Ten hires AFR’s Neil Shoebridge as director of corp comms
James Warburton has made another bold move in his first month as CEO of Ten, hiring The Australian Financial Review’s marketing and media editor Neil Shoebridge as director of corporate public communications.
Shoebridge brings to an end almost a decade in the role. Starting on 20 February, he will oversee all of Ten’s external communications by Ten and help group CFO Paul Anderson with investor relations.
Paul McIntyre, editor-at-large at AdNews, looks likely to fill in for Shoebridge at the Fin as senior contributor on the media and marketing section.
McIntyre is expected to continue to write for AdNews, which is to lose editor Darren Davidson in March. Davidson is moving to The Australian as a business media writer.
Is this a joke?
Something going down at AFR. The Oz said this week they’d grabbed David Crowe. These are senior people.
There goes the Monday page, not to mention the rest of the media cover.
They all end up on the dark side eventually!
On a more serious note, that will be a tough gig – Ten has some ongoing issues around its performance and share price. It will be interesting to see how a journalist handles those challenges, rather than a seasoned corporate comm person.
With Tim Dick’s departure, the SMH pretty much gave up on covering the media and marketing business. Now Shoebridge is leaving the Fin that presumably will go the same way.
Which leaves Murdoch’s The Australian as the only paper seriously covering the media.
I can’t stop laughing! What would he know about corp comms? His ego will fit in nicely at Ten though. Gee they make some strange decisions in TV land!
He’s a good bloke so well done getting out of the little house…pushing spin for 10 wil be a tough gig though.
Brett is losing some of his main men
no need to buy the Monday Fin anymore…
Going to be fascinating to see how this plays out – Sure it will be a major culture shift for him on the other side of comms. Good luck Neil!
I just can’t believe that one of the biggest haters or PR is going in to PR. This will be fascinating to watch.
You’ve got that right, Marie, hypocrisy has a new champion!
I guess money talks, eh Neil?
This is one of the dumbest appointments Warburton could have made. Journalism is the first draft of history, and he’s handed his reputation as a new CEO (and a turnaround one at that) to a completely inexperienced hack with no issues mgt skills or experience.
Having been slayed by Shoebridge’s acerbic writings too many times to mention, rival media outlets’ Corporate Comms people will be chomping at the bit to sabotage him by undermining Ten even more than they ordinarily would
hard to believe that execs still employ hacks on the mistaken belief they can assure positive coverage
look on the bright side….no more the world according to Harold and Gynge in the AFR !!! Woo-Hoo
You said it Marie, and it’s not only PR he hates – Shoebridge has never made a secret of his complete contempt for most other media writers and ESPECIALLY the Oz media team. I wish him all the best, but I do think he’s in for a bit of a shock.
Amazing. Honestly thought this was a joke when hearing it.
AFR is in trouble with circulation and the cost of the paper.
Neil has never hated PR people – only incompetent ones.
Biggest Loser.
Neil hasn’t always said things that I agree with and often he’s taken shot at decisions I’ve made but he has always had a point of view and has been consistent in reporting the facts as he saw them and man enough to acknowledge things that turned out differently to his initial thinking. This is a strong move by Ten to appoint someone who understands the media round and how that works. Good luck to Neil and Ten – I think will be a potent combination.
I’d give it 12 months before one of the big egos (pick one) has a dummy spit and Neil departs. Then he can write a book on the experience – as well as one on PR – and the transition to the darkside will be complete.
I would have thought an appointment to the lofty role of Director of Corporate and Public Communications required some experience at, I dunno… corporate and public communications, perhaps?
Mark Buckman’s endorsement would be ideal if Neil was moving to another role in journalism but he isn’t
understanding the media round, how it works and what media journalists want is a necessary but not sufficient condition to competently functioning as a head of corporate affairs
PS: Neil – your quote sounds like its straight out of the PR textbook. Hope you can think up a few more inspiring lines in the new role … God forbid you become a ‘canned quote’ kind of guy.
Shoebridge added: “I am thrilled to be joining Ten at such an exciting time for the network.
I predict Shoebridge will last less than 12 months in this gig.
Neil is a dyed in the wool marketing journo who is used to being courted by ad land, and (edited by Mumbrella) – every story in his section (edited by him) carried his byline. He also gave short shrift to PR during his tenure.
I believe he will find the transition to corporate comms a bridge too far. And helping the CFO on investor relations???
yes, had to laugh at the investor rels remark. One would imagine you’d need to be able to read a P&L and balance sheet to perform that role. Unless of course you’re just forwarding investor presos to journos, which i suppose also constitutes ‘helping’ the CFO
“If marketers knew how badly most PR companies handle the media, they would be horrified. If marketers knew how that incompetence is doing them more harm than good with the media, they would fire them.”
“Ineptitude costs more than money”
Which is why the same man that wrote this is now a Director of Corporate and Public Communications with er…zero experience.
It simply doesn’t get any more inept than that.
To quote Hans Gruber “Ho, ho, ho.”