Being able to host primetime documentary specials is one of the good things about Peter Stefanovic’s contract with Sky News.
The long-time Nine Network foreign correspondent was let go by Nine around the same time his brother Karl stepped away too before he returned earlier this year.
Peter subsequently signed with Sky News and has been co-hosting the revamped Sky News breakfast show First Edition with Laura Jayes.
“I now have the best of both worlds at Sky,” Stefanovic told Mediaweek. “I love covering the day-to-day news and live news on First Edition every morning. On the side I get to do longform journalism which is something I have always loved.”
Stefanovic was speaking on the eve of the broadcast Wednesday night of the documentary MH370: The Untold Story. Last year he also hosted a Sky News documentary on Lawyer X.
He noted the MH370 story had been covered many times before since the original disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines jet. But Stefanovic said the documentary will reveal new information.
“It might well lead to the resumption of the search which is the whole point of the exercise. It would be great to give the families some closure by finding out where the plane is.”
MH370 disappeared off the radar on Match 8, 2014. Stefanovic was at the time Nine’s European correspondent.
One of the promos for the new doco has pilot Byron Bailey claiming he knows where the plane is. Stefanovic says that is not overhyping what the show will explain.
“Bailey worked in commercial aviation for many years and he is quite sure he knows where that plane came down. Up until this point though the government and the aviation authorities have been wrong. His alternate view may well be right.”
When asked if Byron is right, could the plane be recovered, Stefanovic said: “The wreckage would be recovered. He believes there was a attempt to purposely hide the aircraft. Not everyone thinks that however.”
The MH370: The Untold Story has assembled all the major players at the time of the disappearance, said Stefanovic. Including former PM Tony Abbott and transport minister Warren Truss plus Sir Angus Huston who led the search. “These interviews uncover quite a bit of new information.”
The producers have also worked with Ean Higgins, a journalist with The Australian, author of The Hunt for MH370, a book that Stefanovic called “the best account so far of what happened”.
Speaking about his move to subscription TV, Stefanovic said there are less staff to work on projects at Sky News than he was used to at Nine. “A smaller number of people are therefore required to do more. That is preferable for me as it allows me to do more producing than I have done in the past. Laura also gets to produce.
“When I do the documentaries I also get to produce as well. I like having more responsibility and having more challenges.”
First Edition ratings continue to climb, said Stefanovic. “We want to inform our viewers without gimmicks. There are no giveaways on our show. We are allowed to cover the hard news stories that interest us. There are some stories that might have been difficult to get across the line where I used to work, but now if I am interested and I book the guests, then we have got ourselves a segment.”
Of his breakfast co-host Laura Jayes, Stefanovic said: “There are not too many people across politics the way she is. She is hungry and it is great to learn off her and watch how she does it.”