Following Chris Bath’s resignation from Seven newsroom, Mark ‘Fergo’ Ferguson has reportedly signed a five-year contract with seven news media.
As reported in a News Corp publication, Seven’s Sydney news director Chris Willis said “We see Mark as the future. Our strategy is one of perseverance.
“The reason we’re committing ourselves to Mark is that we’re confident he’s got what we need … 30 years’ experience overseas covering major news stories, great knowledge of the business, he understands people in the way people from the country do. He’s the man we want to do the job,” Willis said.
Fergo has signed the dotted line but has also taken a pay cut of an estimated $350,000 a year, or $1.75 million, over the term of the five-year contract.
“We actually acknowledge we have got a long way to go (to catch Nine) but we are seeing some signs of progress. People forget Ian Ross took two years to win us the ratings [after coming out of retirement in 2003 following 38 years at Nine] and we do see Mark as the future,” Willis added.
“We have the same number of reporters (as Nine), the same number of stories most nights, and I would argue we break more stories than they do.”
Back in 2009, Fergo negotiated a $800,000-a-year contract with after quitting the Nine Network newsroom.
