Perth has nevertheless trailed Seven’s nightly news, which traditionally wins its slot. 

The new Nine network news and current affairs supremo Fiona Dear’s arrival in Perth has sparked fears in the newsroom

Monika Kos, 56, (left) is also a Perth personality who MCs sports and awards events, and there were fears of parallels between her and Brisbane newsreader, 57-year-old Shayrn Ghidella, who the Seven Network just sacked in Brisbane

The drama comes amid bloodletting at rival network Channel Seven, where veteran presenters including Brisbane newsreader Sharyn Ghidella, Gold Coast weatherman Paul Burt and Sydney crime reporter Robert Ovadia all getting the chop.

Further cuts are expected at Seven.  

Monika Kos is married to Australian media ‘royalty’. 

Her husband Grant Willessee is the cameraman son and nephew of former national current affairs legends, Terry Willessee and Mike Willessee.