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As ABC insiders painted a picture of Stevens being hunted from the media organisation after failing to see eye to- eye with the organisation’s chairman Kim Williams and managing director Hugh Marks, the ABC TV’s homegrown star paid tribute to her close friend on social media with a series of photographs showing the pair in happy repose at work-related events.
The first image shows Sales and Stevens sharing a desk at the 2019 federal budget lockup. In a second they mug for the camera in the office, and in a third they are looking polished and relaxed at the 2014 Walkey Awards.
“It’s a big loss for the ABC today with the resignation of our news boss, Justin Stevens,” Sales posted hours after Stevens confirmed his departure.
“I’ve worked more closely with him than anybody else in my career and these photos tell a story of what he’s like.
“He has your back. He rolls up his sleeves and does the hard work alongside you to deliver. He has a huge brain but is also fun.
“He’s a person of impeccable integrity. He has been a public servant in the true sense of the word and he will be much missed.
“Great bloke, tremendous father, excellent journalist.”
The long-time former host of ABC weeknight public affairs program 7.30 is one of 19-year ABC veteran Stevens’ most vocal supporters.
Her enthusiastic endorsement of her friend, a former executive producer of 7.30, the program she fronted for 12 years, is said to have helped advance Stevens’ career in 2022 – despite a lack of senior management experience – over more seasoned ABC journalists like editorial director Gavin Fang and global affairs editor John Lyons.
Another keen supporter has been Sales’ successor on 7.30, Sarah Ferguson, who has described Stevens, with whom she’d worked both at Nine and the ABC, as “smart, thoughtful, compassionate, full of ideas”.
In a statement confirming his resignation on Wednesday, Stevens described the past year as “incredibly tough but immensely rewarding”.
He added that “for reasons both professional and personal now is the right time for me to move on” from the most “complex news organisation in the country”.
According to reports, Stevens tendered his resignation to managing director Marks a week ago.
Marks is said to have already begun interviewing candidates for the $667,900-a-year job for which, it’s claimed, he favours an external candidate.
Stevens had been battling fires on several fronts ahead of his resignation.
Within the national broadcaster, he faced scrutiny from bosses, including the ABC chair, who has been openly critical of lifestyle news stories in news bulletins, story placement on the ABC website, lack of objectivity in news programs, the proliferation of cause-related campaigning by staff and a need for greater fact checking.
The recruitment of former Nine boss Marks as managing director and “editor in chief” in March last year is said to have effectively “started the clock” on a plan to replace Stevens as the man in charge of ABC news, analysis and investigations, insiders claimed yesterday.
Marks, who has cut jobs in the news division while pushing for the greater localisation of news services and a revision of the definition of “emergency broadcasting” – which in the future could be used to rein in striking journalists – said Stevens had “worked to achieve outstanding results” during his tenure and wished the news boss “every success in the future”.
In 2024, following an independent review of the Line of Fire investigative series on 7.30, Stevens apologised and acknowledged five extra gunshot sounds had been added to a 2012 video clip showing Australian troops firing at civilians from a helicopter in Afghanistan.
The clip related to a report on ex-commando Heston Russell, who successfully sued the ABC for defamation, winning $390,000 in damages.
That same year, 7.30 was accused of selectively editing US President Donald Trump’s address at a rally prior to the January 2021 Capitol riots in a three-part Downfall series.
The year had started with Stevens urging his newsrooms to “pull together” following accusations of bias from outside and a statement from the broadcaster’s union house committee declaring a “loss of confidence” in former MD David Anderson’s management for failing to protect ABC staff when they came under attack from commentators, government officials and protest groups.
This followed the benching of casual presenter Antoinette Lattouf in December 2023 when she was pulled from ABC local radio airwaves after sharing a social media post accusing Israel of using starvation as a tactic in its war in Gaza.
Though it was not Stevens who had sacked her, she later won a $150,000 unfair dismissal settlement after a court found the presenter had been let go to appease external political lobbyists and avoid criticism.
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