To be quite honest we were starting to think that with their recent (and by "recent" we mean "roughly the last 18 months") run of bad luck and internal politics gone mental, we were never going to be able to write a positive piece on Channel Nine ever again.

We now have long-time Nine newsreader Peter Hitchener to thank for breaking that drought, with this happy bit of personal news hidden near the end of a weekend feature on Hitch from the Herald Sun:

"I am a single person and given that we are on private issues of private life, I am choosing to share with you today that part of my life that I have not spoken about before: that I am gay," Hitchener said.

 

"That is part of who I am and with that disclosure, or acknowledgment, I just also need to say I am still the person I was yesterday. I am still the same person and I remain committed to my job and my family and my service and so on.

"It is not something that has ever come up before. I have never been asked about it before. There is never a right time, or an easy time, to talk about these personal issues, but this is the right time to say it and to move on."

Channel 9's director of news, Michael Venus, said he fully supported Hitchener's decision to speak about his personal life.

"I am acutely aware of how difficult a decision this has been for Peter. Indeed I know he has agonised over it for a very long time," Venus said.

"But it is a decision which has our full support and in no way diminishes his standing as one of Australia's pre-eminent broadcasters.

"And why would it? His professionalism and credibility is without peer. He is an enormously popular and much-loved public figure who continues to do an outstanding job.

"He enjoys the respect of everyone in the newsroom and this revelation - sensitively done with such dignity and style - further endears him to us all.

"He is a great communicator and has wonderful warmth and credibility. People believe what he says. He has a quite unassuming style and I think to most people he is an authoritative, joy to watch.

"And he is without doubt the best newsreader in the country."

Go Peter!

Naturally we're always happy when someone in the public eye decides to take a stand and make their sexual preferences known, but there's something especially moving about circumstances like Hitchener's, where such revelations could really affect his public standing, i.e. a popular figurehead of a largely conservative network with an even more conservative viewing population.

We're inclined to think, however, that any viewers who switch off National Nine News after hearing this announcement can a) go straight to hell and b) aren't valued viewers.

Here's hoping Peter - who, in the same article, revealed he is currently single - finds a nice bloke to take to the Logies.

Tags: au | channel nine | gays | news | peter hitchener