The '24-carat f*ckwit' who became Nine's golden boy

Summary

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Podcast Summary: 7am – "The '24-carat f*ckwit' who became Nine's golden boy"

Date: July 19, 2026
Host: Ruby Jones (Solstice Media)
Guest: Tina Quinn (Fourth Estate on 2SCR, Crikey contributor)

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Overview

This episode of 7am digs into the departure of Karl Stefanovic, the longstanding "golden boy" of Channel Nine, after his 21-year tenure with the Today Show. Ruby Jones interviews journalist Tina Quinn, who conducted extensive interviews with past and present colleagues to uncover Stefanovic's complex legacy—his rise, workplace reputation, controversies, and reinvention as a controversial podcaster. The discussion explores themes of media power, gendered double standards, and the pitfalls of moving from a mainstream platform to outsider status.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Karl Stefanovic’s Place at Nine Before His Exit

• Stefanovic’s Image and Influence
  • Quinn’s research reveals Stefanovic was synonymous with both the Today Show and Nine. An imposing portrait of Stefanovic greeted every guest at the North Sydney studio, symbolizing his dominance.
  • He outlasted eight female co-hosts in over two decades, reinforcing a sense of untouchability despite repeated controversies.
  • Many at Nine described him as "the network's golden boy."
    • Quote: "He was someone that was seen as almost untouchable. It didn’t matter how many scandals there had been, how many controversies. The network continued to back him no matter what." – Tina Quinn [01:44]

Early Years at Nine – Talent & Tension

• Mixed Reputation as a Young Reporter
  • Senior directors praised his charisma and innate broadcasting talent, but others found him lazy and prone to delegate.
  • A memorable anecdote recounts a senior executive labeling young Stefanovic as a "24-carat fuckwit," highlighting the polarized views around his personality.
    • Quote: “He might be your boy wonder, but he’s a 24-carat fuckwit.” – News executive, as recounted by Tina Quinn [03:48]

Scandals, the Larrikin Persona, and Double Standards

• Surviving Scandal

  • Incidents like appearing drunk on air the morning after the Logies would have sunk other presenters, especially women.
    • Quote: "Imagine if Lisa Wilkinson, married, mother of three, turned up drunk to work on air. I think it would have been received very differently." – Tina Quinn [05:17]
  • Stefanovic’s controversies seemed to feed his brand rather than diminish it, in part due to powerful allies at Nine and in the Sydney media scene (notably former CEO David Gyngell and Alan Jones).
  • Early on, his TV performance was considered wooden, but he was given leniency and backing, riding out a series of on-air missteps and insensitive remarks.

• Self-Deprecation on Air

  • Stefanovic often addressed his missteps with humor.
    • Quote: "Well, as we all know, I can be a complete tool, right? ...Yesterday I was worse. I was an ignorant tool." – Karl Stefanovic [06:42]

The Podcast Pivot—Calculated Reinvention?

• Podcast as Power Play, Not Ideology
  • Former colleagues doubt that Stefanovic’s new, more provocative persona is genuine. His stances are seen as tools for attention and relevance, rather than true beliefs.
    • Quote: "The views that Carl is platforming on his podcast, do you think they’re his own? ...This is for clicks and for power." – Tina Quinn quoting an anonymous Nine staffer [07:19]
  • Stefanovic is viewed as adapting to industry transformation, hoping to replicate the success of polarizing media personalities in the US and UK.

Alienating Colleagues & Internal Strife at Nine

• Platforming Controversy
  • Stefanovic’s podcast has featured figures like Charlie Teo, Ben Roberts-Smith (in a defensive light), anti-vaxxer Pete Evans, Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce, and even far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
  • This caused major internal tensions at Nine, given the network’s investment in investigative journalism and a merger with Fairfax (embedding print news sensibilities in Nine's culture).
    • Quote: "To have one of its own stars ... denigrating the work of people like Kate McClymont and Nick McCann and Chris Masters, it definitely stoked conflict." – Tina Quinn [09:26]
  • Nine’s own reporters reportedly felt undermined and anxious about their credibility due to Stefanovic’s new associations.

Struggles Beyond the Production Machine

• Performance Without the Team
  • Producers describe Stefanovic as "hard to produce for," often ill-prepared, hard to reach, and reliant on the supporting staff to shape his on-air persona.
  • Unlike co-host Lisa Wilkinson—seen as meticulous and deeply engaged—Stefanovic frequently “winged it,” a style masked by strong production support.
    • Quote: "He was often not across his briefs. He was hard to get a hold of… But that's easy to do when you've got a huge production team." – Tina Quinn [11:54]
  • His podcast exposes these weaknesses, particularly in interviews like the one with Tommy Robinson, which lacked rigor and accountability.
    • Quote: "If you watch any of those interviews, they're not particularly enlightening and they're in no way hard hitting. They're not the work of a journalist that you would expect of someone like Carl…" – Tina Quinn [13:31]

Outsider Persona—Ironies and Doubts

• The ‘Silenced’ Broadcaster
  • The show closes on the irony of high-profile figures like Stefanovic casting themselves as victims of “cancel culture” while retaining substantial platforms.
    • Quote: "It's always interesting hearing from these guys who always claim that they've been silenced and they've been cancelled. You know, they still seem to have these very loud microphones and podiums..." – Tina Quinn [14:18]

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• "He might be your boy wonder, but he’s a 24-carat fuckwit." – News executive on Stefanovic as a young reporter (as recounted by Quinn) [03:48]
• "He was someone that was seen as almost untouchable... The network continued to back him no matter what." – Tina Quinn [01:44]
• "Imagine if Lisa Wilkinson...turned up drunk to work on air. I think it would have been received very differently." – Tina Quinn [05:17]
• "The views that Carl is platforming on his podcast...this is for clicks and for power." – Tina Quinn, quoting colleague [07:19]
• "They're not particularly enlightening... they're not the work of a journalist that you would expect of someone like Carl." – Tina Quinn [13:31]
• "It's always interesting hearing from these guys who always claim that they've been silenced and they've been cancelled...they still seem to have these very loud microphones and podiums..." – Tina Quinn [14:18]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:44-02:40 – Karl Stefanovic’s status and reputation at Nine
• 02:53-04:23 – Stefanovic’s early newsroom years: talent vs. ego
• 04:23-06:42 – Scandals, double standards, and the protected larrikin persona
• 07:19-08:32 – Stefanovic’s podcast: performative controversy, not conviction
• 09:03-09:26 – Internal tensions within Nine due to his podcast guests and views
• 11:54-13:31 – The challenge of going solo without production support
• 14:04-14:31 – The paradox of powerful media figures as “outsiders”

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Conclusion

The episode paints Karl Stefanovic as both a symbol of media privilege and a cautionary tale about the risks of mistaking production value for personal talent. Despite his showman’s instinct and enduring notoriety, Stefanovic’s move to podcasting without the backing of Nine’s resources reveals struggles to replicate his former success. The story resonates beyond the individual, highlighting issues of gender bias, media power, and the blurry line between authenticity and calculated self-reinvention in Australian media.

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Transcript

[Ruby Jones]

After two decades at nine, its poster boy, Carl Stefanovic, has left the building. And for the first time, people who worked with him are speaking out.

[Tina Quinn]

I spoke to about 20 different people who had known and worked with Carl over 26 years.

[Ruby Jones]

Journalist Tina Quinn has been asking questions about Stefanovic's rise at the network and what really prompted his podcast, Pivotal.

[Tina Quinn]

I was really trying to work out, I guess, how it had gotten to this, you know, what exactly had happened to this man that had once called Laurie Oakes his great hero. How had it come to this?

[Ruby Jones]

And what she found was a surprising number of people willing to be frank about their views on working with him.

[Tina Quinn]

As I continued to go on, it felt like roadblocks of people that weren't really at first wanting to talk, but then completely opened up to me. And then by the end, yeah, it was just this incredible snowball.

[Ruby Jones]

I'm Ruby Jones, and you're listening to

7am today, host of Fourth Estate on 2 scr and Crikey contributor Tina Quinn on Karl Stefanovic's rise, what his former colleagues really think, and what his future outside the network will look like.

[Tina Quinn]

Foreign

[Ruby Jones]

It's Monday, July 20th. Tina, to begin with, in your conversations with all of these insiders at nine,

[Interviewer/Host]

what impression were you left with of Karl Stefanovic's place at the network before his exit?

[Ruby Jones]

How much sway did he have and how was he seen?

[Tina Quinn]

Well, Carl Stefanovic was the Today show and was nine. That's how many people described him. To me, the last thing that guests or visitors would see as they entered the soundstage of the Today show at North Sydney was this large, imposing portrait of Carl, which I thought was really interesting. It's of Carl. He's walking, he's sort of in silhouette, and he's walking onto the soundstage, almost like walking into his domain, his kingdom. He'd been with the program for 21 years and had outlived all eight of his female co hosts. He was someone that was seen as almost untouchable. It didn't matter how many scandals there had been, how many controversies. The network continued to back him no matter what. And I think people, they're incredibly shocked that that era has come to an end. He was described as the network's golden boy.

[Interviewer/Host]

And before he kind of became the Carl Steven of the Today show, this sort of big, protected figure at nine, what did people tell you about what he was like as a young reporter?

[Tina Quinn]

Yeah, I mean, that was quite interesting in itself because, you know, I spoke to his first newsroom director at nine in Brisbane this is a guy named Lee Anderson. He said he was one of the most talented reporters I'd ever come across. You know, very charismatic. But I also spoke to other producers, more junior in that newsroom, who were less than glowing, who said that he was quite lazy. That was a word that consistently came up across a lot of my reporting. He was very good at getting other people to do things for him. He arrived when he liked knowing that as, quote, some lackey producer would have, you know, written his work for him. But he was very good even back then at sucking up to the right people, the execs. Although I thought it was really interesting, there was one particular news and current affairs director who was visiting Brisbane and there was an after work drinks. You know, he said, I just heard this voice behind me, just really, just talking himself up to the point of tedium. And I just, you know, after about five minutes of listening to his dissertation on why he was so wonderful and excellent, I sort of turned around to Lee Anderson, the news director, and said, who the hell's this bloke? And Lee said, oh, this is our new boy wonder. And that's when he said, well, he might be your boy wonder, but he's a 24 karat fuckwit. So, you know, there were people even back then that were less than impressed.

[Interviewer/Host]

So Carl, his success becomes very entwined with the Today show. And that is despite a number of scandals that might have affected the career of a different presenter. Things like when he turned up seeming to still be drunk after the logies.

[Ruby Jones]

That's one example.

[Karl Stefanovic]

I didn't feel drunk when I woke up the next morning, otherwise I would not have gone on air. I like to think that I'm professional enough to have made that decision, but clearly from the vision that I've seen, I wasn't at my best.

[Interviewer/Host]

All of these things that happened though, they, they didn't damage him, they kind of seemed to just feed into his brand.

[Karl Stefanovic]

I was going to ask Artik who's going to be manning seven elevens today.

[Unidentified Participant]

Not sure about who's gonna be batting 7:11, but you might have to look at Centrelink as well, I think.

[Interviewer/Host]

Cal, tell me about why that was and what the effect of that was.

[Tina Quinn]

I mean, you know, you say it might have had a different effect on a different broadcaster, especially had it been a female one. I mean, Lisa Wilkinson was his co host at the time. And imagine if Lisa Wilkinson, married, mother of three, turned up drunk to work on air. I think it would have been received very differently. Karl had some Very powerful backers. That is something I kept hearing time and time again. Most notably David Gingell, who was at one time the CEO of nine. You know, people like Paul Fenn, the Sydney news director. James Packer, the son of Carrie Packer who owned the network. Alan Jones, who wasn't at nine but was a very powerful Sydney media presence who loaned him, basically gave him the deposit for his first house. So very powerful people in his corner who continued to back him. I think what was really noticeable to me, you know, he was brought on to replace Steve Liebman, and when he started at the Today show, he received reviews that his on air performance was quite wooden. And someone wrote that he was. He seemed incapable of sort of lighthearted banter on air. And, you know, he was not well received, but he was continually given leniency over years and years of on air controversies that, as you mentioned, would have ended another broadcaster's career. Certain comments about migrants, really inappropriate, insensitive comments, all sorts of things that took place.

[Karl Stefanovic]

Well, as we all know, I can be a complete tool, right? Yes, well, yesterday I was worse. I was an ignorant tool. When I say ignorant, I truly meant. And I kind of put, okay, so

[Interviewer/Host]

you've got this seemingly fairly untouchable presenter with this likable, larrikin Persona who after a few years at least, is doing well with audiences behind the scenes, perhaps a more complex picture of power and ego. Were there any signs, though, of where Karl Stefanovic was heading? Any kind of early signs of what we are now seeing in his current reinvention?

[Tina Quinn]

Most of the people that I spoke to all agreed that this was not an ideological pursuit of Carl's, what we're seeing with this podcast. In fact, when I asked one source, someone who is still at 9 and who worked with Carl on and off for a number of years, I said, the views that Carl is platforming on his podcast, do you think they're his own? Are they views that he has and shares? And this person just laughed and just went, no, I don't. It's exactly what you think. This is for clicks and for power. And he. He is very much a product of the industry that made him. And that industry is shape shifting and it's. It is transforming in front of him and he can see the writing on the wall and he is trying to remake himself. And this isn't really driven by ideology. It's driven more by something that he sees will be willing to. Could possibly work in this market. Something that we've seen very successfully done over in The United States, in the uk. It's something that he's trying to bring here to Australia.

[Ruby Jones]

Coming up, can Carl survive without the production support that comes with breakfast tv?

[Karl Stefanovic]

I think it's important that I keep campaigning and I keep driving forward with freedom of speech. If you don't like the way I do an interview, then don't watch it.

Right.

It's my style, it's my show.

[Interviewer/Host]

Tina Right from the very outset of

[Ruby Jones]

his podcast launch, there were things that Carl Stefanovic was doing that were quite clearly putting him at odds with his colleagues.

[Interviewer/Host]

So he had that friendly interview with

[Ruby Jones]

Charlie Teo, for example, who Kate McClymont did the series of investigations into. He also weighed into the Ben Robert Smith charges defending him after his arrest.

[Interviewer/Host]

So how much tension do you think

[Ruby Jones]

all of that caused within Nine?

[Tina Quinn]

Huge. You know, Nine spent millions and millions upon dollars defending those investigations. The dogged, committed investigative reporting that Nick McKenzie and Chris Monsters conducted over years upon years was extraordinary. And the amount of money that Nine spent defending that was not insignificant. The Same with Kate McClimont, with Charlie Tio to have one of its own stars. And look, there's a conflict in there. There's a real conflict in the fact that Nine and Fairfax merged a number of years ago. Right. And there's journalistic sensibilities that are conflicting there as well. It was a huge conflict within Nine because to have one of its own big stars denigrating the work of people like Kate McClymont and Nick McCann and Chris Masters, it definitely stoked conflict. And also Nine Zone reporters like Channel Nine, the TV network itself. I think there were a lot of reporters that felt they were sharing a lot of concerns about the way people would perceive them because of the views of one Carl, because I think they were very concerned that it somehow took away the credibility from their own reporting to have again this big network star being able to go and platform people like anti vaxxer Pete Evans, Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce, then of course to a far right fascist who is on Australia's terror watch list and is not allowed into this country. I'm talking about Tommy Robinson here. I think that was something that was proving very anxiety driving within Nine's own stable.

[Karl Stefanovic]

I see on Sky News UK Sky News. Important difference that he's a threat to society. Elon Musk.

[Unidentified Participant]

Oh, Elon Musk. Anyone who believes in free speech is a threat to their society because their society is about control. They want to control speech, they want to control everything, every element of your life, they want to control. That's their future, that's the left's future.

[Interviewer/Host]

And obviously that's all led to him leaving the network.

[Ruby Jones]

How do you think it's going to

[Interviewer/Host]

go for him from here? Because he's obviously, he's good at TV, he's a gifted broadcaster. But while at 9 and while on breakfast, he's got this huge production machine around him. There's all these people who are paid to make him sound good. So how do you think he will work without all of that?

[Tina Quinn]

I think it will be. Well, look, it'll be interesting to say something that a number of producers even who were working up with him up until the present day consistently said they called him hard to produce for at times because they were often doing the brunt of the research and the work. He was often not across his briefs. He was hard to get a hold of. Some compared him to Lisa Wilkinson, who liked to be. She was seen as much more meticulous. She really liked to be involved with stories. She was much more generous with her time. Carl was not sometimes, as I said, difficult to get a hold of. Wouldn't respond to the research that was provided for him and he'd sort of go on air and he'd wing it. But that's easy to do when you've got a huge production team. I mean, the Today show is a huge production. There's a lot of money behind it. I think people would be surprised to know the number of producers that they would have working on one particular show at any given time. He doesn't have that on this podcast. And I think he got into such strife interviewing someone like Tommy Robinson because in some ways he didn't interview him. There was a lot of back slapping and yeah, mate, and. And the sort of stuff that Karl has kind of been able to get away with over his career because those interviews were still peppered with what were seen as hard hitting questions that were written for him by producers. There was a lot less of that in that interview. I mean, there was no accountability at any given point during that interview. Very strange from someone who once named the great political journalist Laurie Oakes as his great hero and inspiration in his logie speech in 2011. And so I think we're already seeing the result of him having less support around him. If you watch any of those interviews, they're not particularly enlightening and they're in no way hard hitting. They're not the work of a journalist that you would expect of someone like Carl, who fronted a leading breakfast show for over two decades. I think it's very telling about the level of talent he really does possess in that area.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah, it's funny. It's like he's kind of grappling with the tension between casting himself as this outsider and then the reality of what that actually might mean for him to be on the outside of the mainstream.

[Tina Quinn]

I mean, it's always interesting hearing from these guys who always claim that they've been silenced and they've been cancelled. You know, they still seem to have these very loud microphones and podiums to talk about that.

[Ruby Jones]

From Tina, thank you for your time.

[Tina Quinn]

Ruby, thank you.

[Ruby Jones]

Also in the news, the United States

has launched fresh strikes against Iran after at least two American troops were killed by an Iranian attack on an air base in Jordan. Since the war began, 16American service members have been killed and more than 430 wounded. Donald Trump says the deaths are very sad but came in service to their country. And shadow Housing Minister Andrew Bragg says he does not agree with comments made by Liberal Party President Tony Abbott. In a video posted to social media, Tony Abbott claims that multiculturalism has failed and diversity is not a strength. Bragg also hit out at comments from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson at a conference in London that authorities are stupid for giving rights to transgender Australians, calling the comments insane. I'm Ruby Jones. This is 7:00am thanks for listening.