Lynus Preston and Helen Norville, shaking hands, like good ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ should ❤️🌟🤴🏾👸🏻
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On the 23rd February 2025, S03E04 of The Newsreader - ‘One Team, All Brothers’ - aired traditionally on the ABC, one year ago today!
The news that the Australian rugby team were heading to apartheid South Africa divided sports fanatics and the media across the country, with calls for the team to join the sporting boycott towards the apartheid nation. Rob Rickards claimed that on sporting grounds, there were just teams of brothers, playing together fairly. This well-meaning but simplistic take would see him unintentionally become the face of the opposition, which would have a ripple effect both in the media and at home.
Helen Norville’s Public Eye was visited by an old chum of hers, Lynus Preston, carrying with him a story about the racism a former VFL teammate of Rob’s endured during his time in the sport. She was desperate to run it, so much so that she had forgotten to consult with her colleagues about the story along the way. When it became apparent that the story of Deano Prince was far too close to home for Noelene to involve herself with, Helen had to make a decision as to whether she would continue with the story, but events out of her control helped make that decision for her, and made her reflect upon whether she had properly thought the whole picture through. Did she understand what Deano had gone through?
Meanwhile at News At Six, Dennis had caught onto the fact that Rob and Dale wanted Lindsay gone, and at last saw his opportunity to become the next news director of the network he had been loyal to for so long. Gaining Rob and Dale’s support, he worked hard on his vision for News At Six in 1990 and beyond, but he experienced betrayal in the final hour, being turned down for a bloke who had not even stepped foot in their office before. He had not been seen by some of his colleagues as leadership material, and he had to question if they truly saw him as an equal team player.
What was your highlight of this multilayered and important episode?