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Report: Kapalos consults lawyers on TEN dumping

Helen Kapalos has reportedly called in lawyers after being "disgusted" about the way management handled her exit.

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Helen Kapalos has reportedly called in lawyers after being “disgusted” about the way management handled her exit on Friday.

After TV Tonight revealed the Melbourne presenter’s contract would not be renewed it has since been reported by The Age, The Australian, Herald Sun and generated angry Twitter responses.

Wil Anderson:
Ch 10 sacks Helen Kapalos and keeps Paul Henry. That’s like buying an avocado and only keeping the stone…

Tom Elliott:
I can’t believe Ten has just sacked Helen Kapalos from its Melb news. No jobs are safe in tv anymore …

Jonathan Creek:
“@theagebreaking: Boned: Ten sacks Kapalos: this is quite possibly the dumbest decision http://bit.ly/Z0MSdv ” #Moveonmal

Tim Campbell:
#kapalos #kapalos #kapalos #kapalos #kapalos #kapalos #kapalos #kapalos #kapalos #kapalos #kapalos #kapalos #Booooooooo!!!

Kapalos herself tweeted ”Fall down seven times. Get up eight” shortly before boarding a flight to New York.

But The Age reports she was told after finishing her Friday bulletin by Melbourne news director Dermot O’Brien and human resources boss Graeme Kethel.

She was told her contract would not be renewed when it expires in March and would not be offered other roles.

By 6.30pm the network had blocked computer access and cancelled her security pass, which sparked legal threats. After a tense standoff, management allowed her to access her computer to print a travel itinerary for her NY holiday while friends helped clear her desk. Mal Walden is believed to have called about 10pm to offer support.

Sunday Telegraph reports others who have been reportedly sacked include Sydney sports reporter Paul Cochrane, reporter Gabrielle Boyle, health editor Sheryl Taylor. Others to depart include Senior producers Amy McCarthy and Brad Hodson.

Early reports that Bill Woods had been sacked were denied by TEN.

So far TEN’s only statement on Kapalos has been, ”We will not be renewing Helen’s contract, the details of which we will not discuss publicly.”

A source close to Kapalos told The Age ”It wasn’t personal, it was business, but it should have been handled much better.”

Kapalos launches www.helenkapalos.com.au today.

31 Responses

  1. Bolt was brought in by Gina Reinhart, (sp?), part of the reason she took such a large stake in the network was to ensure her (far right wing) commentary got air time to further her own interests.

    You want to get Bolt sacked ?, buy more of the network than Gina and fire him.

  2. What else would one expect from network Ten these days. Why wouldn’t anybody in their HR Dept, treat anybody who is not going to be of any use to Ten any more, with such disrespect, disdain and rudeness.

    Because at Ten, it now apparently seems that it pays to be Smug,Rude, Egotistical,Ignorant, Irrational and hold utterly Biased Oppinions, and also slag off existing advertisers, as being an absolute prerequisite to ensure job security, and if anybody wants to keep their own job.at Ten.

    How else can anyone explain the current job security given to the unsackable duo of Henry and Bolt?

  4. As someone who grew up around ATV10 in the ’80s when my Dad worked there, I’ve always had a massive soft spot for this network but the ever increasing number of bad calls in programming and by network management are starting to break my heart.

    Helen Kapalos is a fantastic news presenter, a coup for TEN when she came to Melb from Nine in 2006. To be shunted so disgustingly is just shameful and shows how bad it is at Network TEN. All the best Helen.. I’ve no doubt someone of your calibre will be snapped up by another news outlet in no time.

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