Hands holding a selection of Australian banknotes, including denominations of 5, 10, 20, and 50 dollars, on a light marble surface.

The Today show’s Alex Cullen has been swiftly removed from his regular hosting duties and taken off the air, after accepting $50,000 from businessman Adrian Portelli.

And the reason?

It seems that Adrian Portelli, who rose to infamy with his notorious attention-grabbing headlines, wasn’t too happy with the media constantly referring to him as ‘Lambo man.’

He was so sick of the nickname that he took matters into his own hands by offering a $50,000 cash prize to the first journalist or presenter that would publicly refer to him by his new preferred nickname, “McLaren Man.”

Cullen answered the call, referring to Portelli by his new nickname during last Friday’s Today show episode. Then Cullen took it one step further, and posted the footage onto his personal Instagram account, tagging Portelli in the post.

You can’t make this stuff up.

In Australia, all journalists must abide by the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance Journalist Code of Ethics, which bans them from accepting gifts that could compromise their independence.

Cullen receiving payment from Portelli is in direct violation of this code of ethics.

2024 was a turbulent year at Nine: Co chairman Peter Costello stepped down after shirt fronting a journalist, allegations of bullying and sexual harassment come to light, and profits took a dive.

This exchange of cash reeks of the cash for comments controversy that engulfed Sydney radio stations in 1999, where two of Australia’s best-known broadcasters at the time, John Laws and Alan Jones, admitted that they had received large payments in exchange for sharing favourable comments on air.

Yet every journalist worth their weight knows that in this field you must operate with integrity, otherwise you have no credibility.

The long and short of it is: positive commentary can’t be bought.

At times, the worst thing for any media organisation is when you yourself become the news and start generating negative headlines.

Where does Nine go to from here?

They’ve done the right thing and stood Cullen down, launched an investigation, and have prepped and readied their media statement, including taking this very matter “extremely seriously.”

No doubt, it will also be yet another exercise in crisis comms for their communications team.

It also shows that any organisation – no matter how big or small – needs to always have both a crisis comms plan and team in place, as sometimes a crisis can start in the unlikeliest of places.

With a 24/7 news cycle and social media firmly entrenched in our lives, an organisation just simply can’t afford not to.

As the oft quoted saying goes by one Warren Buffett, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to run it.”

Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help, BEFORE a crisis strikes your organisation!

Tony Nicholls

Tony Nicholls

Founder and Director of Good Talent Media

Tony Nicholls is an accomplished journalist who has held roles for more than ten years with the ABC, SBS and Network Ten, covering thousands of news stories across Victoria, Australia and in the international media.

 

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