It seems to have taken Ray Martin a very long time to realise he should be looking for the road to Damascus.
Why else would a sudden eruption of stories claiming he was thinking about his future at the troubled Nine Network and worried about the influence of “bankers” in the industry.
It’s all a bit too late: Ray’s got form in this public hand wringing which usually dies away and sees him do nothing at all.
He’s already gone public a few years ago moaning about the “carpet strollers” in the building at Nine, but stayed and continued to take the millions the strollers paid him, as he has remained to accept the million dollars or so that the “bankers” have paid him since taking over from the fleeing James Packer at the start of the year.
The thing is, Ray should have seen the light on the road to Damascus when his “mate” James Packer and his little mate, John Alexander, were changing Nine and ruining it from 2002 to 2006.
Martin remained at Nine when PBL CEO, John Alexander organised the sacking of Nine Finance editor, Michael Pascoe for no other reason than Pascoe stood up to Alexander. The sacking of Pascoe led to the departure of Nine News and Current Affairs chief, Peter Meakin. Martin did nothing except remain at Nine collecting his huge salary. No light went on in Ray’s mind then!
Martin did nothing through the regimes of David Gyngell and Sam Chisholm, both of whom left the Network in a weakened state when they either left or were forced out by Alexander.
Martin did nothing during the monstering of Mark Llewellyn, which led to the now famous Llewellyn affidavit. He did nothing about the “boning” comment in the affidavit, and monstering of Jessica Rowe by Eddie McGuire and Jeff Browne.
Ms Rowe is married to Martin’s 60 Minutes colleague, Peter Overton; Martin worked at 60 Minutes for years with Jana Wendt; Martin worked with Mark Llewellyn at 60 Minutes and A Current Affair.
He remained mute through those events, as did he during the disgraceful treatment of Nine Sydney news reader and former Sunday host, Jim Waley, who was white-anted by the likes of former Nine News boss, Max Euchritz, back in early 2005.
Martin’s late discovery of a backbone is laughable given that background and his inaction. Not many people left at Nine would feel any sympathy for Martin, who would be worth well over $10 million and probably closer to $20 million.
The reality is that Martin, a limelight junky, has belatedly discovered what has been happening under his very eyes at Nine, and he’s upset. Boohoo!
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